$100,000 salary goes further in Houston than most cities, study shows

Cashing In

A $100,000 salary goes further in Houston than Dallas. Photo by Alexander Mils on Unsplash

Even with Houston's ever-changing cost of living, earning a six-figure salary in the city is going much further than it used to, according to an income study by fintech company SmartAsset.

An annual $100,000 salary in Houston is worth $83,343 after taxes and when adjusted for the city's cost of living, the report revealed. That's $5,254 more than what six-figure-earning Houstonians were bringing home last year, a separate report from GoBankingRates.com found.

In SmartAsset's rankings of U.S. cities where $100,000 is worth the most, Houston ranked ninth.

The report warns a six-figure salary may seem comfortable at first, but it may not stretch as far depending on where an individual lives, any applicable tax obligations, and the rate of inflation.

"Earning $100,000 places an individual tax filer at the upper limit of the 22 percent federal tax bracket," the report's author wrote. "But taxes aren’t the only factor. The cost of living varies widely across the country, affecting how much purchasing power remains after necessary expenses."

Manhattan, New York is the No. 1 place where a six-figure salary is worth the least, where a New Yorker's take-home pay is only worth $30,362 after taxes and adjusted for the cost of living.

Other U.S. cities where a $100,000 salary goes the furthest
The U.S. city where a six-figure salary goes the furthest is Oklahoma City, where residents come away with $89,989 after all expenses.

Texas cities dominated the top 10 list. Texas doesn't impose state or local income taxes, which likely boosted its statewide six-figure salary value.

Six-figure earners living in El Paso see the greatest amount in take-home pay statewide, according to SmartAsset, with residents making $89,114 annually after taxes and expenses in 2025. That's $274 more than 2024's take-home pay.

The three additional Texas cities where a $100,000 salary goes the furthest after taxes and expenses are:

  • No. 3 – Corpus Christi ($88,015)
  • No. 6 – Lubbock ($86,846)
  • No. 7 – San Antonio ($86,084)

Six-figure salaries don't stretch as far in Dallas-Fort Worth. An annual $100,000 salary in Dallas is worth only $77,197 after taxes and expenses, which is about $900 less than what six-figure-earning Dallasites brought home in 2024.

Those living in Plano are taking home even less: The study says a Plano resident's six-figure salary is only worth $71,372 in 2025.

In the report's rankings of U.S. cities where $100,000 is worth the least, Plano ranked at No. 26, while Dallas ranked 38th.

SmartAsset used its paycheck calculator to apply federal, state and local taxes to an annual salary of $100,000 in 69 of the largest American cities, which was then adjusted for the local cost of living (which included average costs for housing, groceries, utilities, transportation, and miscellaneous goods and services).

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A version of this story originally appeared on sister site, CultureMap.com.

Houstonians get to keep a good bit of cash in their pockets. Photo by Jacob Power

Houston declared one of the most affordable places to live and work in 2019

Bayou City Banks

A new study indicates it's worth it to live and work in Houston. The study, done by BusinessStudent.com, puts Houston among the country's 25 most affordable places to live and work for 2019.

Four other Texas cities appear ahead of Houston in the report: Fort Worth (No. 7), College Station (No. 18), Irving (No. 21), and Dallas (No. 22). Noticeably absent from the top 25 are Austin and San Antonio.

"Making a high salary is great," BusinessStudent.com points out, "but if rents are so high that you have very little disposable income left over, are you going to be able to put money away for a rainy day?"

"Obviously," the website adds, "a person's individual cultural and social tastes should also be considered, but from a purely financial standpoint, it would be wise to consult this list ... before you begin your next job or home search."

To come up with its list, BusinessStudent.com examined salaries for 100 business-related jobs on Indeed.com and compared them with the average rent of a two-bedroom apartment listed on Rentjungle.com. In the top three positions on BusinessStudent.com's affordability list are Tulsa, Oklahoma; Lexington, Kentucky; and Oklahoma City, Oklahoma.

The study found that in Houston, residents had 79 percent of their salary left after paying rent. That's based on an average annual salary of $79,579 and average monthly rent of $1,401.

Fort Worth residents have it the best in Texas, with 82 percent of their salary left after housing costs, with an average annual salary of $75,797 and rent of $1,108. In College Station, 80 percent of the average salary ($55,086) remained after paying rent ($906 a month).

In Irving, 79 percent of the average annual salary ($77,527) was left after paying rent ($1,327 a month). Dallas had the same share of salary remaining after paying rent (79 percent), but the average salary ($82,609) and average rent ($1,422) were considerably higher than Fort Worth or Irving — and slightly higher than Houston.

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This story originally appeared on CultureMap.

The study examined used the average annual salary for white-collar "business" jobs in Houston. Photo by Zview/Getty Images

Salaries stretch further in Houston than most metros

Bayou city banks

It truly pays to live and work in Houston. A new ranking from BusinessStudent.com puts the Bayou City — and Dallas and Fort Worth, too — among the top 10 places in the U.S. for stretching your salary.

To come up with its ranking, BusinessStudent.com examined the average annual salary for 127 white-collar "business" jobs listed on career website Indeed — such as HR director, marketing manager, and IT manager — and subtracted the average rent for a two-bedroom apartment, based on data from apartment search website Rent Jungle. According to that measure, Houston is No. 7. Dallas is tops in the Lone Star State at No. 4, while Fort Worth is No. 9.

In all, BusinessStudent.com sifted through data for 65 major U.S. markets.

"When deciding where to work and live, it is critical to look at more than just what salary you can make," BusinessStudent.com says. "Because if rents are sky high, you may net out at zero, or even worse with mounting credit card debt."

The BusinessStudent.com study calculated an average yearly salary of $79,579 in Houston and an average monthly rent of $1,401 for a two-bedroom apartment. The difference: $62,767.

BusinessStudent.com also computed an average yearly salary of $82,609 in Dallas and average monthly rent of $1,422 for a two-bedroom apartment. That resulted in a difference of $65,545, behind Palo Alto and San Jose, both in Northern California, and Detroit.

In Houston, at least, all types of workers are benefiting from stable rent growth. According to apartment search website Apartment List, the growth of rent for a two-bedroom apartment in Houston has gone up 3.6 percent over the past year, 0.8 percent in Austin, 0.4 percent in San Antonio, flat in Dallas, and 1.8 percent statewide.

For Fort Worth, the average yearly salary for a white-collar job added up to $75,797, according to BusinessStudent.com, with average monthly rent of $1,108 for a two-bedroom apartment. That left a gap of $62,501.

Aside from Houston, Dallas, and Fort Worth, Irving (No. 12) and Plano (No. 19) showed up in BusinessStudent.com's top 25.

In Irving, BusinessStudent.com discovered the average yearly salary was $77,527, with average monthly rent of $1,327 for a two-bedroom apartment. The difference was $61,603.

Plano had an average yearly salary of $75,988, with average monthly rent of $1,350 for a two-bedroom apartment. The gap: $59,788.

At the other end of the spectrum, College Station ranked No. 1 in the country for the lowest after-rent salary. There, the average yearly salary for a white-collar job was calculated at $55,086, with average monthly rent of $906 for a two-bedroom apartment. The leftover amount: $44,214.

San Antonio was the only other Texas city in the bottom 25. In the Alamo City, the average yearly salary was computed as $67,195, with average monthly rent of $1,195 for a two-bedroom apartment. The difference: $52,855. That put San Antonio at No. 12 among the bottom 25.

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This story originally appeared on CultureMap.

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Houston femtech co. debuts new lactation and wellness pods

mom pod

Houston-based femtech company Work&, previously known as Work&Mother, has introduced new products in recent months aimed at supporting working mothers and the overall health of all employees.

The company's new Lactation Pod and Hybrid Pod serve as dual-use lactation and wellness spaces to meet employer demand, the company shared in a news release. The compact pods offer flexible design options that can serve permanent offices and nearly all commercial spaces.

They feature a fully compliant lactation station while also offering wellness functionalities that can support meditation, mental health, telehealth and prayer. In line with Work&'s other spaces, the pods utilize the Work& scheduling platform, which prioritizes lactation bookings to help employers comply with the PUMP Act.

“This isn’t about perks,” Jules Lairson, Work& co-founder and COO, said in the release. “It’s about meeting people where they are—with dignity and intentional design. That includes the mother returning to work, the employee managing anxiety, and everyone in between.”

According to the company, several Fortune 500 companies are already using the pods, and Work& has plans to grow the products' reach.

Earlier this year, Work& introduced its first employee wellness space at MetroNational’s Memorial City Plazas, representing Work&'s shift to offer an array of holistic health and wellness solutions for landlords and tenants.

The company, founded in 2017 by Lairson and CEO Abbey Donnell, was initially focused on outfitting commercial buildings with lactation accommodations for working parents. While Work& still offers these services through its Work&Mother branch, the addition of its Work&Wellbeing arm allowed the company to also address the broader wellness needs of all employees.

The company rebranded as Work& earlier this year.

5 Houston innovators who made headlines in August 2025

Featured Innovators

Editor's note: Innovators hailing from both Rice University and University of Houston made headlines in August by developing a new biomaterial that could replace plastic and deploying a new flood scale to help Houstonians stay safe. Plus, one local innovator has a big move on the horizon.

Here are five Houston innovators to know right now.

​M.A.S.R. Saadi and Muhammed Maksud Rahman, Rice University and University of Houston

A team led by M.A.S.R. Saadi and Muhammad Maksud Rahman has developed a biomaterial that they hope could be used for the “next disposable water bottle." Photo courtesy Rice University.

Collaborators from two Houston universities are leading the way in engineering a biomaterial into a scalable, multifunctional material that could potentially replace plastic. The research was led by Muhammad Maksud Rahman, an assistant professor of mechanical and aerospace engineering at the University of Houston and an adjunct assistant professor of materials science and nanoengineering at Rice University. M.A.S.R. Saadi, a materials science and nanoengineering doctoral student at Rice University, was first author on the study. The study introduced a biosynthesis technique that aligns bacterial cellulose fibers in real-time, which resulted in robust biopolymer sheets with “exceptional mechanical properties,” according to the researchers. Learn more.

Paul Cherukuri, Rice University

Paul Cherukuri, Rice’s first vice president for innovation and chief innovation officer, will leave his post next month. Photo via Rice.edu

Paul Cherukuri, Rice University's top innovation executive, responsible for some of Rice’s major innovative projects like the Rice BioTech LaunchPad and Rice Nexus, will leave the university at the end of September to accept a position at the University of Virginia. Cherukuri, Rice’s first vice president for innovation and chief innovation officer, will become the University of Virginia’s Donna and Richard Tadler University Professor of Entrepreneurship and the school's first chief innovation officer. Learn more.

Steven Paul Woods (pictured) and Natalie C. Ridgely, University of Houston

Steven Paul Woods, professor of Psychology, at UH. Photo courtesy of UH

University of Houston Professor of Psychology Steven Paul Woods and doctoral student Natalie C. Ridgely recently partnered with the Space City Weather (SCW) blog to create a new flood alert scale for the trusted weather site. “My lab does work on how people access, understand, and use health information, so I thought we could adapt some of that ongoing work and our expertise in psychological science to answer questions about weather communication, and help keep Houstonians informed and safe,” said Woods. Learn more.

Rice biotech studio secures investment from Modi Ventures, adds founder to board

fresh funding

RBL LLC, which supports commercialization for ventures formed at the Rice University Biotech Launch Pad, has secured an investment from Houston-based Modi Ventures.

Additionally, RBL announced that it has named Sahir Ali, founder and general partner of Modi Ventures, to its board of directors.

Modi Ventures invests in biotech companies that are working to advance diagnostics, engineered therapeutics and AI-driven drug discovery. The firm has $134 million under management after closing an oversubscribed round this summer.

RBL launched in 2024 and is based out of Houston’s Texas Medical Center Helix Park. William McKeon, president and CEO of the TMC, previously called the launch of RBL a “critical step forward” for Houston’s life sciences ecosystem.

“RBL is dedicated to building companies focused on pioneering and intelligent bioelectronic therapeutics,” Ali said in a LinkedIn post. “This partnership strengthens the Houston biotech ecosystem and accelerates the transition of groundbreaking lab discoveries into impactful therapies.”

Ali will join board members like managing partner Paul Wotton, Rice bioengineering professor Omid Veiseh, scientist and partner at KdT Ventures Rima Chakrabarti, Rice alum John Jaggers, CEO of Arbor Biotechnologies Devyn Smith, and veteran executive in the life sciences sector James Watson.

Ali has led transformative work and built companies across AI, cloud computing and precision medicine. Ali also serves on the board of directors of the Drug Information Association, which helps to collaborate in drug, device and diagnostics developments.

“This investment by Modi Ventures will be instrumental to RBL’s growth as it reinforces confidence in our venture creation model and accelerates our ability to develop successful biotech startups,” Wotton said in the announcement. "Sahir’s addition to the board will also amplify this collaboration with Modi. His strategic counsel and deep understanding of field-defining technologies will be invaluable as we continue to grow and deliver on our mission.”

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