Houston, TX · San Antonio, TX
San Antonio is 9% cheaper than Houston overall.
Home Price
Houston: $320,000
San: $270,000
Monthly Rent
Houston: $1,262/mo
San: $899/mo
COL Index
Houston: 101
San: 92
Median Income
Houston: $67,800
San: $58,600
Median Home Price
Monthly Rent (Median)
Median Household Income
Property Tax Rate
Cost of Living Index
100 = national average
Avg. Commute
Unemployment Rate
Median Age
A $100,000 salary in Houston has the same purchasing power as $91,089 in San Antonio — based on each city's cost of living index.
Homes in San Antonio cost 16% more (-$50,000 extra). Expect a larger mortgage and down payment.
Renting in San Antonio saves you $363/month — $4,356 per year. Median rent: $1,262/mo in Houston vs $899/mo in San Antonio.
On a median-priced home, Houston owners pay roughly $6,080/year in property taxes vs $4,860/year in San Antonio. That's a $1,220 annual difference.
Median household income is $67,800 in Houston and $58,600 in San Antonio. San Antonio residents earn 14% more — but remember to factor in cost of living.
Average commute is 29 minutes in Houston vs 26 minutes in San Antonio. Commute times are nearly identical.
To maintain the same lifestyle when moving from Houston to San Antonio, here's the salary you'd need:
| Salary in Houston | Equivalent in San Antonio | Difference |
|---|---|---|
| $50,000 | $45,545 | -$4,455 |
| $75,000 | $68,317 | -$6,683 |
| $100,000 | $91,089 | -$8,911 |
| $150,000 | $136,634 | -$13,366 |
| $200,000 | $182,178 | -$17,822 |
* Calculated using cost of living indices (national average = 100). Does not account for state income tax differences.
Mortgage Calculator
See monthly payments for homes in either city
Rent vs Buy
Is it cheaper to rent or buy in these markets?
Cost of Living
Full cost of living comparison tool
Home Appreciation
Project future home value growth
Affordability Calculator
How much home can you afford?
Property Tax Calculator
Estimate taxes in Houston or San Antonio
Houston Calculators
San Antonio Calculators
Based on cost of living indices, San Antonio is cheaper overall. Houston has a COL index of 101 while San Antonio scores 92 (national average = 100).
The median home price in Houston is $320,000 vs $270,000 in San Antonio — a difference of $50,000 (16%).
Use the salary equivalence table above. For example, a $100K salary in Houston is equivalent to $91,089 in San Antonio in terms of purchasing power.
San Antonio has a lower property tax rate (1.8% vs 1.9%). On a median-priced home, that means paying $4,860/year vs $6,080/year.
Median monthly rent: $1,262 in Houston vs $899 in San Antonio. Annualized: $15,144 vs $10,788.
Houston: $67,800/yr. San Antonio: $58,600/yr (Census ACS).
Lower-cost San Antonio typically lets remote-workers keeping a coastal salary stretch further. Higher-cost cities usually win on amenities and labor-market depth.
Numbers are pulled from Zillow ZHVI/ZORI (home values, rent), the U.S. Census Bureau ACS (income), and BEA RPP (cost-of-living index). Each value is timestamped on the page.
Source feeds refresh on their native cadence — hourly for mortgage rates, monthly for ZHVI/ZORI, annually for ACS. Page caches revalidate every 24 hours via Next.js ISR.
No. This page is educational reference using public data and standard formulas. It is not personalized tax, legal, or investment advice. Consult a licensed professional for material decisions.
City-level metrics (median home price, median rent, median household income, property tax rate, COL index, commute, unemployment, median age) are sourced from Zillow ZHVI/ZORI[1], Census ACS 5-year estimates[2], BEA Regional Price Parities[3], Tax Foundation[4], and BLS Local Area Unemployment Statistics[5].
The Cost of Living Index uses 100 = national average (C2ER methodology[6]): values above 100 indicate a city is more expensive than the national average, below 100 less expensive.
Salary equivalence uses the ratio adjustedSalary = salary × (colDestination / colOrigin). This accounts for cost-of-living differences but does not model state income tax variation, which can be significant.
Annual property tax is computed as medianHomePrice × propertyTaxRate. Actual assessed value may differ from sale price. Effective rates vary within a metro; these are metro-wide medians.
Commute-hours calculations assume 250 working days/year and a round-trip commute. "Tied" in the comparison table means values within ±1% of each other.
Last reviewed reflects the maximum retrievedAt timestamp across every sourced dataset feeding this page. When any source refreshes, the next ISR revalidation (every 24 hours) picks the new date.
Cost of living data sourced from [6] C2ER, [2] U.S. Census Bureau, and [1] Zillow Research. Tax rates from [4] Tax Foundation. Last reviewed .