Texas vs Washington: Cost of Living, Taxes, Rent and Safety Compared
Weighing a move between Texas and Washington? Here’s how they compare on the numbers that decide most moves, from the same public data Locustep uses to rank all 50 states.
Shaded cells are the lower-cost, higher-income or lower-risk figure. Indexes: U.S. average = 100.
What it means for your budget
Rent alone: moving from Texas to Washington changes a typical two-bedroom rent by +$556 a month (+$6,672 a year); the move the other way flips the sign. Taxes, pay, insurance and the move itself shift too, and how much depends on your income, your household and the city you pick.
That’s exactly what Locustep’s Net-Impact Report works out: your take-home pay after state and local taxes in both places, rent or buy for your budget, insurance and moving costs, and the month the move pays for itself.
Which state fits you better?
On Locustep’s directional scores, Texas leads on airport access; Washington leads on schools, remote-work infrastructure and walkability. Which of those matters depends entirely on you.
Where people look in each state
Texas
Austin
$1,817/mo two-bedroom
Austin is a fast-growing tech hub with a strong music and food culture, a young professional population and an outdoor streak. It is no longer cheap, traffic is bad and worsening, summers are punishing, and the counterculture reputation now outruns the reality.
Houston
$1,497/mo two-bedroom
Houston is vast, diverse and unzoned — energy, medicine and shipping money, extraordinary food from every immigrant community, and essentially no geographic constraints. Expect heat, humidity, flooding risk and long drives, but also the lowest big-city housing costs in the country.
Dallas
$1,807/mo two-bedroom
Realistically, Dallas is a massive, hyper-commercialised, corporate-driven metropolis where daily life focuses heavily on professional careers, excellent dining and a highly air-conditioned lifestyle. It is less about cowboys and horses and much more about sprawling highways, luxury shopping and major corporate headquarters.
Seattle is a tech-money city between mountains and water — grey and drizzly for eight months, glorious in summer, with strong coffee, seafood and outdoor culture. Expensive, traffic-choked, and socially reserved in a way transplants notice quickly.
Spokane
$1,494/mo two-bedroom
Spokane is eastern Washington's hub — dramatically cheaper than Seattle, drier, with real four-season weather and lakes and skiing nearby. More conservative, smaller job market, and a revitalising downtown along a genuinely nice river gorge.
Tacoma
$2,064/mo two-bedroom
Tacoma is Seattle's more affordable, more working-class neighbour with a real port, a good museum district and views of Mount Rainier. Commuting north is slow; the tradeoff is housing you can actually buy.
On rent, Texas is cheaper: a typical two-bedroom is $1,488 a month against $2,044 (HUD FY2027). Everyday costs, housing excluded, index at 97.5 in Texas and 104.1 in Washington (U.S. = 100). Whether you come out ahead also depends on your pay and taxes in each state.
Which has lower taxes, Texas or Washington?
Texas. A married couple on the U.S. median household income would pay about 6.2% of it in state and local taxes, against 7.2% in Washington (Locustep estimate). Neither taxes wage income.
Is Texas safer than Washington?
By violent crime, Washington is lower: 326.1 per 100,000 residents against 389.4 (FBI, 2024). On natural hazards, FEMA puts Texas at the 40th percentile and Washington at the 64th (lower is safer).
Which has better weather, Texas or Washington?
It depends what you want. Winter afternoons average 58°F in Dallas and 48°F in Seattle; summer afternoons 94°F and 75°F (NOAA 1991–2020). Texas: hot & humid, subtropical. Washington: mild, mediterranean-style.