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

Brownsville housing costs at a glance

Census figures put the median gross rent in the Brownsville-Harlingen, TX metro at $729 for a one-bedroom, $893 for a two-bedroom and $1,112 for a three-bedroom. Moving from one to two bedrooms adds $164 a month, and the third bedroom another $219.

The median value of owner-occupied homes in the metro is $136,500. Against a median household income of $52,601, the ratio is 2.6× — one of the gentler home-price-to-income ratios in the country.

The Regional Price Parity, BEA's index of local prices with the US at 100, is 86.0 here. Below 100 means a paycheck stretches further: $100,000 in Brownsville has the buying power of roughly $116,313 at national average prices.

Brownsville: the pre-tax income for each grade

With a two-bedroom at the median rent, the score enters Tight at $15,000, Okay at $36,000 and Comfortable at $72,000 a year before tax. At the Comfortable line, a year of rent takes 15% of income and the median home is 1.9× income.

Reaching Royal takes $213,000 — 3.0× 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 Brownsville shows the matching grade.

Four salaries, three home sizes in Brownsville

Home size shifts the grade at $75,000: Comfortable for one bedroom, Comfortable for two and Okay for three, as the rent share climbs from 12% to 18%.

Read down the two-bedroom column and the first Comfortable row is $75,000, consistent with the $72,000 line above.

Where Brownsville falls nationally

Out of 387 metros, Brownsville has the 365th highest price parity and the 360th highest two-bedroom rent, which puts it in the bottom 10% on overall prices and among the least expensive tenth on rent.

Its nearest neighbors on the rent list are Altoona, PA ($896) and Alexandria, LA ($892).

Comparing Brownsville with Texas

Statewide, Texas's median two-bedroom rent is $1,395 and its median home value $283,800. Brownsville's rent is −36% against that, and its home value −52%; the price parity is 86.0 versus 97.1 for the state.

On statewide medians, a two-bedroom budget reaches Comfortable at $166,000 — above Brownsville's $72,000 line.

Within Texas, the metros closest to Brownsville on rent and overall prices are Texarkana, TX-AR, McAllen-Edinburg-Mission, TX, and Eagle Pass, TX. Their Comfortable lines for two bedrooms sit at $78,000, $76,000, and $74,000.

Where the typical Brownsville household lands

What about a typical local household? Census puts median household income here at $52,601, which grades Okay (56) for a two-bedroom at the median rent. Reaching Comfortable would take $19,399 more than the median household earns. Statewide, the Texas median household ($78,476) grades Tight on the state's own medians. Since a household can have two or more earners, compare it with a combined income rather than one paycheck.

Treat every number here as a pre-tax, public-data estimate rather than financial advice.