Amarillo, TX
Amarillo, TX Metro Area
Figures are medians for the whole Amarillo, TX Metro Area, not the city proper.
Among the 300 U.S. metros CityLedger tracks, Amarillo ranks 196th for affordability — how far a typical paycheck stretches after local prices — and 204th for income. A household earns $69,595 a year while median rent runs $1,097/mo, making it expensive relative to what residents earn. Affordability and price level are different lenses: the raw cost of living here runs 8% below the U.S. average.
Its strongest card is job market (43rd of 300), while health is the soft spot (250th). Housing usually decides a move: rent ranks 81st and home prices 61st among the 300 metros CityLedger tracks.
For your salary & household
Enter your pay and household size to see what it's really worth here — the numbers update live and the link stays shareable.
On $75,000 for just you in Amarillo, your take-home is worth about $66,776 once local prices are factored in — local prices stretch it further than the U.S. average.
Take-home estimates a single filer taking the standard deduction (2025 federal brackets, FICA, and state income tax) and isn't tax advice. “Real value” rebases take-home to average U.S. prices using the BEA cost-of-living index; the per-person figure uses the OECD square-root equivalence scale.
The numbers
Income & cost
- Median income
- 204th of 300↑30.1%$69,595
- Cost of living?The local price level vs. the U.S. average of 100 (BEA). Lower means cheaper. This is raw prices, not adjusted for income.
- 86th of 30092 (US=100)
- Cost-adj. income?Median household income divided by the local price level — what the typical paycheck is really worth here.
- $75,795
- Per-capita income
- $36,313
- Full-time pay
- $39,760
Housing
- Median rent
- 81st of 300↑27.6%$1,097/mo
- Home value
- 61st of 300↑45%$226,600
- Property tax
- $2,923/yr · 1.3%
- Sales tax
- 8.20%
Jobs & education
- Unemployment
- 43rd of 3003.2%
- Bachelor's+
- 196th of 30030.6%
- Avg commute
- 89th of 30022.5 min
People
- Population
- 278,330
- Population change
- +3.3%
- Median age
- 36.5 yrs
- Foreign-born
- 8.7%
- Broadband
- 91%
Environment & risk
- Air quality (AQI)
- 116th of 30044
- Natural-hazard loss
- 208th of 300$16/$10k
Health
- Fair/poor health
- 250th of 30022.4%
- Uninsured (18–64)
- 18.2%
Sources: U.S. Census Bureau (ACS), U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis, U.S. EPA, FEMA, CDC, NOAA — every figure's source is listed on our methodology page. Data built 2026-06-14. ↑↓ mark the change since 2019.
How CityLedger scores it
Transparent weights — see our methodology.
Strengths
- + Cost of living
- + Rent
- + Home prices
- + Job market
- + Commute
Watch-outs
- – Household income
- – Hazard safety
- – Health
Climate
30-year normals (1991–2020) from the nearest station — amarillo.
What jobs pay in Amarillo
Median annual wage by occupation (BLS OEWS 2025) — half of workers in each role earn more, half less.
- Family medicine physicians
- $232,290
- IT managers
- $149,990
- Pharmacists
- $143,520
- Financial managers
- $143,350
- Lawyers
- $130,580
- Software developers
- $116,530
- Registered nurses
- $86,850
- General & operations managers
- $85,770
- Police officers
- $78,900
- Accountants & auditors
- $76,200
- Civil engineers
- $75,910
- Elementary school teachers
- $61,170
- Secondary school teachers
- $59,240
- Plumbers
- $55,970
- Electricians
- $54,360
- Truck drivers (heavy)
- $54,290
- Carpenters
- $47,780
- Maintenance & repair workers
- $45,340
- Customer service reps
- $38,990
- Construction laborers
- $38,170
- Janitors
- $34,280
- Retail salespersons
- $29,310
- Cashiers
- $27,750
- Waiters & waitresses
- $22,710
Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, OEWS 2025 — annual median wage. Cross-industry, all experience levels.
Where new residents move from
The states sending the most people to the Amarillo metro, by estimated movers (U.S. Census 2022 migration flows, 5-year). Moves from elsewhere in Texas are excluded to show where out-of-state arrivals originate.
- New Mexico524
- California518
- Colorado392
- Arizona348
Source: U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 2022 Migration Flows (5-year).
Cities like Amarillo
Closest matches across cost, income, size, education, and age — tap to compare.
Amarillo metro — frequently asked
- What is the median rent in the Amarillo metro?
- Median gross rent across the Amarillo, TX Metro Area is $1,097 a month (U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 2024). That figure covers the whole metro area, not just the city of Amarillo.
- What is the median household income in the Amarillo metro?
- A typical household in the Amarillo, TX Metro Area earns $69,595 a year (U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 2024).
- Is Amarillo expensive to live in?
- The overall cost of living in the Amarillo, TX Metro Area runs about 8% below the U.S. average (BEA Regional Price Parities, 2024) — prices are lower than average, before accounting for local pay.
- Does a paycheck go far in the Amarillo metro?
- After adjusting for local prices, the median household income is worth about $75,795 (versus its face value of $69,595). CityLedger rates the Amarillo, TX Metro Area expensive for what residents earn.
- What is the typical home value in the Amarillo metro?
- The median home value across the Amarillo, TX Metro Area is $226,600 (U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 2024).
- What is the unemployment rate in the Amarillo metro?
- The unemployment rate in the Amarillo, TX Metro Area is 3.2% (U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 2024).