Texas — cost of household essentials

Texas is about 3% less expensive than the US average.

Price parity multiplier 0.971 (US = 1.000). This is a level comparison, which state data supports; it is not a rate of change.

• The two figures describe different households. The basket is a family of 4 basket; the income is the median across households of every size (the average US household is about 2.5 people). A family of 4 typically earns more than that median, so this ratio overstates what such a household would actually face.
• The two figures describe different years. Income is Census ACS 2024; the basket is priced at 2026. Inflation between those years is counted in the basket but not in the income.
• Read this as a scale comparison between two published figures — not as the share of income a household here spends on essentials, which Basket Index does not measure.

• Every dollar figure is the estimated cost of a fixed, modelled basket priced with published US federal averages. It is not measured household expenditure — no household was surveyed.
• The cost level shown is specific to Texas. The rate of change is not: BLS publishes no monthly CPI for individual states, so this brief uses the South Census region CPI. Every state in that region shares this rate by construction, and this brief therefore makes no claim about Texas rising faster or slower than any other state.
• 10 of 10 basket items are modeled: the national observation is adjusted to Texas using its published regional price level rather than being measured there. These items are marked "Modeled" in the provenance table.
• The basket covers recurring household essentials — groceries, fuel, electricity and rent. It excludes taxes, childcare, healthcare premiums, debt service and discretionary spending, so it is not a household budget and not a living-wage figure.
• Rent context is HUD Fair Market Rent for ZIP 75201, fiscal year 2027. HUD publishes this annually, so it moves once a year, not monthly.
• Basket Index publishes no wage, salary, living-wage or self-sufficiency figure, and this brief must not be cited as one.