Houston vs Miami
Metro-area medians — Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands, TX Metro Area vs Miami-Fort Lauderdale-West Palm Beach, FL Metro Area — not the cities proper.
Houston comes out ahead, winning 5 of the 8 clearly-decided measures.
Houston costs about 16% less to live in, and household incomes are similar. Adjusted for local prices, a typical paycheck stretches further in Houston.
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, Houston leaves you about $8,455/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 Houston for
- + Livability (CityLedger)
- + Cost of living (price level, US = 100)
- + Cost-adjusted income (pay's real value)
- + Median rent
- + Median home value
Choose Miami for
- + Unemployment
- + Bachelor's degree or higher
- + Air quality (median AQI)
Houston vs Miami — frequently asked
- Is Houston cheaper than Miami?
- Houston is cheaper: its overall cost of living runs about 16% below Miami's (BEA Regional Price Parities).
- Which has higher household income, Houston or Miami?
- Household incomes are similar — $81,417 in the Houston metro versus $80,625 in Miami (U.S. Census Bureau, ACS).
- Does a paycheck go further in Houston or Miami?
- A paycheck stretches further in Houston. Adjusted for local prices, the median income is worth $82,549 there versus $70,628 in Miami.
- Which has cheaper rent, Houston or Miami?
- Houston has cheaper rent — a median of $1,469/mo versus $2,083/mo (U.S. Census Bureau, ACS).