Cost of living in Austin comparing to SF? (Houston, Dallas: appointed, sales)

[HEKTO]

I have heard many times that cost of living in Austin is lower then in San Francisco Bay Area (suburbs). I understand that housing is cheaper in Austin, but property taxes are high. But lets put aside housing - what else is cheaper in Austin? I doubt that cars, furniture, appliances and electronics are cheaper in Austin, but please correct me if I'm wrong. Are groceries less expensive? Home repairs? Daycare? I will realy appreciate examples from people that live or used to live in both location.

Thank you

[AustinGuy]

Gas is cheaper. Currently gas is $2.99 a gallon here. I imagine it is still in the mid to upper $3 range there.

[OpenD]

Originally Posted by HEKTO

I have heard many times that cost of living in Austin is lower then in San Francisco Bay Area (suburbs).

You can ask for subjective opinions, but I prefer objective information. The monthly Consumer Price Index surveys are standardized looks at Cost of living in different communities. The market profile may different from your own, but by making appropriate adjustments for your specific lifestyle you can get a good idea of how they compare.

As far as City to City, San Francisco currently shows as being 49% more expensive overall than Austin, with housing, yes, being the largest category. You can have roughly the same standard of living on $52,000 in Austin that would take an income of $100,000 to match in S.F.

For example food is indexed in S.F. as 114 against a national index (averge) of 100, while Austin is at 84. IOW SF food prices are higher than average, while Austin prices are lower than average, and the difference is about 30%.

The only category were SF is slightly less than Austin is utilities, and I think that primarily relates to the fact that we need to run air conditioning constantly to cool our homes nearly half the year, whereas my good friend's home in the Bay Area doesn't even have air conditioning, because it is not needed.

Suburb? What suburb? It makes a huge difference specifically which suburb you mean, but you didn't say. Some are cheaper than SF proper, some are more expensive. But in any of them you have to deal with state income tax, which Texas doesn't have, and that's another big chunk. And you can drive a cheaper car in Austin without shame, and that's another big chunk, etc.

Best gas prices today? $3.39 SF - $2.87 Austin

[NativeTexan76]

Definitely, housing is the biggest difference between Austin and SF Bay Area. Our $300K house in Austin suburbs (about 10 mi west of downtown) would be worth at least 3X more in Marin (where we used to live ~10 mi from SF). The property tax rate is higher in Texas, but nobody forces you to live in an expensive house. We pay ~$4.5K in property taxes annually (tax rate is lower b/c we live in unincorporated area + homestead exemption). Property taxes in CA on a similar house would probably be around $10K (~1%).

Also, there is no state income tax in Austin. In CA, I believe everything over $40K is taxed at around 10%. If you are making the same income in Texas and maintain a similar standard of living, you can save a lot of money. (e.g. at $100K salary, savings are >$6K per year. at $200K, savings are >$14K. Of course, it depends on your personal tax situation, but these estimates are roughly correct, in my experience.)

Generally, everything else is a little less expensive in Austin. For example, a similar preschool is about $900/mo here vs $1,100 for similar preschool in Marin. Nannies/babysitters charge around $12/hr here vs. $15-20 in SF Bay Area. Groceries seem to be a little less expensive, but not a huge difference. Gas is a little cheaper. Going out to eat at a kid-restaurant for a family of 4 is less expensive (~$40 here vs. ~$60 in SF Bay Area). If you are careful and don't increase your standard of living in Austin, all of these little savings add up, and you can save a lot of money.

[mark311]

Yes, housing is the major difference in cost of living between the two areas. Of course, it even comes down to where in the San Francisco Bay that you're talking about. I lived in the South Bay for a couple years (Santa Clara/Cupertino border) and as mentioned gas cost me about $25 more per month there. I've done the math for my personal expenses and when you compare apples to apples, with housing aside, I probably pay about $100 to $150 less here per month ($1200 to $1800 per year) than what we did in Santa Clara for non-housing costs.

Costco, Kohl's, Fry's, Whole Foods, Trader Joes, restaurants, etc. all have the same pricing for the places that we frequent. As stated, everything else really depends. I can go out to eat at a Mexican food place with my family in both areas and spend under $40. I've found cars and home repairs to be more expensive in the Austin area. I normally drive to Dallas, Houston, or San Antonio to buy cars (I've bought 5 cars here in TX in the past 7 years and never found a deal in the Austin area for any of them (Toyota, Honda, Mazda, Hyundai). Groceries can be a bit cheaper if you shop at HEB and Walmart, but Randall's here is under the same ownership as Safeway and it's pretty much the same.

So, personally, I wouldn't calculate any other real cost savings aside from housing when putting together any spreadsheets to aid you in your move. As you know, someone living in Milpitas for example can have a lower cost of living than someone in Cupertino because they could buy all their stuff at Walmart for example. It really depends on the person, but when I go grab lunch with co-workers here, I spend the same $9 or $10 on a good sandwich combo or cheeseburger combo just like I did at Quizno's in Palo Alto or Kirk's Steakburgers.

[hoffdano]

Originally Posted by OpenD

You can ask for subjective opinions, but I prefer objective information. The monthly Consumer Price Index surveys are standardized looks at Cost of living in different communities. The market profile may different from your own, but by making appropriate adjustments for your specific lifestyle you can get a good idea of how they compare.

As far as City to City, San Francisco currently shows as being 49% more expensive overall than Austin, with housing, yes, being the largest category. You can have roughly the same standard of living on $52,000 in Austin that would take an income of $100,000 to match in S.F.

For example food is indexed in S.F. as 114 against a national index (averge) of 100, while Austin is at 84. IOW SF food prices are higher than average, while Austin prices are lower than average, and the difference is about 30%.

The only category were SF is slightly less than Austin is utilities, and I think that primarily relates to the fact that we need to run air conditioning constantly to cool our homes nearly half the year, whereas my good friend's home in the Bay Area doesn't even have air conditioning, because it is not needed.

Suburb? What suburb? It makes a huge difference specifically which suburb you mean, but you didn't say. Some are cheaper than SF proper, some are more expensive. But in any of them you have to deal with state income tax, which Texas doesn't have, and that's another big chunk. And you can drive a cheaper car in Austin without shame, and that's another big chunk, etc.

Best gas prices today? $3.39 SF - $2.87 Austin

I think you are misrepresenting the impact of 49% higher COL in SF.

If it takes $52K to live in Austin, 49% higher is $77,480, not $100,000. $100K is 92% higher than $52K.

[COCUE]

I don't know about the everyday costs comparisons between Austin and Bay Area since we will be moving from Bay Area to Austin next month. For us, we live in a S F suburb, on the Peninsula, the big costs outside of housing, are daycare / preschool / childcare for our 3 kids which cost us $5,000 per month (with sibling discount) at the same preschool/ daycare for full time attendance. This has varied from about $3,800 for full time nanny care to about $4,500 for combo part time nanny/ part time preschool. We have found several great facilities in Austin that we've talked to and would cost around $2,700 /2,800 for all 3 kids for full time. That savings blows our mind, that alone would make a huge difference to our lives.

[NativeTexan76]

Originally Posted by COCUE

I don't know about the everyday costs comparisons between Austin and Bay Area since we will be moving from Bay Area to Austin next month. For us, we live in a S F suburb, on the Peninsula, the big costs outside of housing, are daycare / preschool / childcare for our 3 kids which cost us $5,000 per month (with sibling discount) at the same preschool/ daycare for full time attendance. This has varied from about $3,800 for full time nanny care to about $4,500 for combo part time nanny/ part time preschool. We have found several great facilities in Austin that we've talked to and would cost around $2,700 /2,800 for all 3 kids for full time. That savings blows our mind, that alone would make a huge difference to our lives.

Yes, the cost of childcare is a big difference. I probably under-estimated the child care cost difference in my previous post. The preschool in Austin is open longer hours and doesn't have as many days off/breaks, so the real cost difference is probably $900 in Austin vs. $1,500 in Marin.

[Idlewile]

The only appreciable COL differences I find between Austin and the Bay Area (where I'm from and where my family is) are housing, childcare and gas. Utilities, insurance and food (with the exception of good deals at HEB, they are cheaper on the whole than competitors) shake out to about the same.

I was surprised/disappointed to discover utilities and insurance here are more than I expected but the media goes overboard with the 'Austin is so cheap' angle and I believed it. Of course they don't promote the requisite quarterly pest (bug) control and allergy medication needed either so those are costs I didn't count on either .

[mamacatnv]

We moved here from Reno, NV with family in the San Francisco Bay area so we were in the area frequently.

Our kids are no longer young so I have no clue about daycare.

As an individual the only thing that we noted as cheaper was gas.
Our Insurances, home, health and auto are all higher.
Property taxes are high, no state income taxes but we have sales tax.
As many have said, with the exception of HEB most of the grocery chains are the same and one can find many of the same chain restaurants.
The cost of a movie is slightly less than San Francisco but higher than Reno.

My electric is cheaper, the natural gas is about the same and trash, water & sewer are insanely higher, mainly the water.

There is far less decent public transportation so one almost always has the cost of a vehicle along with fuel, parking etc.