- The broad BEA price level is 1.4% below the national price level.
- Housing services is the highest indexed component at 104.5; utilities is the lowest at 95.3.
- The ACS median gross rent estimate is $1,408, with a $17 margin of error.
- 57.3% of renter households with a computed ratio spent at least 30% of income on gross rent.
Official cost-of-living snapshot for Houston
FinanceFirst rebuilt this page from two government datasets with different jobs. The Bureau of Economic Analysis regional price parity compares broad price levels across places, with the United States equal to 100. The Census American Community Survey supplies local median housing and household-income estimates. Neither dataset tells a particular person what they must spend.
BEA reports comparable price levels for the Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands, TX metro area, not for Houston alone. The city-specific rent, income and home-value figures below use the Census geography Houston city, Texas. Keeping those geographic units separate prevents a metro average from being mislabeled as a city-only price.
U.S. = 100
ACS renter units
Median, occupied units
Computed renter ratios
| Component | RPP | What it represents |
|---|---|---|
| All items | 98.6 | Broad goods-and-services price level |
| Goods | 100.6 | Durable and nondurable consumer goods |
| Housing services | 104.5 | BEA housing-services component |
| Utilities | 95.3 | Water, sanitation, electricity and gas |
| Other services | 95.6 | Services other than housing and utilities |
Source: U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis, MARPP, 2024. United States = 100. Bars share a 0–220 scale.
The highest component is housing services at 104.5; the lowest is utilities at 95.3. That spread is why applying one overall index to rent, utilities or groceries can give a misleading personal estimate.
Housing and income context from the Census
The ACS is a survey, so the table reports the Census Bureau's 90% margins of error (MOE) beside estimates when available. A margin of error is uncertainty around the survey estimate; it is not a forecast range.
| Measure | Estimate ± MOE | Universe or limit |
|---|---|---|
| Population | 2,387,910 ± 2,025 MOE | ACS resident population estimate |
| Median gross rent | $1,408 ± $17 MOE | Occupied renter units; not an asking-rent feed |
| Median monthly housing costs | $1,418 ± $16 MOE | Occupied units reporting housing costs |
| Median household income | $64,361 ± $1,735 MOE | All households; not a required salary |
| Median owner-occupied home value | $301,200 ± $7,063 MOE | Owner estimates; not a current listing price |
| Renter share of occupied homes | 59.1% | 557,742 renter-occupied of 943,336 occupied units |
| Rent burden at 30% or more | 57.3% | 302,834 of 528,213 renter households with a computed ratio |
The rent-burden percentage is a FinanceFirst calculation from the published B25070 counts: households in the 30.0–34.9%, 35.0–39.9%, 40.0–49.9%, and 50.0%-or-more bands divided by renter households for which the ratio was computed. “30% or more” is a descriptive threshold, not a verdict about any household.
These medians describe different populations and should not be divided into one another to claim that a home, rent or lifestyle is affordable. A household comparison needs taxes, debt, savings, benefits, household size and the actual property under consideration.
How Houston compares with Texas
| Measure | Houston | Texas | United States |
|---|---|---|---|
| BEA all-items RPP | 98.6 Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands, TX metro area | 97.1 Texas | 100.0 United States |
| Median gross rent | $1,408 ± $17 MOE | $1,475 ± $8 MOE | $1,487 ± $3 MOE |
| Median monthly housing costs | $1,418 ± $16 MOE | $1,465 ± $6 MOE | $1,435 ± $2 MOE |
| Median household income | $64,361 ± $1,735 MOE | $79,721 ± $564 MOE | $81,604 ± $128 MOE |
| Renter share of occupied homes | 59.1% | 37.7% | 34.7% |
| Rent-burdened renter households | 57.3% | 52.7% | 51.8% |
The local all-items RPP is 1.6 points higher than Texas; median gross rent is 4.5% lower; and the calculated rent-burden share is 4.6 percentage points higher.
Those comparisons are signals to investigate, not a single affordability score. The local price index describes Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands, TX metro area, while the housing figures describe Houston city, Texas.
Source: U.S. Census Bureau, 2024 ACS 1-year table B25070. FinanceFirst calculation excludes renter households for which the ratio was not computed. Bars share a 0–100% scale.
Three transparent price-level scenarios
To translate a hypothetical national-price basket, multiply the benchmark by the all-items RPP and divide by 100. The scenarios below show the same calculation at three levels so the method is visible rather than hidden behind one “average budget.”
| National-price basket | RPP calculation | Illustrative local-price equivalent |
|---|---|---|
| $3,000 | $3,000 × 98.629 ÷ 100 | $2,959 |
| $5,000 | $5,000 × 98.629 ÷ 100 | $4,931 |
| $8,000 | $8,000 × 98.629 ÷ 100 | $7,890 |
These are index demonstrations, not budget recommendations, forecasts or estimates of what a household will spend. They assume the broad consumption mix represented by the RPP and do not separately calculate housing choice, taxes, childcare, insurance, healthcare, transportation, debt or savings.
How to build a personal Houston budget
- Price actual housing: collect several current listings in the neighborhoods you would realistically choose, then add utilities, insurance, parking and move-in costs.
- Use after-tax income: model the job offer, benefits, payroll deductions and applicable state and local taxes instead of treating median household income as a target.
- Rebuild transportation: estimate the commute, vehicle, fuel, transit, parking and maintenance choices that apply to your routine.
- Add household-specific costs: include childcare, medical premiums and out-of-pocket costs, debt payments and required savings.
- Stress-test the result: test a rent renewal, insurance increase, income interruption and moving costs before deciding.
Use the FinanceFirst calculator library to organize your own inputs. For a broader benchmark, compare the Texas cost-of-living page and the complete state comparison.
Related places to compare next
The pages below use the same 2024 BEA and ACS methodology. Same-state cities are included first when available, followed by places with the closest all-items RPP—not by a subjective “best place” ranking.
- Austin, TX: 98.1 RPP
- San Antonio, TX: 94.7 RPP
- Boise, ID: 98.4 RPP
- Raleigh, NC: 98.2 RPP
- Chesapeake, VA: 97.9 RPP
What this page can and cannot answer
| Useful for | Not sufficient for |
|---|---|
| Comparing broad price levels in the same year | Quoting a current apartment or home |
| Seeing whether housing differs from the overall index | Calculating a universal salary requirement |
| Starting a relocation research checklist | Predicting future prices or investment returns |
| Checking local medians from a consistent public source | Deciding whether a move is right for a specific household |
Methodology and primary sources
Price values use BEA table MARPP, lines 1–5, for 2024. Census values use the 2024 ACS one-year detailed tables B01003, B19013, B25003, B25064, B25070, B25077 and B25105 for geography 1600000US4835000. Displayed indexes and percentages are rounded to one decimal; scenario calculations use the stored unrounded RPP. FinanceFirst does not interpolate a salary, rent or monthly budget from these sources; the examples remain clearly labeled index demonstrations.
- BEA downloadable metropolitan RPP data
- BEA regional price parity methodology
- Census 2024 ACS table-based summary files
- ACS table B25064: median gross rent
- ACS table B19013: median household income
- ACS table B25077: median owner-occupied home value
- ACS table B01003: population
- ACS table B25003: housing tenure
- ACS table B25070: gross rent as a share of income
- ACS table B25105: median monthly housing costs
Download the governed data: CSV or JSON with calculation notes and source URLs. These machine-readable files preserve the BEA and Census geography names so automated systems do not silently treat metro and city measurements as identical.
Data period: 2024. Page research date: August 22, 2026. Government agencies may revise estimates; this page should be reviewed when a newer annual release becomes available.
Frequently asked questions
Update log
August 22, 2026: Replaced the prior mixed-source monthly-cost template with official 2024 BEA and Census data; separated city and metro geography; removed unsupported salary, rent, tax, savings and future-price claims; and added reproducible calculations and primary-source links. A second article-by-article quality pass added Census margins of error, population, housing costs, tenure, rent burden, state and U.S. comparisons, two accessible charts, three transparent scenarios, related-place links and downloadable structured data.
