Cost of Living
per year
per month
How Brownsville's prices compare to the US city average across major spending categories.
How far does your salary go in Brownsville?
Your $100,000 in Brownsville has the same purchasing power as $126,823 in the average US city. You'd need $26,823 less here to maintain that standard of living.
Demographics and workforce data from the US Census ACS 5-Year.
bachelor's or higher
Climate, safety, and walkability indicators.
See a side-by-side breakdown of cost of living, housing, and salaries.
Popular comparisons
Sorted by affordability — most affordable first.
Within 10 points of Brownsville's cost index of 79, sorted by closest match.
People moving to Brownsville usually have at least one specific reason. Most of them line up with what the data shows: a genuinely affordable place to land, wage income stays untaxed at the state level, plus 2 more things worth knowing. Here's what's actually on the table.
Cost of living lands at 79 on the composite index — about 21% under the US average. That's the kind of gap that shows up in the savings rate, not just the rent check. Median rent in town runs about $872/mo against a typical household income of $46,735, which is the kind of ratio that leaves room to save.
Wage income in Brownsville isn't taxed at the state level. Texas is one of the few US states with no income tax, which is one of the reasons people relocating from high-tax states tend to land here in the first place.
Brownsville reports about 2,306 crime incidents per 100,000 residents — a step below the US average of around 3,500. The citywide number averages over neighborhoods that can vary a lot, but the headline number is friendlier than most American cities of comparable size.
The average one-way commute in Brownsville is about 20 minutes — short by US standards (the national average is closer to 27). Over a year of working days, that's hundreds of hours that don't get spent in traffic, which is the kind of thing you notice in the weekend rather than the weekday.
Reasons are pulled from Brownsville's actual data — Census ACS, BLS, BEA, NOAA, EPA AQS, FBI, and Walk Score. We don't list positives that aren't supported by the numbers, which is why different cities show different sections.
Almost never. Brownsville's winter average of about 50°F is too warm for snow most years. A measurable snowfall is the kind of event that closes schools and gets photographed for the local paper.
Barely. Winter in Brownsville averages around 50°F — short, mild, mostly an excuse to break out a light jacket. Some plants don't even drop their leaves.
Genuinely hot. Summer in Brownsville averages about 93°F, and peak afternoons run well over a hundred. Outdoor plans move to mornings and evenings; AC is the most-used appliance in the house.
Zone 10, give or take a half-zone. Brownsville's typical winter low puts it in that band on the USDA Hardiness map, which is what nurseries label plants against. Use Zone 10 as your starting filter; the USDA's interactive map is more precise for borderline cases.
Brownsville sits roughly 10 feet (3 m) above sea level — basically at the waterline. Storm surge, king tides, and long-term sea-level rise are real considerations for any coastal property here.
Atlantic basin storms can form from June 1 to November 30, but the serious ones cluster in August, September, and the first half of October. Residents of Brownsville learn the season's rhythm fast: watch the cone, board up when it's the call, and don't shrug off the slow-mover storms — those are usually the ones that flood.
Average for an American city. Brownsville's reported crime rate of about 2,306 per 100,000 residents sits roughly in line with the US baseline of ~3,500. Like anywhere else, the citywide number masks real differences between neighborhoods — worth looking at specific areas before deciding.
No — your dollar actually goes further here. Brownsville's composite cost-of-living index is 79, roughly 21% under the US average. Housing is usually the biggest driver of the discount.
Not really — Brownsville is built around the car. Its Walk Score of 0 out of 100 means almost every errand is a drive. Living without a car is technically possible but real work; most residents wouldn't try it.
Roughly $55,195 a year would match the lifestyle of someone earning $70,000 in an average US city. That's a starting point, not a target — negotiate higher when you can. Median rent in Brownsville runs about $872/mo — keeping housing under 30% of gross income points to a similar floor on what you'd want to earn.