Houston, TX
Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands, TX Metro Area
Figures are medians for the whole Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands, TX Metro Area, not the city proper.
Among the 300 U.S. metros CityLedger tracks, Houston ranks 124th for affordability — how far a typical paycheck stretches after local prices — and 105th for income. A household earns $81,417 a year while median rent runs $1,469/mo, making it moderately affordable for what residents earn. Affordability and price level are different lenses: the raw cost of living here runs 1% below the U.S. average.
Its strongest card is household income (105th of 300), while air quality is the soft spot (289th). Housing usually decides a move: rent ranks 202nd and home prices 168th 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 Houston, your take-home is worth about $62,166 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
- 105th of 300↑17.7%$81,417
- 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.
- 204th of 30099 (US=100)
- Cost-adj. income?Median household income divided by the local price level — what the typical paycheck is really worth here.
- $82,549
- Per-capita income
- $42,976
- Full-time pay
- $45,984
Housing
- Median rent
- 202nd of 300↑29%$1,469/mo
- Home value
- 168th of 300↑49.4%$327,400
- Property tax
- $4,750/yr · 1.5%
- Sales tax
- 8.20%
Jobs & education
- Unemployment
- 246th of 3005.6%
- Bachelor's+
- 105th of 30037.3%
- Avg commute
- 285th of 30031.1 min
People
- Population
- 7,796,182
- Population change
- +10.3%
- Median age
- 35.7 yrs
- Foreign-born
- 25.4%
- Broadband
- 94.3%
Environment & risk
- Air quality (AQI)
- 289th of 30063
- Natural-hazard loss
- 227th of 300$18/$10k
Health
- Fair/poor health
- 214th of 30020.6%
- Uninsured (18–64)
- 19.3%
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
- —
Watch-outs
- – Cost of living
- – Rent
- – Job market
- – Commute
- – Air quality
- – Hazard safety
- – Health
Climate
30-year normals (1991–2020) from the nearest station — houston william p hobby ap.
What jobs pay in Houston
Median annual wage by occupation (BLS OEWS 2025) — half of workers in each role earn more, half less.
- IT managers
- $172,160
- Financial managers
- $166,910
- Lawyers
- $157,980
- Pharmacists
- $140,470
- Software developers
- $129,440
- General & operations managers
- $119,600
- Civil engineers
- $100,950
- Registered nurses
- $99,830
- Web developers
- $89,040
- Accountants & auditors
- $85,090
- Police officers
- $74,570
- Secondary school teachers
- $65,540
- Elementary school teachers
- $64,500
- Plumbers
- $61,300
- Electricians
- $59,180
- Truck drivers (heavy)
- $56,840
- Carpenters
- $49,670
- Maintenance & repair workers
- $46,710
- Construction laborers
- $41,350
- Customer service reps
- $40,380
- Retail salespersons
- $31,340
- Janitors
- $30,650
- Cashiers
- $29,350
- Waiters & waitresses
- $22,080
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 Houston 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.
- California15,041
- Louisiana10,833
- Florida7,871
- Oklahoma4,894
Source: U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 2022 Migration Flows (5-year).
Cities like Houston
Closest matches across cost, income, size, education, and age — tap to compare.
Houston metro — frequently asked
- What is the median rent in the Houston metro?
- Median gross rent across the Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands, TX Metro Area is $1,469 a month (U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 2024). That figure covers the whole metro area, not just the city of Houston.
- What is the median household income in the Houston metro?
- A typical household in the Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands, TX Metro Area earns $81,417 a year (U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 2024).
- Is Houston expensive to live in?
- The overall cost of living in the Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands, TX Metro Area runs about 1% 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 Houston metro?
- After adjusting for local prices, the median household income is worth about $82,549 (versus its face value of $81,417). CityLedger rates the Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands, TX Metro Area moderately affordable for what residents earn.
- What is the typical home value in the Houston metro?
- The median home value across the Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands, TX Metro Area is $327,400 (U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 2024).
- What is the unemployment rate in the Houston metro?
- The unemployment rate in the Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands, TX Metro Area is 5.6% (U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 2024).