Living income for Houston families is over $100,000

Even as millions of middle- and lower-income Americans feel crushed by the costs of housing, transportation and groceries, Houston and other major Texas cities stand out as among the most affordable in the country for working families.

But a family with two children will still need to earn more than $100,000 a year, according to a new study, to cover basic needs such as food, child care and utilities in 85 of the 100 largest cities in the world. countries, including Austin, Dallas and Houston. and San Antonio.

That’s according to a new analysis from Creditnews Research, a website focused on personal finance, which examined what it takes to be “working class.”

Of course, the definition of “working class,” like that of “middle class,” is somewhat amorphous in the United States. Similarly, according to Creditnews Research, policymakers often debate what constitutes a “living wage.”

“It wasn’t that long ago that a six-figure income signaled financial success,” noted Sam Bourgi, senior analyst at Creditnews Research. “Today, in many parts of the country, a six-figure salary is barely considered working class – and it’s not even enough to cover the basic needs of an average family.”

According to the study, the least affordable cities in the country are San Jose, California, San Francisco and Boston. The least affordable city for Texas families is Austin, ranked 42nd nationally; Dallas came in 66th place.

WEALTH: Want to make it “middle class” in The Woodlands or Sugar Land? Here’s what you’ll have to earn.

Houston, the fourth largest city in the United States, ranks 79th most expensive city. For a family with two children in the Houston area, a living income starts at $102,105.

Of course, there is considerable variation in costs across the nine-county region. The median home price in Houston is about $340,000, according to recent data from Realtor.com, compared to a median of $572,000 in The Woodlands. The Woodlands and Sugar Land regions are distinguished by relatively high median household incomes.

San Antonio is ranked the 84th most expensive city in the country; an “average family” there can survive on an income of $100,345 per year. El Paso and McAllen rank among the two most affordable major cities in the country.

In El Paso, $90,239 per year is considered a living wage for a family with two children. And in McAllen, the same household can survive on $87,133, making it the only major city in the country with a living wage below $90,000.

For its study, CreditNews used data provided by the Living Wage Institute, a nonprofit organization run by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, which considers child care, civic engagement, nutrition, child care health, housing, internet access, transportation and other necessities as key elements of life. maintain “a minimum but adequate standard of living without depending on public assistance”.

This provides “a much more realistic cost of living benchmark than federal guidelines,” Creditnews Research said.