Texas is home to the Alamo, Astrodome, and affordable abodes. Folks pour into places like Austin and San Antonio from more expensive states.
But, where exactly can you attend the annual Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo or go out for Tex-Mex while still finding a cheap place to live?
Our methodology for identifying Texas’s most affordable places to live is straightforward. We use Saturday Night Science and Census data to consider multiple factors, including median home prices, average rent costs, and costs of living. After comparing 370 cities, we arrived at this affordable list.
About 12.9 percent of Texas workers now work from home, the 22nd-highest share in the country — our state-by-state commute breakdown shows what that flip did to carpooling.
$40,438 median income · $806 median rent · #33 home prices in Texas
Located in
Hidalgo County, Texas
In Hidalgo County, you’ll find the cheapest city in the state – Donna. It squeaked onto the list with a manageable 79 overall cost of living index 14.0 points lower than the state average.
The home price to income of ratio 3.8 places 223rd best statewide. That means you have more of your income to spend on the annual trip to a Spurs game in San Antonio.
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
$51,442 median income · $881 median rent · #12 home prices in Texas
Located in
Willacy County, Texas
Raymondville, located in Willacy County in the southern part of Texas, is the second lowest cost city in the state. The city has the 12th best home price to income in the Lone Star State.
The cost of living index at 80 is below the state average, cementing Raymondville as a financially savvy selection. Smiley Face Park and Veteran’s Park offer something cheap to do with the family.
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
$36,426 median income · $689 median rent · #2 home prices in Texas
Located in
Falls County, Texas
Marlin is a fish out of water on this list, as it is one of the few places not near the border. Marlin is the third cheapest city in the Lone Star State. It’s easy to save money when home prices are $91,227 and the overall cost of living sits at 80, 14.0% lower than the Texas average.
Marlin is between Austin and Dallas outside of Waco. Falls On the Brazos Park is close by for an afternoon outing.
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
$69,097 median income · $938 median rent · #27 home prices in Texas
Located in western Texas near the New Mexico border, Muleshoe ranks as the fourth most affordable city in the state. Muleshoe really shines by having some of the lowest home prices in the state, with a median price tag of a measly $144,581. Combine that with a median income of $69,097, and you’ve got the ninth best home price to income ratio in Texas. So it’s probably best to buy instead of rent in Muleshoe if you want to take full advantage of the city’s uber-affordability.
In any case, most of the best things to do in Muleshoe won’t cost you a dime.
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
$48,000 median income · $839 median rent · #21 home prices in Texas
Located in
Stephens County, Texas
Have you ever heard of Gerald M. “Jerry” Tubbs? Yeah, the famous Dallas Cowboys football player? He’s hometown ranked fifth in affordability in Texas.
Breckenridge is a city that will make sure your bank account not only stays in the positive, but also builds. Breckenridge used to be a major oil town– so it knows how to get money.
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers | Compare
$43,639 median income · $839 median rent · #41 home prices in Texas
Located in
Cameron County, Texas
San Benito took home the top spot on the list of the cheapest cities in Texas for 2026. The rule in Texas for affordable living is the closer to the Mexican border, the more affordable. San Benito fits that bill as it’s right off of I-69E by the border in southeast Texas.
With an average home price of $164,028 and an average rent of $839, the overall cost of living index comes in at 82. The coast is nearby, and places like Adolph Thomae Jr County Park offer affordable fun.
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
$46,904 median income · $812 median rent · #26 home prices in Texas
Located in
Hidalgo County, Texas
Mercedes, another border town in southeast Texas, has the 26th lowest home prices and a solid 83rd best home-price-to-income ratio. The city has the seventh lowest overall cost of living.
Mercedes has been steadily getting cheaper over the years and has fun things to do, including being right next to Estero Llano Grande State Park, without breaking the budget.
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
$24,579 median income · $563 median rent · #4 home prices in Texas
Located in
Starr County, Texas
Roma is a city in Starr County, Texas, United States. The population was 9,765 at the 2010 census. The city is located along the Rio Grande, across from Ciudad Miguel Alemn in Tamaulipas, Mexico.
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
$36,328 median income · $518 median rent · #1 home prices in Texas
Crystal City, located in Zavala County, ranks as the ninth most affordable place in Florida. Homes in Crystal City are relatively cheap at a median price of $87,878, and with residents earning a median income of $36,328, Crystal City has the 19th best ratio of home price to income in Texas.
Crystal City has a rich history as a farming and ranching community and was once a major railroad stop. Today, it is known as the “Spinach Capital of the World” thanks to its thriving spinach industry. Additionally, the city played an important role in Mexican American political self-determination as the birthplace of the La Raza Unida Party.
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
$42,439 median income · $767 median rent · #22 home prices in Texas
Located in
Hidalgo County, Texas
We’re heading to Hidalgo County, near the Mexico border, to reach the tenth most affordable place in Texas, Elsa. The cost of living in Elsa is 25% lower than the Texas average, so you’ll pay less for things like healthcare, services, and transportation.
But where Elsa stands out is housing costs, which are only 31% of the national average. Elsa has the 22nd cheapest homes and tenth cheapest rent anywhere in Texas.
The median home price in Elsa is $139,852, while you can find a place to rent for just $767.
Just because Elsa is cheap, don’t think that it skimps on quality. The city is currently investing a bunch of money into a brand new park that will transform an old railroad site.
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
The receipts
Compare the top ten
Pick a metric. The bars rescale. The red line is Texas’s statewide median.
Texas statewide median: $300,957
Texas statewide median: $78,476
On the map
Where your money goes furthest in Texas
Saturday Night Science
Methodology: How we determined the most affordable places to live in the Lone Star State for 2026
Determining affordability for places in Texas boils down to how much it costs to live here.
You need to understand your costs relative to what people in the rest of the state are paying.
With that logic in mind, we derived several cost of living statistics from the latest Census American Community Survey 2020-2024 for Texas using Saturday Night Science. We indexed the cost of living statistics across the following categories:
- Housing
- Transportation
- Services
- Groceries
- Healthcare
- Utilities
These are then weighted together to produce an overall cost of living index where 100 is the United States average. Anything below 100 is relatively affordable. Anything over 100 is relatively expensive.
We applied the biggest weight to housing as it typically accounts for 25% or more of your budget. Additionally, housing costs are the highest variant cost across a state. We then compare these cost of living metrics for each place in Texas to figure out which is the least expensive.
The “Cost of Living Index” allows you to rank all of the 372 places in Texas that have more than 5,000 people from least expensive to most expensive. Any ties went to the larger city.
The place in Texas with the lowest cost of living according to the data is Donna.
We updated this article for 2026. This report reflects our eleventh time ranking the cheapest places to live in Texas. The median Texas home is 32 years old — old enough that it pays to compare home warranty plans before something expensive breaks.
The full plate
Cheapest Places To Live In Texas
Click any column to sort. Search by city name.
| Rank | City | Population | Cost Of Living Index | Median Income | Home Prices | Rent |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Donna | 16,833 | 79 | $40,438 | $153,823 | $806 |
| 2 | Raymondville | 10,185 | 80 | $51,442 | $116,079 | $881 |
| 3 | Marlin | 5,516 | 80 | $36,426 | $91,227 | $689 |
| 4 | Muleshoe | 5,667 | 81 | $69,097 | $144,581 | $938 |
| 5 | Breckenridge | 5,170 | 81 | $48,000 | $136,983 | $839 |
| 6 | San Benito | 24,709 | 82 | $43,639 | $164,028 | $839 |
| 7 | Mercedes | 16,733 | 82 | $46,904 | $143,756 | $812 |
| 8 | Roma | 11,545 | 82 | $24,579 | $100,107 | $563 |
| 9 | Crystal City | 6,159 | 82 | $36,328 | $87,878 | $518 |
| 10 | Elsa | 5,697 | 82 | $42,439 | $139,852 | $767 |
| 11 | Paris | 24,775 | 83 | $47,239 | $172,382 | $971 |
| 12 | Alamo | 20,255 | 83 | $57,096 | $173,085 | $811 |
| 13 | Pampa | 16,659 | 83 | $56,626 | $102,177 | $934 |
| 14 | Childress | 5,834 | 83 | $57,644 | $120,184 | $910 |
| 15 | Snyder | 11,241 | 84 | $57,902 | $140,331 | $1,033 |
| 16 | Hillsboro | 8,506 | 84 | $56,083 | $201,863 | $980 |
| 17 | La Feria | 6,891 | 84 | $45,081 | $182,096 | $1,037 |
| 18 | Littlefield | 5,822 | 84 | $60,636 | $109,265 | $1,059 |
| 19 | Sinton | 5,584 | 84 | $51,701 | $161,876 | $938 |
| 20 | Center | 5,271 | 84 | $48,293 | $198,363 | $823 |
| 21 | Pharr | 80,333 | 85 | $52,814 | $164,025 | $1,037 |
| 22 | San Juan | 36,149 | 85 | $56,562 | $182,709 | $961 |
| 23 | Alton | 20,214 | 85 | $52,715 | $194,873 | $1,038 |
| 24 | Palmview | 15,921 | 85 | $43,963 | $186,793 | $678 |
| 25 | Sweetwater | 10,385 | 85 | $44,892 | $108,067 | $907 |
| 26 | Vernon | 9,848 | 85 | $51,114 | $98,769 | $945 |
| 27 | Jacinto City | 9,432 | 85 | $47,318 | $158,350 | $1,242 |
| 28 | Yoakum | 5,846 | 85 | $46,810 | $214,802 | $931 |
| 29 | Harlingen | 72,087 | 86 | $53,645 | $197,377 | $928 |
| 30 | Port Arthur | 55,828 | 86 | $46,354 | $119,805 | $1,021 |
| 31 | Big Spring | 23,975 | 86 | $67,581 | $141,647 | $1,050 |
| 32 | Alice | 17,707 | 86 | $48,676 | $132,639 | $934 |
| 33 | Hereford | 14,840 | 86 | $56,868 | $172,976 | $953 |
| 34 | Port Lavaca | 11,358 | 86 | $70,123 | $185,838 | $849 |
| 35 | Freeport | 10,621 | 86 | $61,134 | $155,777 | $1,176 |
| 36 | Bellmead | 10,566 | 86 | $52,075 | $150,424 | $1,107 |
| 37 | Vidor | 9,708 | 86 | $62,192 | $178,683 | $820 |
| 38 | Brownfield | 8,738 | 86 | $42,150 | $121,914 | $811 |
| 39 | Lamesa | 8,393 | 86 | $49,007 | $112,628 | $813 |
| 40 | Atlanta | 5,439 | 86 | $60,259 | $163,217 | $924 |
| 41 | Cameron | 5,416 | 86 | $62,443 | $254,328 | $962 |
| 42 | Weslaco | 42,229 | 87 | $59,551 | $180,889 | $967 |
| 43 | Marshall | 23,825 | 87 | $55,089 | $162,206 | $949 |
| 44 | Plainview | 19,711 | 87 | $44,768 | $116,898 | $851 |
| 45 | Uvalde | 15,417 | 87 | $51,141 | $179,928 | $994 |
| 46 | Rio Grande City | 15,396 | 87 | $44,577 | $144,968 | $767 |
| 47 | Robstown | 10,236 | 87 | $34,436 | $113,142 | $956 |
| 48 | Cleveland | 8,984 | 87 | $54,519 | $233,636 | $930 |
| 49 | Jasper | 7,299 | 87 | $45,078 | $164,333 | $892 |
| 50 | Seminole | 7,184 | 87 | $60,390 | $253,279 | $858 |
| 51 | Mexia | 6,859 | 87 | $42,222 | $126,059 | $887 |
| 52 | Penitas | 6,444 | 87 | $48,993 | $172,286 | $697 |
| 53 | Wilmer | 6,391 | 87 | $59,626 | $226,033 | $1,364 |
| 54 | Brookshire | 5,495 | 87 | $65,934 | $348,438 | $1,264 |
| 55 | Rusk | 5,477 | 87 | $53,438 | $207,435 | $643 |
| 56 | Primera | 5,344 | 87 | $80,116 | $170,627 | $1,293 |
| 57 | Brady | 5,230 | 87 | $46,250 | $115,851 | $776 |
| 58 | Socorro | 37,123 | 88 | $54,744 | $208,216 | $1,032 |
| 59 | Gainesville | 17,883 | 88 | $58,809 | $250,182 | $1,038 |
| 60 | Beeville | 13,412 | 88 | $50,784 | $169,441 | $1,061 |
| 61 | Levelland | 12,466 | 88 | $58,000 | $145,131 | $846 |
| 62 | Borger | 12,226 | 88 | $61,583 | $108,129 | $910 |
| 63 | Burkburnett | 11,059 | 88 | $66,308 | $179,063 | $964 |
| 64 | Bonham | 10,697 | 88 | $57,681 | $226,435 | $1,073 |
| 65 | Galena Park | 10,487 | 88 | $51,220 | $160,586 | $1,184 |
| 66 | Commerce | 9,383 | 88 | $44,386 | $214,100 | $909 |
| 67 | Pearsall | 9,045 | 88 | $49,198 | $148,945 | $948 |
| 68 | Cuero | 8,165 | 88 | $56,480 | $220,762 | $903 |
| 69 | Lacy-Lakeview | 7,274 | 88 | $56,924 | $190,058 | $917 |
| 70 | Crockett | 6,364 | 88 | $38,869 | $185,185 | $855 |
| 71 | Edna | 6,027 | 88 | $59,600 | $212,347 | $1,055 |
| 72 | Slaton | 5,761 | 88 | $56,676 | $140,026 | $994 |
| 73 | Livingston | 5,718 | 88 | $48,841 | $197,158 | $1,104 |
| 74 | Mineola | 5,068 | 88 | $53,000 | $267,346 | $931 |
| 75 | Brownsville | 189,177 | 89 | $52,130 | $195,993 | $923 |
| 76 | Beaumont | 113,279 | 89 | $56,997 | $166,671 | $1,121 |
| 77 | Copperas Cove | 37,947 | 89 | $71,225 | $225,392 | $1,043 |
| 78 | Del Rio | 34,668 | 89 | $66,158 | $209,762 | $895 |
| 79 | Greenville | 31,222 | 89 | $62,781 | $242,395 | $1,311 |
| 80 | Corsicana | 25,511 | 89 | $57,212 | $176,467 | $1,093 |
| 81 | Orange | 19,177 | 89 | $62,891 | $179,847 | $1,108 |
| 82 | Palestine | 19,136 | 89 | $44,981 | $195,281 | $1,062 |
| 83 | Brownwood | 18,777 | 89 | $48,981 | $168,039 | $882 |
| 84 | Bay City | 17,730 | 89 | $53,840 | $197,990 | $1,025 |
| 85 | Gatesville | 16,228 | 89 | $57,217 | $240,954 | $1,007 |
| 86 | Jacksonville | 14,325 | 89 | $51,375 | $210,989 | $908 |
| 87 | Athens | 13,200 | 89 | $67,984 | $254,164 | $1,112 |
| 88 | Perryton | 8,585 | 89 | $69,514 | $123,310 | $1,005 |
| 89 | Navasota | 8,542 | 89 | $51,276 | $272,473 | $860 |
| 90 | Hutchins | 7,496 | 89 | $47,829 | $249,516 | $1,396 |
| 91 | Monahans | 7,452 | 89 | $70,677 | $193,259 | $1,110 |
| 92 | Carthage | 6,601 | 89 | $51,250 | $200,497 | $797 |
| 93 | Kermit | 5,689 | 89 | $81,170 | $131,769 | $1,071 |
| 94 | Rockdale | 5,523 | 89 | $60,590 | $241,931 | $1,115 |
| 95 | Sansom Park | 5,392 | 89 | $42,257 | $200,627 | $1,166 |
| 96 | Mabank | 5,187 | 89 | $54,889 | $274,129 | $994 |
| 97 | Mission | 87,038 | 90 | $60,767 | $220,634 | $950 |
| 98 | La Marque | 19,268 | 90 | $71,102 | $231,040 | $1,443 |
| 99 | Groves | 16,976 | 90 | $73,710 | $177,711 | $1,286 |
| 100 | Mineral Wells | 15,244 | 90 | $55,929 | $202,109 | $1,077 |
Source: U.S. Census ACS 2020-2024, cost-of-living data. 372 places with more than 5,000 residents.
Summary
Texas Affordability Summary
This is an accurate list of the most affordable places to live in Texas for 2026, if you’re looking at the cost of living numbers in Texas.
The cheapest cities in Texas are Donna, Raymondville, Marlin, Muleshoe, Breckenridge, San Benito, Mercedes, Roma, Crystal City, and Elsa. Not sold on Texas? Take the two-minute Find Your Place quiz and see which state actually fits you.
