A new SmartAsset study named Austin the No. 67 highest salary among U.S. cities needed to live comfortably in 2026. Cities were ranked by the lowest annual salary needed for a single adult to live in “sustainable comfort” using the 50/30/20 budgeting rule: 50% of your post-tax income goes to needs, 30% to your wants and 20% gets set aside for the future. 

In this year’s study, the good news is that single and multi-family Austinites don’t have to make as much as they did last year in order to live comfortably. To determine the results, SmartAsset analyzed 100 of the largest U.S. cities and used February MIT cost of living data including the costs for housing, food, transportation and income taxes for childless adults and two working adults with two children.

Single Austin adults need to make $98,550 to be considered financially stable, which is $3,037 less than they did in 2025. For a working family of four, both parents should be bringing in a household income of $229,050 to live comfortably in Austin. That salary is $4,326 less than what families needed to make last year.

The median household income in Austin is $90,430, according to the study. Whereas, another major Central Texas city south of Austin had one of the lowest salaries needed to live comfortably in America.

San Antonio had the lowest salary threshold for both single adults and families of four. Single Alamo City residents only need to make $83,242 in order to live comfortably and families of four need a salary of $192,608, per the study.

San Antonio’s median household income ($66,176), which is $24,254 less than Austin. Other Texas cities that were cheaper to live in than Austin were Houston (No. 89), Dallas, Garland and Irving (all three tied for No. 72), Arlington and Fort Worth (both tied for No. 68).

Texas’ most expensive cities were Frisco, McKinney and Plano, all three of which tied for the No. 29 highest salary needed to live comfortably in the U.S.