HOUSTON, Texas (KTRK) — The cost of living is an important factor in many people’s lives.
ABC News’ Price Tracker is an interactive tool that provides information about the price of household items and services that people use. The app includes prices and trend lines for groceries, gas, housing, and airfare.
Using the most recent data available, the ABC News Price Tracker can show you which grocery items have seen the largest price hikes nationwide and how housing costs have changed both nationwide and locally.
The price of a house in the U.S. is $357,445 as of January 2026, according to data from Zillow.
In the Houston metro area, the typical price of a single-family home is $302,329, which is 15.4% lower than the national average. When adjusted for inflation, the typical price of a single-family home in the Houston metro area is 1.4% higher than it was 5 years ago and 14.6% higher than it was 10 years ago, according to Zillow data.
Economists and financial market experts explain why the cost of living has increased in some areas of life.
“There are many issues or many factors that contribute to the high prices, such as inflation, labor market tension, the interest rate issue, and macroeconomic issues like uncertainty, such as tariffs,” Rice University’s Baker Institute for Public Policy Fellow, Joyce Beebe, Ph.D., said.
The latest update to the price tracker adds a new feature that shows average domestic flight prices in your market.
The price of flights between Houston-area airports and some U.S. cities was lower than in previous years, when adjusted for inflation, according to the most recent data from the U.S. Department of Transportation.
As of the second quarter of 2025, flights between Houston’s George Bush Intercontinental Airport and New York’s JFK were $215. When adjusted for inflation, the average airfare in each direction is 37.5% lower than it was in the second quarter of 2015, according to the U.S. DOT.
While there is good news about the prices of some goods and services decreasing after inflation adjustment, economists told ABC13 that rising prices in key areas are straining people trying to make ends meet and could eventually weaken the economy.
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