Southwest · Updated October 2026
Texas in numbers, from the same public data Locustep uses to rank all 50 states: rent, pay, taxes, safety, disaster risk and weather, plus the cities worth a look.
Two-bedroom rent
$1,488/mo
U.S. average $1,759
HUD Fair Market Rents FY2027 (40th percentile, population-weighted across the state)
Rent vs. income
22.4%
of median household income for a year of two-bedroom rent
HUD Fair Market Rents FY2027 ÷ 2024 ACS 1-year estimates (Census B19013)
State income tax
None
on wage income
One of 9 states with no wage income tax
State revenue departments, 2026 income tax rates (sources listed per state)
Property tax
1.31%
effective rate on owner-occupied homes
Everyday costs
97.5
index, housing excluded (U.S. = 100)
BEA Regional Price Parities, 2024 (released February 2026), housing and utilities removed
Natural disaster risk
40th
percentile, FEMA expected annual loss (lower is safer)
Where Texas stands out: no state income tax on wages among the 50 states.
What to weigh: the 8th highest property taxes.
Overall, a married couple on the U.S. median household income would pay about 6.2% of it in state and local income, property and sales tax here, the 15th lowest of the 50 states.
Average afternoon highs and overnight lows in Dallas (Dallas Ft Worth Airport station), NOAA 1991–2020 normals.
| Season | High | Low |
|---|---|---|
| Winter (Dec–Feb) | 58°F | 38°F |
| Spring (Mar–May) | 76°F | 56°F |
| Summer (Jun–Aug) | 94°F | 75°F |
| Fall (Sep–Nov) | 78°F | 57°F |
$1,817/mo two-bedroom · $1,530 one-bedroom (Austin-Round Rock-San Marcos, TX MSA)
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.
$1,497/mo two-bedroom · $1,261 one-bedroom (Houston-The Woodlands-Sugar Land, TX HUD Metro FMR Area)
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.
$1,807/mo two-bedroom · $1,536 one-bedroom (Dallas, TX HUD Metro FMR Area)
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.
$1,441/mo two-bedroom · $1,196 one-bedroom (San Antonio-New Braunfels, TX HUD Metro FMR Area)
San Antonio is the most affordable and most Latino of Texas's big cities — deep Tejano culture, a strong military presence, a genuine River Walk downtown. Wages run lower than Austin or Dallas, and the tradeoff is that housing stays reachable.
$1,745/mo two-bedroom · $1,481 one-bedroom (Fort Worth-Arlington, TX HUD Metro FMR Area)
Fort Worth is Dallas's quieter, more traditionally Texan half — a real Stockyards district, strong museums, and a friendlier, less status-driven feel. Growth is rapid, housing is cheaper than Dallas proper, and you are still tied to the same freeway system.
$1,146/mo two-bedroom · $969 one-bedroom (El Paso, TX HUD Metro FMR Area)
El Paso is a desert border city, culturally binational with Ciudad Juárez, very safe by big-city standards and remarkably cheap. Dry sunny climate, a large military footprint at Fort Bliss, and geographic isolation — the nearest major city is ten hours away.
$1,017/mo two-bedroom · $806 one-bedroom (McAllen-Edinburg-Mission, TX MSA)
McAllen is the retail hub of the Rio Grande Valley, on the Mexican border, with a mostly Hispanic population and cross-border trade. Very affordable, very hot, and growing.
$1,297/mo two-bedroom · $1,029 one-bedroom (Waco, TX HUD Metro FMR Area)
Waco is a central Texas city on the Brazos, home to Baylor University and, more recently, the Magnolia home-design brand. Affordable, between Dallas and Austin, and increasingly popular with visitors.
Rents: HUD Fair Market Rents FY2027 (40th percentile, population-weighted across the state) (metro areas). City notes: Locustep.
Closest on Locustep’s match factors: cost, housing, taxes, safety, jobs, schools, healthcare, outdoors, disaster risk and climate.
Ranks compare the 50 states. Locustep updates these figures when the agencies publish new data.
No. Texas is one of nine states that don’t tax wage income. Sales and property taxes still apply: a married couple on the U.S. median household income would pay about 6.2% of income in state and local income, property and sales tax (Locustep estimate, 2026).
A typical two-bedroom rents for about $1,488 a month and a one-bedroom for about $1,247, using HUD’s FY2027 Fair Market Rents averaged across the state by population. That is $271 less than the U.S. average of $1,759. Rent in the bigger metros can be well above the state figure.
Leaving housing aside, everyday prices (goods and services other than housing) index at 97.5 against a U.S. average of 100 (BEA, 2024), and the median home value indexes at 86.9 against the U.S. median (Census, 2024). Two-bedroom rent takes 22.4% of the state’s median household income of $79,721.
Texas recorded 389.4 violent crimes per 100,000 residents in 2024 (FBI), the 17th highest rate of the 50 states. Crime varies a lot between and within cities, so check the specific area you’re considering.
The main hazards are hurricanes, tornadoes and flooding. On FEMA’s National Risk Index, Texas’s expected yearly loss from natural hazards sits at the 40th percentile nationally (lower is safer). Risk differs sharply by county, so look up the county too.
Places people most often weigh include Austin, Houston, Dallas, San Antonio and Fort Worth. Each has a different cost, climate and character; Locustep compares their rent, disaster risk, weather and pay side by side.