Abilene vs Wichita Falls
Metro-area medians — Abilene, TX Metro Area vs Wichita Falls, TX Metro Area — not the cities proper.
Wichita Falls comes out ahead, winning 5 of the 7 clearly-decided measures.
Abilene and Wichita Falls cost about the same to live in, but Wichita Falls households earn about 6% more. Adjusted for local prices, a typical paycheck stretches further in Wichita Falls.
For your salary & household
Enter your pay and household size to see what it's really worth here — the numbers update live and the link stays shareable.
On $75,000 for just you, Wichita Falls leaves you about $645/yr better off after tax and local prices.
Take-home estimates a single filer taking the standard deduction (2025 federal brackets, FICA, and state income tax) and isn't tax advice. “Real value” rebases take-home to average U.S. prices using the BEA cost-of-living index; the per-person figure uses the OECD square-root equivalence scale.
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Abilene vs Wichita Falls — frequently asked
- Is Abilene cheaper than Wichita Falls?
- They are about even — the overall cost of living in the Abilene and Wichita Falls metros is within 3% of each other (BEA Regional Price Parities), so neither is meaningfully cheaper.
- Which has higher household income, Abilene or Wichita Falls?
- Wichita Falls has the higher median household income — $66,981 versus $63,390 (U.S. Census Bureau, ACS), about 6% more.
- Does a paycheck go further in Abilene or Wichita Falls?
- A paycheck stretches further in Wichita Falls. Adjusted for local prices, the median income is worth $74,828 there versus $70,150 in Abilene.
- Which has cheaper rent, Abilene or Wichita Falls?
- Wichita Falls has cheaper rent — a median of $1,065/mo versus $1,173/mo (U.S. Census Bureau, ACS).