Shown is a comparison of how much square footage $1,500 in monthly rent can get you in McAllen, Texas versus Manhattan, New York. In 2026, $1,500 stretches further in McAllen than in any other city in the country that RentCafe analyzed. (Courtesy RentCafe)
In this economy, everyone is looking for ways to stretch their dollars especially when it comes to paying rent and some Texas cities are more affordable to live in than others. A new report is revealing just how much more space you can get for your money in South Texas compared to the state’s capital city.
According to RentCafe, McAllen in the Rio Grande Valley leads the nation in square feet for $1,500 a month. Whereas that same amount of money in Austin will get you the least amount of square feet in all of Texas.
Austin might be a fun city, but renting a $1,500 apartment could land you in a shoebox. Here’s how the city landed in a new study. (Chris LaBasco/Getty Images)
In McAllen, $1,500 rent can get you 1,378 square feet of living space, which is enough for a three- or four-bedroom apartment, per RentCafe. In Austin, on the other hand, $1,500 can only get you about 784 square feet, which is the size of a small one-bedroom or studio apartment.
The average rent in McAllen is just $993, and a typical apartment measures about 912 square feet.
“… McAllen renters get a lot more space for their money than most Americans do within that monthly budget,” the report says. “Still, that figure is down slightly from last year’s 1,393 square feet – a sign that even the most affordable markets are starting to tighten.”
Still, it’s not all bad in the capital city. The average rent in Austin is $1,415 per month, which is 15% lower than the national average ($1,661/month), according to Apartments.com. Other Texas cities where you can get more space for $1,500 were Lubbock (1,217 sq. ft.), El Paso (1,128), Corpus Christi (1,115) and Houston (976). San Antonio pops in at No. 9 for Texas with 1,023 square feet for $1,500.
At 1,023 square feet, San Antonio offers renters enough space for a two- to three-bedroom apartment- a tier most major Texas metros, including Houston and Fort Worth, don’t reach on the same budget, according to RentCafe. Some of Texas’ biggest cities like Houston, Arlington, Garland, Fort Worth, Irving, Plano and Dallas also outranked Austin for getting more space for stretching a $1,500 budget the furthest.
This article originally published at Here’s how much $1,500 can get you in South Texas vs. Austin.