Amarillo vs Lubbock
Metro-area medians — Amarillo, TX Metro Area vs Lubbock, TX Metro Area — not the cities proper.
Amarillo comes out ahead, winning 5 of the 9 clearly-decided measures.
Amarillo and Lubbock cost about the same to live in, but Amarillo households earn about 8% more. Adjusted for local prices, a typical paycheck stretches further in Amarillo.
Their widest everyday difference: Lubbock has cleaner air on a typical day — a median AQI of 23 versus 44.
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, Lubbock leaves you about $368/yr better off after tax and local prices.
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.
Choose Amarillo for
- + Livability (CityLedger)
- + Cost-adjusted income (pay's real value)
- + Median household income
- + Median rent
- + Unemployment
Choose Lubbock for
- + Median home value
- + Bachelor's degree or higher
- + Average commute
- + Air quality (median AQI)
More comparisons
Metros closest to Amarillo and Lubbock on cost, income, size, and education.
Amarillo vs Lubbock — frequently asked
- Is Amarillo cheaper than Lubbock?
- They are about even — the overall cost of living in the Amarillo and Lubbock metros is within 3% of each other (BEA Regional Price Parities), so neither is meaningfully cheaper.
- Which has higher household income, Amarillo or Lubbock?
- Amarillo has the higher median household income — $69,595 versus $64,469 (U.S. Census Bureau, ACS), about 8% more.
- Does a paycheck go further in Amarillo or Lubbock?
- A paycheck stretches further in Amarillo. Adjusted for local prices, the median income is worth $75,795 there versus $70,599 in Lubbock.
- Which has cheaper rent, Amarillo or Lubbock?
- Amarillo has cheaper rent — a median of $1,097/mo versus $1,207/mo (U.S. Census Bureau, ACS).