El Paso, TX
El Paso, TX Metro Area
Figures are medians for the whole El Paso, TX Metro Area, not the city proper.
Among the 300 U.S. metros CityLedger tracks, El Paso ranks 283rd for affordability — how far a typical paycheck stretches after local prices — and 280th for income. A household earns $59,834 a year while median rent runs $1,081/mo, making it expensive relative to what residents earn. Affordability and price level are different lenses: the raw cost of living here runs 10% below the U.S. average.
Its strongest card is hazard safety (27th of 300), while air quality is the soft spot (293rd). Housing usually decides a move: rent ranks 72nd and home prices 39th 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 El Paso, your take-home is worth about $68,193 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
- 280th of 300↑22.6%$59,834
- 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.
- 55th of 30090 (US=100)
- Cost-adj. income?Median household income divided by the local price level — what the typical paycheck is really worth here.
- $66,547
- Per-capita income
- $28,963
- Full-time pay
- $34,863
Housing
- Median rent
- 72nd of 300↑27.3%$1,081/mo
- Home value
- 39th of 300↑66.9%$208,800
- Property tax
- $3,617/yr · 1.7%
- Sales tax
- 8.20%
Jobs & education
- Unemployment
- 176th of 3004.7%
- Bachelor's+
- 236th of 30026.6%
- Avg commute
- 156th of 30024.3 min
People
- Population
- 877,840
- Population change
- +4%
- Median age
- 34.2 yrs
- Foreign-born
- 22.1%
- Broadband
- 92.6%
Environment & risk
- Air quality (AQI)
- 293rd of 30067
- Natural-hazard loss
- 27th of 300$8/$10k
Health
- Fair/poor health
- 291st of 30027%
- Uninsured (18–64)
- 29.1%
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
- + Hazard safety
Watch-outs
- – Affordability
- – Household income
- – Education
- – Air quality
- – Health
Climate
30-year normals (1991–2020) from the nearest station — pine spgs guadalupe mountains.
What jobs pay in El Paso
Median annual wage by occupation (BLS OEWS 2025) — half of workers in each role earn more, half less.
- Family medicine physicians
- $213,550
- IT managers
- $152,840
- Lawyers
- $140,550
- Financial managers
- $131,580
- Software developers
- $127,310
- Pharmacists
- $124,910
- Registered nurses
- $86,100
- Civil engineers
- $79,090
- General & operations managers
- $77,770
- Police officers
- $76,400
- Accountants & auditors
- $65,990
- Web developers
- $64,490
- Elementary school teachers
- $63,800
- Secondary school teachers
- $62,570
- Plumbers
- $53,560
- Truck drivers (heavy)
- $49,270
- Electricians
- $48,140
- Carpenters
- $42,430
- Maintenance & repair workers
- $39,510
- Customer service reps
- $37,640
- Construction laborers
- $35,670
- Janitors
- $30,630
- Retail salespersons
- $27,330
- Cashiers
- $27,320
- Waiters & waitresses
- $21,870
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 El Paso 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.
- California3,191
- New Mexico2,489
- Hawaii1,439
- Arizona1,358
Source: U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 2022 Migration Flows (5-year).
Cities like El Paso
Closest matches across cost, income, size, education, and age — tap to compare.
El Paso metro — frequently asked
- What is the median rent in the El Paso metro?
- Median gross rent across the El Paso, TX Metro Area is $1,081 a month (U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 2024). That figure covers the whole metro area, not just the city of El Paso.
- What is the median household income in the El Paso metro?
- A typical household in the El Paso, TX Metro Area earns $59,834 a year (U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 2024).
- Is El Paso expensive to live in?
- The overall cost of living in the El Paso, TX Metro Area runs about 10% 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 El Paso metro?
- After adjusting for local prices, the median household income is worth about $66,547 (versus its face value of $59,834). CityLedger rates the El Paso, TX Metro Area expensive for what residents earn.
- What is the typical home value in the El Paso metro?
- The median home value across the El Paso, TX Metro Area is $208,800 (U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 2024).
- What is the unemployment rate in the El Paso metro?
- The unemployment rate in the El Paso, TX Metro Area is 4.7% (U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 2024).