A recent analysis by SmartAsset revealed that residents of Houston, El Paso, and Lubbock, Texas, require the lowest salaries to live comfortably. Using data from the Living Wage Calculator in February 2024, SmartAsset found that Houston had the lowest hourly wage, salary for a single adult, and salary for a family of four needed to live comfortably among 99 of the largest U.S. cities.
The analysis followed the 50/30/20 rule, estimating that 50% of the spending should be on needs, 30% on wants, and 20% on paying debt, saving, or investing. It was found that the average urban U.S. adult needs to earn $96,500 annually for sustainable comfort. For a family of two adults and two children, this figure rises to $235,000 and surpasses $300,000 in six cities.
The analysis calculated that Houston residents need to pull in slightly over $75,000 to live comfortably, or just over $36 an hour. For a family of four, this increases to $175,219 a year. According to estimates from Payscale, the cost of living in Houston is 8% lower than the national average — and 18% lower for housing. RentCafe estimates show the average rent in Houston is $1,348 a month.
Four cities in the top five are in Texas — El Paso ranked second at $75,254 a year for a single adult or $180,461 for a family of four. Lubbock came in third at $75,739 a year for a single adult. Lubbock ranked fifth on GOBankingRates' list of the fastest-growing, most affordable cities, with a five-year growth of 4.4% and a typical home value of $204,500.
Other cities in the top 10 included Milwaukee, Tulsa, and Cleveland, which all have hourly wages below $40 for a single adult.
New York City, perhaps expectedly, is ranked as having the highest salary the average resident needs to live comfortably. The average salary for a single adult is $138,750 — which comes out to $66.62 an hour — or $318,406 for a family of four. Per RentHop data, the average one-bedroom apartment costs $4,000, while a two-bedroom apartment costs $4,875.
Seven of the 10 most expensive cities are in California, all of which are well above $100,000 for a single adult's salary. San Jose, Irvine, and Santa Ana were all above $126,000. San Francisco had the highest total salary for a family of four at over $339,000 a year. Many people have told BI they recently moved from California to states such as Texas, Tennessee, and Oklahoma for lower costs of living.