Philadelphia vs San Antonio
Metro-area medians — Philadelphia-Camden-Wilmington, PA-NJ-DE-MD Metro Area vs San Antonio-New Braunfels, TX Metro Area — not the cities proper.
Philadelphia comes out ahead, winning 5 of the 9 clearly-decided measures.
San Antonio is about 8% cheaper to live in, while Philadelphia households earn about 16% more. Adjusted for local prices, a typical paycheck stretches further in Philadelphia.
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, San Antonio leaves you about $7,193/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 Philadelphia for
- + Livability (CityLedger)
- + Cost-adjusted income (pay's real value)
- + Median household income
- + Unemployment
- + Bachelor's degree or higher
Choose San Antonio for
- + Cost of living (price level, US = 100)
- + Median rent
- + Median home value
- + Average commute
Philadelphia vs San Antonio — frequently asked
- Is Philadelphia cheaper than San Antonio?
- San Antonio is cheaper: its overall cost of living runs about 8% below Philadelphia's (BEA Regional Price Parities).
- Which has higher household income, Philadelphia or San Antonio?
- Philadelphia has the higher median household income — $90,850 versus $78,112 (U.S. Census Bureau, ACS), about 16% more.
- Does a paycheck go further in Philadelphia or San Antonio?
- A paycheck stretches further in Philadelphia. Adjusted for local prices, the median income is worth $88,587 there versus $82,470 in San Antonio.
- Which has cheaper rent, Philadelphia or San Antonio?
- San Antonio has cheaper rent — a median of $1,422/mo versus $1,567/mo (U.S. Census Bureau, ACS).