El Paso vs McAllen
Metro-area medians — El Paso, TX Metro Area vs McAllen-Edinburg-Mission, TX Metro Area — not the cities proper.
McAllen comes out ahead, winning 5 of the 9 clearly-decided measures.
McAllen is about 5% cheaper to live in, while El Paso households earn about 5% more. Adjusted for local prices, a typical paycheck stretches about as far in either.
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, McAllen leaves you about $3,189/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.
Choose El Paso for
- + Livability (CityLedger)
- + Median household income
- + Unemployment
- + Bachelor's degree or higher
Choose McAllen for
- + Cost of living (price level, US = 100)
- + Median rent
- + Median home value
- + Average commute
- + Air quality (median AQI)
El Paso vs McAllen — frequently asked
- Is El Paso cheaper than McAllen?
- McAllen is cheaper: its overall cost of living runs about 5% below El Paso's (BEA Regional Price Parities).
- Which has higher household income, El Paso or McAllen?
- El Paso has the higher median household income — $59,834 versus $56,720 (U.S. Census Bureau, ACS), about 5% more.
- Does a paycheck go further in El Paso or McAllen?
- It is roughly a wash. After adjusting income for local prices, a typical paycheck is worth about the same in both metros ($66,547 versus $66,034).
- Which has cheaper rent, El Paso or McAllen?
- McAllen has cheaper rent — a median of $971/mo versus $1,081/mo (U.S. Census Bureau, ACS).