South Bend vs Waco
Metro-area medians — South Bend-Mishawaka, IN-MI Metro Area vs Waco, TX Metro Area — not the cities proper.
Waco comes out ahead, winning 5 of the 9 clearly-decided measures.
South Bend and Waco cost about the same to live in, but Waco households earn about 6% more. Adjusted for local prices, a typical paycheck stretches further in Waco.
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, Waco leaves you about $2,643/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 South Bend for
- + Median rent
- + Median home value
- + Bachelor's degree or higher
- + Air quality (median AQI)
Choose Waco for
- + Livability (CityLedger)
- + Cost-adjusted income (pay's real value)
- + Median household income
- + Unemployment
- + Average commute
South Bend vs Waco — frequently asked
- Is South Bend cheaper than Waco?
- They are about even — the overall cost of living in the South Bend and Waco metros is within 3% of each other (BEA Regional Price Parities), so neither is meaningfully cheaper.
- Which has higher household income, South Bend or Waco?
- Waco has the higher median household income — $67,792 versus $63,894 (U.S. Census Bureau, ACS), about 6% more.
- Does a paycheck go further in South Bend or Waco?
- A paycheck stretches further in Waco. Adjusted for local prices, the median income is worth $73,249 there versus $68,808 in South Bend.
- Which has cheaper rent, South Bend or Waco?
- South Bend has cheaper rent — a median of $1,101/mo versus $1,238/mo (U.S. Census Bureau, ACS).