With Fort Worth constantly growing and undertaking multiple high-profile developments this year, we figured it was time to talk about the cost of planting some roots in Cowtown.
The median household income in Tarrant County is $71,400, according to the US Census Bureau. State-wise, Texas is No. 24 in the country for median income at ~$66,963 per household.
The overall cost of living in FTW is just over the national average and higher than the rest of the state. Here’s how the cost of living pans out in other areas of life:
- Healthcare | Lower than other parts of Texas, lower than the national average
- Groceries + housing | Higher than other parts of Texas, lower than the national average
- Transportation | Higher than other parts of Texas, higher than the national average
- Misc. | Higher than other parts of Texas, higher than the national average
Breaking down the numbers
Hypothetically speaking, if you live in a household that brings in $50,000 annually — according to experts — you shouldn’t spend more than 30% of your monthly gross income on rent and utilities. Don’t worry, we did the math for you — your max monthly budget would be $1,250. The average monthly rent for an apartment in FTW is $1,455 — putting you over budget.
According to a recent study by Attom Data Solutions, it’s actually more affordable to buy a home in Tarrant County than to rent.
Interested in seeing Fort Worth’s prices compared to cities in other states? We played around on NerdWallet’s cost of living calculator, where you can put in any city along with your current pre-tax household income to find out what other cities you could afford to live in.
We took a look at the cost of living in Fort Worth compared to Austin. Here’s what we found:
- The cost of living is 29% higher in the state capital.
- To maintain our standard of living, we would need to bring in $64,571 to our Austin household.
- The average home in Austin is 88.3% higher than in Fort Worth.
Cowtown also has entities such as Fort Worth Housing Solutions + other government-funded programs to help develop more affordable units.
There are also a number of local development firms working on apartments seemingly all the time — from Deco 969 on Commerce Street to the affordable and supportive housing developments from the Fort Worth Housing Finance Corporation.
