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Crunching costs, sorting signals, rendering insights.
Crunching costs, sorting signals, rendering insights.
Military veterans have earned every benefit — where do those benefits go furthest? We analyzed 40 cities in Texas: cost, state taxes, and supplemental healthcare. Houston — index 90, zero state tax — leads.
#1 Ranked: Houston — cost index 90, rent $1,542/mo, income $62,894
Top 5 separated by only 1 points
Veteran scoring: cost index 90, no state income tax, healthcare index 98 — preserving earned benefits
Data sourced from Census Bureau, Zillow, BLS, and Tax Foundation — current as of 2026
Military veterans have earned every benefit — where do those benefits go furthest? We analyzed 40 cities in Texas: cost, state taxes, and supplemental healthcare. Houston — index 90, zero state tax — leads.
Here's Houston by the numbers — and there's a lot to like (and a little to watch). Cost index: 90. Rent: $1,542/month. Income: $62,894/year. Home price: $261,976. Population: 2,314,157. The strongest category is Housing at 90; the most expensive is Healthcare at 98. Translate that rent to annual numbers, and residents are saving renters $4,236 per year vs. the national median. In a market where everything is going up, this stands still — in a good way (that's pre-tax, of course).
Bottom line: Houston leads this ranking for clear, data-backed reasons — but the "best" city depends on your priorities. Click into any city below to see the full detail page with 12-month trend charts, profession-specific salary data, and a breakdown of all five cost categories. If you're seriously considering a move, use our salary calculator to model your specific income against these numbers.
2,314,157 residents · Texas
Why Houston ranks #1: the numbers tell a clear story. At 90 on the cost index, residents save roughly 21% less than the typical American. Rent sits at $1,542/month while the median household pulls in $62,894/year. The Housing category is particularly strong at 90, though Healthcare (98) lags behind. Home prices average $261,976 — $205,394 below the national median.
1,495,295 residents · Texas
Dive into San Antonio's numbers: cost index 79 (32 points below national average), rent $1,361/month, income $62,917, and a home price of $247,132. And broadly, the city's cost profile isn't flat — Housing is the cheapest category at 79, while Healthcare runs 96. As a major city with 1,495,295 residents, amenities and job markets are robust.
1,302,868 residents · Texas
The #3 spot goes to Dallas, and the breakdown explains why. Renters here pay $1,591/month — saving renters $3,648 per year compared to the national average. Meanwhile, Housing is the standout at index 93, keeping costs manageable. The weak spot? Healthcare at 99. A 28% rent-to-income ratio keeps most households inside the safe zone.
979,882 residents · Texas
What does daily life actually cost in Austin? Start with the 20% rent-to-income ratio — that's the kind of margin that lets people build savings. On the category level, Housing (index 89) is where the real savings show up, while Healthcare (index 98) is the line item most likely to surprise newcomers. Income at $91,461 and homes at $500,627 round out a profile that ranks #4 for clear reasons.
978,468 residents · Texas
In plain English: a closer look at Fort Worth: the cost index of 91 breaks down to a Housing index of 91 (strongest category) and a Healthcare index of 98 (weakest). Median rent is $1,554/month — 18% below the national median — while household income sits at $76,602, meaning locals spend about 24% of income on rent. That's a healthy margin by any standard.
Our persona scoring model weights cost, income, rent, healthcare, taxes, and city size based on what matters most to military veterans. Each factor scores 10-25 points out of a 100-point composite. The guide ranks every tracked city in Texas by this personalized metric. All data is sourced from federal agencies and verified research institutions. Cost of living indices are normalized to 100 (national median) using Zillow rent as the primary signal, with sub-category adjustments derived from regional BLS price data. Rankings are updated monthly as new data is released.
Houston ranks #1 in Texas for this analysis with a cost index of 90 and median income of $62,894.
Houston scores highest for military veterans due to its below-average cost of living, median rent of $1,542/mo, and competitive median income of $62,894.
Our cost of living index uses real Zillow rent data as the foundation, indexed to 100 (national median). Sub-categories (housing, food, transport, utilities, healthcare) are derived from the overall index with regional adjustments. Data is updated monthly.
Houston (ranked #1) has a cost index of 90 and rent of $1,542/mo, while Sugar Land (ranked #40) has a cost index of 116 and rent of $1,990/mo — a 26-point difference in cost of living.
City data is refreshed monthly from Census Bureau population estimates, Zillow rent and home price indices, BLS salary data, and Tax Foundation tax rates. Last updated: 2026.
The median 1-bedroom rent in Houston is $1,542/month as of 2026, based on Zillow's Observed Rent Index. This is $353 below the national median of $1,895/month.
The median home price in Houston is $261,976, which is 4.2× the local median income. It's on the edge of affordability for median-income households. The national median home price is $467,370.
Texas has a 0% state income tax rate — one of the states with no income tax. Combined state and local sales tax averages 8.19%, and the effective property tax rate is 1.6%.
This ranking was generated using data current as of early 2026. Population and income data comes from the Census Bureau's American Community Survey (5-year estimates). Rent and home price data is from Zillow's monthly releases. Tax rates are from the Tax Foundation's 2025 edition. Rankings are refreshed monthly.