Houston vs Los Angeles
Metro-area medians — Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands, TX Metro Area vs Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim, CA Metro Area — not the cities proper.
Houston comes out ahead, winning 4 of the 7 clearly-decided measures.
Houston is about 15% cheaper to live in, while Los Angeles households earn about 18% more. Adjusted for local prices, a typical paycheck stretches about as far in either.
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, Houston leaves you about $10,833/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 Houston for
- + Cost of living (price level, US = 100)
- + Median rent
- + Median home value
- + Air quality (median AQI)
Choose Los Angeles for
- + Livability (CityLedger)
- + Median household income
- + Bachelor's degree or higher
Houston vs Los Angeles — frequently asked
- Is Houston cheaper than Los Angeles?
- Houston is cheaper: its overall cost of living runs about 15% below Los Angeles's (BEA Regional Price Parities).
- Which has higher household income, Houston or Los Angeles?
- Los Angeles has the higher median household income — $96,405 versus $81,417 (U.S. Census Bureau, ACS), about 18% more.
- Does a paycheck go further in Houston or Los Angeles?
- It is roughly a wash. After adjusting income for local prices, a typical paycheck is worth about the same in both metros ($82,549 versus $84,889).
- Which has cheaper rent, Houston or Los Angeles?
- Houston has cheaper rent — a median of $1,469/mo versus $2,114/mo (U.S. Census Bureau, ACS).