Brownsville, TX
Brownsville-Harlingen, TX Metro Area
Figures are medians for the whole Brownsville-Harlingen, TX Metro Area, not the city proper.
Among the 300 U.S. metros CityLedger tracks, Brownsville ranks 292nd for affordability — how far a typical paycheck stretches after local prices — and 295th for income. A household earns $53,267 a year while median rent runs $966/mo, making it expensive relative to what residents earn. Affordability and price level are different lenses: the raw cost of living here runs 14% below the U.S. average.
Its strongest card is home prices (11th of 300), while health is the soft spot (297th). Housing usually decides a move: rent ranks 27th and home prices 11th 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 Brownsville, your take-home is worth about $71,315 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
- 295th of 300↑29.5%$53,267
- 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.
- 14th of 30086 (US=100)
- Cost-adj. income?Median household income divided by the local price level — what the typical paycheck is really worth here.
- $61,956
- Per-capita income
- $25,221
- Full-time pay
- $31,604
Housing
- Median rent
- 27th of 300↑22.7%$966/mo
- Home value
- 11th of 300↑83.5%$163,300
- Property tax
- $2,167/yr · 1.3%
- Sales tax
- 8.20%
Jobs & education
- Unemployment
- 198th of 3004.9%
- Bachelor's+
- 267th of 30023.8%
- Avg commute
- 60th of 30021.6 min
People
- Population
- 431,874
- Population change
- +2.1%
- Median age
- 33.4 yrs
- Foreign-born
- 23.5%
- Broadband
- 92.6%
Environment & risk
- Air quality (AQI)
- 286th of 30061
- Natural-hazard loss
- 231st of 300$18/$10k
Health
- Fair/poor health
- 297th of 30030.9%
- Uninsured (18–64)
- 36.3%
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
- + Commute
Watch-outs
- – Affordability
- – Household income
- – Education
- – Air quality
- – Hazard safety
- – Health
Climate
30-year normals (1991–2020) from the nearest station — port isabel cameron co ap.
What jobs pay in Brownsville
Median annual wage by occupation (BLS OEWS 2025) — half of workers in each role earn more, half less.
- Family medicine physicians
- $215,480
- IT managers
- $137,880
- Pharmacists
- $131,280
- Financial managers
- $129,820
- Software developers
- $106,990
- Lawyers
- $103,100
- Registered nurses
- $81,090
- Civil engineers
- $77,720
- General & operations managers
- $75,350
- Accountants & auditors
- $66,440
- Elementary school teachers
- $63,350
- Secondary school teachers
- $62,320
- Police officers
- $56,820
- Truck drivers (heavy)
- $48,550
- Plumbers
- $46,850
- Electricians
- $46,080
- Customer service reps
- $38,350
- Maintenance & repair workers
- $36,720
- Carpenters
- $35,640
- Construction laborers
- $35,150
- Janitors
- $30,650
- Retail salespersons
- $27,780
- Cashiers
- $26,250
- Waiters & waitresses
- $21,010
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 Brownsville 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.
- California346
- Florida292
- Illinois202
- New Mexico172
Source: U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 2022 Migration Flows (5-year).
Cities like Brownsville
Closest matches across cost, income, size, education, and age — tap to compare.
Brownsville metro — frequently asked
- What is the median rent in the Brownsville metro?
- Median gross rent across the Brownsville-Harlingen, TX Metro Area is $966 a month (U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 2024). That figure covers the whole metro area, not just the city of Brownsville.
- What is the median household income in the Brownsville metro?
- A typical household in the Brownsville-Harlingen, TX Metro Area earns $53,267 a year (U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 2024).
- Is Brownsville expensive to live in?
- The overall cost of living in the Brownsville-Harlingen, TX Metro Area runs about 14% 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 Brownsville metro?
- After adjusting for local prices, the median household income is worth about $61,956 (versus its face value of $53,267). CityLedger rates the Brownsville-Harlingen, TX Metro Area expensive for what residents earn.
- What is the typical home value in the Brownsville metro?
- The median home value across the Brownsville-Harlingen, TX Metro Area is $163,300 (U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 2024).
- What is the unemployment rate in the Brownsville metro?
- The unemployment rate in the Brownsville-Harlingen, TX Metro Area is 4.9% (U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 2024).