Lubbock, TX
Lubbock, TX Metro Area
Figures are medians for the whole Lubbock, TX Metro Area, not the city proper.
Among the 300 U.S. metros CityLedger tracks, Lubbock ranks 247th for affordability — how far a typical paycheck stretches after local prices — and 249th for income. A household earns $64,469 a year while median rent runs $1,207/mo, making it expensive relative to what residents earn. Affordability and price level are different lenses: the raw cost of living here runs 9% below the U.S. average.
Its strongest card is air quality (8th of 300), while household income is the soft spot (249th). Housing usually decides a move: rent ranks 137th and home prices 53rd 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 Lubbock, your take-home is worth about $67,144 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
- 249th of 300↑18.1%$64,469
- 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.
- 74th of 30091 (US=100)
- Cost-adj. income?Median household income divided by the local price level — what the typical paycheck is really worth here.
- $70,599
- Per-capita income
- $35,176
- Full-time pay
- $36,743
Housing
- Median rent
- 137th of 300↑25.9%$1,207/mo
- Home value
- 53rd of 300↑46%$218,900
- Property tax
- $2,807/yr · 1.3%
- Sales tax
- 8.20%
Jobs & education
- Unemployment
- 146th of 3004.4%
- Bachelor's+
- 176th of 30031.6%
- Avg commute
- 10th of 30019.3 min
People
- Population
- 367,530
- Population change
- +14.1%
- Median age
- 32.6 yrs
- Foreign-born
- 6.5%
- Broadband
- 91.5%
Environment & risk
- Air quality (AQI)
- 8th of 30023
- Natural-hazard loss
- 210th of 300$16/$10k
Health
- Fair/poor health
- 245th of 30022.2%
- Uninsured (18–64)
- 18.6%
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
- + Home prices
- + Commute
- + Air quality
Watch-outs
- – Affordability
- – Household income
- – Hazard safety
- – Health
Climate
30-year normals (1991–2020) from the nearest station — lubbock.
What jobs pay in Lubbock
Median annual wage by occupation (BLS OEWS 2025) — half of workers in each role earn more, half less.
- Pharmacists
- $145,890
- IT managers
- $139,250
- Financial managers
- $135,090
- Lawyers
- $124,410
- Software developers
- $115,190
- Civil engineers
- $81,840
- Registered nurses
- $81,480
- General & operations managers
- $80,870
- Police officers
- $77,110
- Accountants & auditors
- $74,390
- Secondary school teachers
- $61,270
- Elementary school teachers
- $59,220
- Web developers
- $50,610
- Truck drivers (heavy)
- $49,080
- Plumbers
- $48,950
- Electricians
- $47,000
- Carpenters
- $43,500
- Maintenance & repair workers
- $41,750
- Construction laborers
- $36,970
- Customer service reps
- $35,940
- Janitors
- $30,150
- Retail salespersons
- $28,480
- Cashiers
- $27,220
- Waiters & waitresses
- $22,560
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 Lubbock 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 Mexico1,880
- California803
- Oregon796
- Oklahoma773
Source: U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 2022 Migration Flows (5-year).
Cities like Lubbock
Closest matches across cost, income, size, education, and age — tap to compare.
Lubbock metro — frequently asked
- What is the median rent in the Lubbock metro?
- Median gross rent across the Lubbock, TX Metro Area is $1,207 a month (U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 2024). That figure covers the whole metro area, not just the city of Lubbock.
- What is the median household income in the Lubbock metro?
- A typical household in the Lubbock, TX Metro Area earns $64,469 a year (U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 2024).
- Is Lubbock expensive to live in?
- The overall cost of living in the Lubbock, TX Metro Area runs about 9% 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 Lubbock metro?
- After adjusting for local prices, the median household income is worth about $70,599 (versus its face value of $64,469). CityLedger rates the Lubbock, TX Metro Area expensive for what residents earn.
- What is the typical home value in the Lubbock metro?
- The median home value across the Lubbock, TX Metro Area is $218,900 (U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 2024).
- What is the unemployment rate in the Lubbock metro?
- The unemployment rate in the Lubbock, TX Metro Area is 4.4% (U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 2024).