Cost of Living
per year
per month
How Waco's prices compare to the US city average across major spending categories.
How far does your salary go in Waco?
Your $100,000 in Waco has the same purchasing power as $112,020 in the average US city. You'd need $12,020 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 Waco's cost index of 89, sorted by closest match.
Waco has a handful of real selling points, and they're not the kind of thing you find in a brochure. Your dollar carries more weight here and texas doesn't tax your paycheck are the headliners, plus 2 more things worth knowing. The rest is below.
The composite cost-of-living index lands at 89, a comfortable 11% under the US norm. It shows up most clearly in housing, which is where the gap to coastal metros usually opens up. Median rent in town runs about $1,038/mo against a typical household income of $47,421, which is the kind of ratio that leaves room to save.
Living in Waco means no state income tax on your salary — Texas is one of nine states that simply doesn't have one. On a $100k income that's typically thousands of dollars a year that stay in your account instead of going to a state revenue department.
Average AQI in Waco comes in around 44, well into the "good" band. Clean air isn't a thing you appreciate until you've lived somewhere it wasn't — and this is the side of that line you want to be on.
Average commute time in Waco runs around 18 minutes one-way — short enough that it doesn't restructure your day. Compared to the 45-plus-minute commutes that are normal in major metros, the difference adds up to a real lifestyle gap.
Reasons are pulled from Waco'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.
Not really a snow town. With winters averaging 37°F, Waco sits in the mild-cold band where snowflakes appear occasionally and everything melts within a day. Most years see one storm worth talking about.
Cool, not cold. Winters in Waco sit around 37°F — sweater-and-jacket weather most days, with the occasional cold front that reminds you it's still winter.
Properly hot. Waco's summer averages around 94°F with daily highs that routinely break 100°F. The trick to summer here is starting the day at sunrise and staying inside through the worst of it.
Waco falls in roughly USDA Zone 9. The zone classification is based on average annual minimum temperatures, so it's the right lookup for whether perennials and trees will overwinter here. Note that this is approximate from our winter-temperature data — check the USDA map for the exact zone before betting an expensive plant on it.
Roughly 554 feet (169 m). That's modest elevation — comparable to most inland-Midwest and Southern cities.
Hurricane season covers June through November, with peak activity in late summer and early fall. For Waco, the practical advice is: have a few days of water and supplies on hand from August onward, know your evacuation route, and don't wait for the news to tell you a storm is "probably nothing" — track the cone yourself.
Middle of the pack. Waco comes in around 3,901 per 100,000, basically the national average. The interesting question is usually which neighborhood, not which city — that's where the real variation lives.
Waco is a genuinely affordable city by US standards. The composite index sits at 89 versus the 100 national baseline — about 11% cheaper overall, with housing doing most of the heavy lifting.
Waco's Walk Score is 4/100, firmly in the car-required tier. The layout assumes you'll drive to the grocery store, drive to work, drive everywhere.
As a rule of thumb, plan on about $62,489 to live in Waco the way a $70,000 earner lives in a typical US city. The math gets less forgiving the lower you go below that. Median rent in Waco runs about $1,038/mo — keeping housing under 30% of gross income points to a similar floor on what you'd want to earn.