Rent, home values, family budgets, pay and taxes for the Houston metro area, county by county.
Across the 9 counties in the metro with their own Zillow home value, the median typical home is worth $347,049. Values changed −1.7% over the past year and +13.1% over five years at the median county. A typical home costs 3.02 years of median family income at the median county.
With 10% down at 7.03%, the average 30-year rate on September 24, 2026, that home costs about $2,739 a month with tax, insurance and mortgage insurance, which takes $117,400 a year of income under the usual 28% guideline. The median family can afford its own county's typical home in 1 of the 9 counties, against 44.9% of counties nationally. Try it with your own income.
The most expensive counties in the metro are Austin County ($428,059), Fort Bend County ($380,844) and Waller County ($364,635); the least expensive are Liberty County ($234,145), Harris County ($280,978) and Galveston County ($321,294).
The Economic Policy Institute prices what a modest but adequate standard of living costs in every county. In the median county of the metro, that comes to $50,362 a year for one adult and $107,355 for two adults and two children, of which $19,649 is childcare, against national averages of $47,367 and $101,771. Median family income is $107,271 in the median county.
Prices across Texas as a whole run 2.9% below the national average and rents 3.5% below the national average, by the Bureau of Economic Analysis's state measure. Median pay across all jobs in the state is $48,620 a year. Texas has no state income tax on wages. These are statewide figures, not measured for the metro itself. The metro lies within Texas. Compare a salary with another state or work out take-home pay.
| Austin County | $428,059 | −0.8% | $1,943 | $95,354 | $99,735 |
| Brazoria County | $326,748 | −1.3% | $1,766 | $109,768 | $104,823 |
| Chambers County | $351,582 | +0.9% | $2,113 | $121,384 | $115,061 |
| Fort Bend County | $380,844 | −2.1% | $2,024 | $127,048 | $118,392 |
| Galveston County | $321,294 | −1.8% | $1,593 | $107,271 | $107,355 |
| Harris County | $280,978 | −2.3% | $1,601 | $86,227 | $99,674 |
| Liberty County | $234,145 | −1.7% | $1,556 | $74,812 | $101,467 |
| Montgomery County | $347,049 | −1.4% | $1,755 | $114,809 | $109,667 |
| Waller County | $364,635 | −2.2% | $2,310 | $85,383 | $107,619 |
A dash means the source publishes no figure for that county. Metro membership follows Zillow's own county-to-metro assignment.
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