What salary do you need to live in Austin, TX?

The cost side of living in Austin

Median gross rent, meaning contract rent plus tenant-paid utilities, runs $1,500, $1,795 and $2,108 a month for one, two and three bedrooms across Austin-Round Rock-San Marcos, TX. The largest of those is 41% more than the smallest.

Buying is the other half of the housing picture: owners put the median home in Austin-Round Rock-San Marcos, TX at $465,000. With median household income at $100,431, a typical home costs 4.6× a typical income, close to the middle of the range across US metros.

Price levels matter beyond rent. The Bureau of Economic Analysis measures Austin's overall prices at 98.1 on a scale where the nation is 100, which makes a $100,000 salary feel like about $101,972 would elsewhere.

Austin: the pre-tax income for each grade

With a two-bedroom at the median rent, the score enters Tight at $60,000, Okay at $121,000 and Comfortable at $244,000 a year before tax. At the Comfortable line, a year of rent takes 9% of income and the median home is 1.9× income.

Reaching Royal takes $719,000 — 2.9× the Comfortable line — because the last points come slowly once rent is already a small share.

Nothing here is a separate rule of thumb; plug any of these incomes into the calculator with two bedrooms and Austin shows the matching grade.

Scores at $50K, $75K, $100K and $150K in Austin

On $75,000, a one-bedroom scores 34 and a three-bedroom 29, both Tight; the extra bedrooms cost points but not a grade.

In Austin the table's top salary of $150,000 stops at Okay (51) for two bedrooms; Comfortable starts higher, at $244,000.

Where Austin falls nationally

On price level Austin is 113th of 387 (1 = most expensive); on two-bedroom rent it is 25th, and on median home value 46th. Rent and overall prices don't line up exactly, with prices near the middle and rent in the top 10%.

Its nearest neighbors on the rent list are Sacramento-Roseville-Folsom, CA ($1,808) and Barnstable Town, MA ($1,785).

Austin next to Texas and similar metros

Statewide, Texas's median two-bedroom rent is $1,395 and its median home value $283,800. Austin's rent is +29% against that, and its home value +64%; the price parity is 98.1 versus 97.1 for the state.

The Texas figure for the Comfortable line, using state medians, is $166,000 against $244,000 for Austin.

Looking for somewhere comparable without leaving Texas? Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington, TX, Midland, TX, and Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands, TX have the closest mix of rent and overall prices.

Does the typical Austin income clear the bar?

What about a typical local household? Census puts median household income here at $100,431, which grades Tight (40) for a two-bedroom at the median rent. The Comfortable line is 143% above what the median household makes. For Texas as a whole, the median household income of $78,476 scores 44 against statewide rents. Keep in mind a household median often combines two incomes.

All figures are pre-tax estimates from public data, not financial advice.