Is Austin cheaper than Virginia Beach?

They are about even — the overall cost of living in the Austin and Virginia Beach metros is within 3% of each other (BEA Regional Price Parities), so neither is meaningfully cheaper.

Which has higher household income, Austin or Virginia Beach?

Austin has the higher median household income — $99,897 versus $82,402 (U.S. Census Bureau, ACS), about 21% more.

Does a paycheck go further in Austin or Virginia Beach?

A paycheck stretches further in Austin. Adjusted for local prices, the median income is worth $101,867 there versus $84,134 in Virginia Beach.

Which has cheaper rent, Austin or Virginia Beach?

Virginia Beach has cheaper rent — a median of $1,556/mo versus $1,784/mo (U.S. Census Bureau, ACS).

Austin vs Virginia Beach

Metro-area medians — Austin-Round Rock-San Marcos, TX Metro Area vs Virginia Beach-Chesapeake-Norfolk, VA-NC Metro Area — not the cities proper.

Austin and Virginia Beach are evenly matched, each taking 4 of the clearly-decided measures.

Austin and Virginia Beach cost about the same to live in, but Austin households earn about 21% more. Adjusted for local prices, a typical paycheck stretches further in Austin.

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.

Annual salary (gross)

Household size

Austin, TX

$61,314

take-home / yr · 18% to tax

$62,523

real value after local prices

Virginia Beach, VA

$57,747

take-home / yr · 23% to tax

$58,961

real value after local prices

On $75,000 for just you, Austin leaves you about $3,561/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.

Measure

Austin

Virginia Beach

Livability (CityLedger)

83/100

58/100

Cost of living (price level, US = 100)

98.1

97.9

Cost-adjusted income (pay's real value)

$101,867

$84,134

Median household income

$99,897

$82,402

Median rent

$1,784/mo

$1,556/mo

Median home value

$482,800

$363,400

Unemployment

3.9%

3.8%

Bachelor's degree or higher

52.3%

37%

Average commute

28.2 min

25.5 min

Air quality (median AQI)

Avg temperature

68°F

61°F

Choose Austin for

+ Livability (CityLedger)
+ Cost-adjusted income (pay's real value)
+ Median household income
+ Bachelor's degree or higher

Full Austin profile →

Choose Virginia Beach for

+ Median rent
+ Median home value
+ Average commute
+ Air quality (median AQI)

Full Virginia Beach profile →

Austin vs Virginia Beach — frequently asked

Is Austin cheaper than Virginia Beach?: They are about even — the overall cost of living in the Austin and Virginia Beach metros is within 3% of each other (BEA Regional Price Parities), so neither is meaningfully cheaper.
Which has higher household income, Austin or Virginia Beach?: Austin has the higher median household income — $99,897 versus $82,402 (U.S. Census Bureau, ACS), about 21% more.
Does a paycheck go further in Austin or Virginia Beach?: A paycheck stretches further in Austin. Adjusted for local prices, the median income is worth $101,867 there versus $84,134 in Virginia Beach.
Which has cheaper rent, Austin or Virginia Beach?: Virginia Beach has cheaper rent — a median of $1,556/mo versus $1,784/mo (U.S. Census Bureau, ACS).