Cost of Living
per year
per month
How El Paso's prices compare to the US city average across major spending categories.
How far does your salary go in El Paso?
Your $100,000 in El Paso has the same purchasing power as $118,357 in the average US city. You'd need $18,357 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 El Paso's cost index of 84, sorted by closest match.
If you're weighing a move to El Paso, the short answer is that the city has a few genuine arguments going for it — most obviously cheaper than the national average, with no fine print and no state income tax, plus 3 more things worth knowing. Here's the longer version.
El Paso sits at 84 on the composite cost-of-living index — about 16% under the national average. Not the cheapest place in the country, but enough of a discount to notice on rent and groceries every month. Median rent in town runs about $976/mo against a typical household income of $55,710, which is the kind of ratio that leaves room to save.
Texas is one of the handful of US states with no state income tax on wages, so the only income-tax bite on a paycheck in El Paso is federal. For a household earning $100k, that's a tangible four-figure difference every year compared to a comparable salary in California or New York.
El Paso reports roughly 1,703 crime incidents per 100,000 residents, well under the US average of about 3,500 per 100k. As always, citywide numbers paper over real differences between neighborhoods — but the broader trend here is on the calmer end of the US distribution.
El Paso's air quality index averages about 43 — comfortably in the EPA's "good" range. No daily ritual of checking the AQI before going for a run, no smoky-day plans, no surprise asthma flare-ups for the kids. The kind of background condition you notice mostly by its absence.
The average one-way commute in El Paso is about 24 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 El Paso'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.
Now and then. El Paso's winters are cool rather than truly cold — about 36°F on average — so most of the precipitation falls as rain. A snowy morning happens a few times a season; sustained accumulation is rare.
Mild on the cold side. El Paso's winter average of about 36°F is the kind of weather where you want a jacket but the heating bill is manageable. Snow is rare, frost is occasional, and the lawn never really browns out.
Genuinely hot. Summer in El Paso averages about 96°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.
Approximately USDA Hardiness Zone 9. That's the band gardeners use to pick plants — anything rated for Zone 9 or colder should survive a typical winter in El Paso. (The estimate is derived from our winter-temperature data; the official USDA map uses station-level annual minimums and may differ by half a zone.)
El Paso is at about 3,894 feet (1,187 m) — high enough that newcomers from sea level sometimes feel a touch winded the first few days, dehydrate faster than expected, and notice that water boils a little quicker. Acclimation is usually a week or so.
By the numbers, yes. El Paso reports roughly 1,703 crime incidents per 100,000 residents — well under the US average of about 3,500 per 100k. The big caveat applies as always: every city has neighborhoods that look nothing like the citywide average. But the citywide average here is genuinely good.
No — your dollar actually goes further here. El Paso's composite cost-of-living index is 84, roughly 16% under the US average. Housing is usually the biggest driver of the discount.
Not really — El Paso is built around the car. Its Walk Score of 4 out of 100 means almost every errand is a drive. Transit Score is 30 out of 100. Living without a car is technically possible but real work; most residents wouldn't try it.
Roughly $59,143 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 El Paso runs about $976/mo — keeping housing under 30% of gross income points to a similar floor on what you'd want to earn.