Waterloo vs Wichita Falls
Metro-area medians — Waterloo-Cedar Falls, IA Metro Area vs Wichita Falls, TX Metro Area — not the cities proper.
Waterloo comes out ahead, winning 5 of the 7 clearly-decided measures.
Waterloo and Wichita Falls cost about the same to live in, but Waterloo households earn about 8% more. Adjusted for local prices, a typical paycheck stretches further in Waterloo.
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 $1,341/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 Waterloo for
- + Livability (CityLedger)
- + Cost-adjusted income (pay's real value)
- + Median household income
- + Unemployment
- + Bachelor's degree or higher
Waterloo vs Wichita Falls — frequently asked
- Is Waterloo cheaper than Wichita Falls?
- They are about even — the overall cost of living in the Waterloo and Wichita Falls metros is within 3% of each other (BEA Regional Price Parities), so neither is meaningfully cheaper.
- Which has higher household income, Waterloo or Wichita Falls?
- Waterloo has the higher median household income — $72,382 versus $66,981 (U.S. Census Bureau, ACS), about 8% more.
- Does a paycheck go further in Waterloo or Wichita Falls?
- A paycheck stretches further in Waterloo. Adjusted for local prices, the median income is worth $83,143 there versus $74,828 in Wichita Falls.
- Which has cheaper rent, Waterloo or Wichita Falls?
- Rents are close — $1,047/mo in the Waterloo metro versus $1,065/mo in Wichita Falls (U.S. Census Bureau, ACS).