How Much Does It Cost to Live in Austin? A 2026 Rent and Budget Guide

Updated September 2026. Rent figures reflect Apartment List data as of August 2026.

According to the Apartment List Rent Index, the median rent across all apartment sizes in Austin is $1,328 as of August 2026, with one-bedrooms at $1,176 and two-bedrooms at $1,432.

Austin is among the most expensive large Texas cities, level with Dallas, and $62 below the national median at the same time. Rent fell 2.85% here over the past year against 0.76% nationally, so the gap to the rest of the country is widening. A one-bedroom with power and groceries comes to around $1,689 a month, before water, transport, and anything else.

Austin Cost of Living at a Glance

Rent anchors this guide, and the advertised price covers one part of the monthly bill. The figures below set a starting range for Austin.

Rent values are Apartment List August 2026 city-level estimates. Full method and sources are in the appendix.

How to use these numbers: Start with the rent for the unit size you're considering. Add the planning estimates that apply to you, then replace them with listing-specific charges and your expected usage.

What Is the Median Rent in Austin in 2026?

The median one-bedroom rent in Austin is $1,176 as of August 2026, according to the Apartment List Rent Index. Two-bedrooms run $1,432 and the all-sizes median is $1,328.

Austin rent fell 2.85% over the past year, against a 0.76% decline nationally. Month over month it edged up 0.43%.

The median is the market midpoint: half of apartments cost less and half cost more. These are citywide figures, and they do not establish what any individual building is asking or offering. Ask each property directly about concessions, fees, and the move-in total, then compare the quote you get with the medians above.

How the City Median Compares With the Metro Median

According to the Apartment List Rent Index, the Austin-Round Rock-Georgetown metro median is $1,300 across all apartment sizes as of August 2026, against the city's $1,328. The city runs slightly above its metro, and it does so at every unit size.

The direction is at least consistent, so the unit size you search for does not flip the answer here. The gaps are also small: across all sizes and at one bedroom they are under 3%.

The metro figure includes Austin itself alongside Round Rock, Georgetown, and everything around them, so it is a part-and-whole comparison rather than a read on what anywhere outside the city costs, or on whether moving outward saves money.

How Does Austin Rent Compare With Texas and Sunbelt Cities?

The table sets Austin against the other large Texas cities, selected Sunbelt metros, and the national median. It is not a ranking of every Southern rental market.

All figures are Apartment List medians as of August 2026.

Austin and Dallas are one dollar apart at the median, which is well inside a single month of ordinary movement, so treat them as the same price rather than ranking one above the other. Fort Worth sits $9 above Austin, close enough that the three read as a group.

The clearer gaps run the other way. San Antonio is $205 below Austin, El Paso $154 below, and Houston $60 below. Against the national median Austin is $62 cheaper.

These are rent medians, not total-cost comparisons, so before treating a lower-cost city as savings, compare the same unit size and price the commute in each place.

What Income Corresponds to Austin Rent at the 30% Benchmark?

Using Apartment List's August 2026 median one-bedroom rent of $1,176, the rent-only 30% calculation corresponds to about $47,040 in annual gross income.

Each income figure is the monthly rent multiplied by 12 and divided by 0.30. The shared row assumes an equal split of the two-bedroom median.

These are gross income figures covering rent alone. The 30% share is the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) affordability measure, which counts utilities inside it where these do not, so add utilities on top. They are planning benchmarks rather than salary requirements or screening rules, and the Apartment List Cost of Living Calculator asks for after-tax income, which will produce a different estimate.

How Do You Set a Rent Ceiling for a Specific Listing?

The median tells you the middle of the market, but you rent one specific unit. Work backward from your income:

1. Take your gross annual income.
2. Multiply by 0.30 to get the annual rent your budget supports at the 30% benchmark.
3. Divide by 12 for a monthly rent ceiling.

On a $60,000 gross salary that is about $1,500 a month. Austin's one-bedroom median is $1,176 (Apartment List, August 2026), which leaves about $324 between the median and that ceiling. Electricity at the planning figure above accounts for $73 of it, leaving room for water, internet, and a parking or pet fee, or for a two-bedroom at the $1,432 median if you would rather have the space.

Then check the listing detail page for the charges rent alone hides: application, admin, pet, and parking fees are disclosed per unit. Apartment List does not charge renters a fee of its own, so the numbers you are budgeting for belong to the property.

What Should You Budget Beyond Rent in Austin?

Electricity

Austin Energy is the city-owned utility, so there is no supplier to shop for. At 500 kWh a month, a bill runs about $73.

The advertised rate is not what you pay. The headline energy rate is 4.640 cents a kilowatt-hour, but a power supply adjustment, a regulatory charge, and a community benefit charge add 6.525 cents to every one, and a $16.50 customer charge applies whatever you use. That takes the real first-step rate to 11.165 cents.

Even so, Austin's power runs cheaper than both the Texas and national averages (EIA, June 2026), and at $73 it adds about 6% to the cost of a median one-bedroom.

The one thing that moves it is summer. Above 900 kWh the energy rate jumps by about half, and running central air through July and August is what gets you there. Ask the building what a recent August bill came to on a comparable apartment.

Water and Wastewater

Water in Austin comes from Austin Water, and what you pay turns on how your building is billed.

Austin Water runs separate rate classes for single-family homes and for multifamily properties. On the single-family residential rate with a standard meter, 2,000 gallons a month comes to about $41 for water and wastewater together, once the customer charge, the tiered minimum, the volume charge, and the per-gallon surcharges are all counted.

Two things move that figure. Above 2,000 gallons the wastewater volume rate more than doubles, from $6.30 to $13.40 per 1,000 gallons, so $41 is the bottom of the range rather than the middle of it. And wastewater volume is calculated from your winter average rather than the current month, so summer watering does not raise the sewer half of the bill.

Apartments are often on the multifamily rate instead, which is billed to the property and reaches you through rent, an allocation, or a submeter. That is why this guide leaves water outside the monthly total. Ask whether water and wastewater are billed to you directly, allocated across the building, or included in rent.

Transportation

Austin is spread out, and whether you need a car depends on your specific address and commute. CapMetro runs bus and light rail, and coverage varies sharply by neighborhood, so check the route and the schedule for the specific apartment at the hour you would actually travel.

If transit does not reach your work, plan for a car payment, insurance, fuel, and parking as a fixed monthly cost. Ask whether a parking space is included in rent and what a second space costs.

Groceries

For a single adult, the USDA moderate-cost food plan runs about $440 a month. The USDA figure is national and is not specific to Austin, so use it as a starting point and adjust it for how often you eat out.

How Do Solo and Shared Austin Budgets Compare?

Rent values are Apartment List August 2026 city-level estimates. The shared column assumes two renters splitting the median two-bedroom rent and one electricity bill equally. Both columns exclude water, for the reason given in its own section, and exclude transport, internet, insurance, and parking.

Splitting a two-bedroom equally costs about $460 a month less per renter than paying for a one-bedroom on your own, or roughly $5,520 a year. Almost all of that comes from the rent line, since groceries do not split at all. That $716 share corresponds to about $28,640 in annual gross income at the rent-only 30% benchmark, against $47,040 for the one-bedroom.

Austin's Two-Bedroom Median Runs $256 Above Its One-Bedroom

A two-bedroom runs $256 more than a one-bedroom at the median, or about 21.8% above the one-bedroom figure (Apartment List, August 2026).

That is the price of the larger apartment, not the price per person. Split equally between two renters, it comes to about $716 each, roughly $460 a month less than paying the one-bedroom median on your own.

What Should You Confirm Before Paying an Application Fee?

• What a recent July or August electricity bill came to on a comparable unit
• Whether the apartment has central air, and whether it is individually metered for electricity
• Whether water and wastewater are billed to you directly, allocated across the building, or included in rent
• Every unit-level fee: application, admin, pet, and parking, all disclosed on the listing detail page
• Whether a parking space is included, and what a second space costs
• Lease length and any month-to-month premium
• Whether a CapMetro route connects your building to your commute at the hour you would travel

Ask the property for its total move-in amount in writing before paying anything. Apartment List does not charge renters a fee, so every fee you are checking for belongs to the property.

How Do You Find Lower Rent in Austin?

The medians above are citywide. Which Austin neighborhoods cost least, how they compare on walkability and commute, and how they score on published safety data are questions the neighborhood guides answer in full:

• Cheapest neighborhoods in Austin
• Best neighborhoods in Austin
• Safest neighborhoods in Austin

To bring rent down without changing neighborhoods, the Apartment List Rent Calculator sizes an affordable range from your income and surfaces matching Austin units, and Rate My Rent grades a specific listing against comparable local apartments. That grade is a starting point for questions to ask the building, not a verdict on the unit.

Compare Austin With Your Current City

If you are moving to Austin from somewhere else, compare total cost rather than rent alone. The Apartment List Cost of Living Calculator compares two cities using after-tax income and includes data from the Council for Community and Economic Research.

Austin's median now sits below the national one, $1,328 against $1,390 (Apartment List, August 2026). A cost comparison against your current city will price that gap, and it will also price the parts of an Austin budget that rent does not cover, starting with a summer electricity bill.

Browse Austin apartments and start comparing real listings.

Appendix: Methodology and Data Sources

Income figures are calculations based on the cited Apartment List rent medians and the 30% rent-to-income benchmark, not measured income data.

Frequently Asked Questions About Austin Rent & Cost of Living

What Is the Average Rent in Austin?

According to the Apartment List Rent Index, the median all-sizes rent in Austin is $1,328 as of August 2026, with one-bedrooms at $1,176 and two-bedrooms at $1,432. Apartment List reports a median rather than an average, because a median better represents a typical apartment and is less distorted by a handful of luxury units.

Is Austin Rent Going Up or Down?

Down. According to the Apartment List Rent Index, Austin rent fell 2.85% over the twelve months to August 2026, while the national median fell 0.76%. Month over month it edged up 0.43%. These are citywide figures and do not establish what any specific building is asking.

Is Austin Cheaper Than Dallas or Houston?

Not than Houston, and Dallas is a tie. According to the Apartment List Rent Index, Austin's all-sizes median of $1,328 as of August 2026 sits one dollar below Dallas at $1,329, which is too close to call a difference, and $60 above Houston at $1,268. San Antonio is $205 below Austin and El Paso $154 below, so Austin remains the more expensive of the large Texas cities other than Dallas and Fort Worth.

Is Austin Rent Above or Below the National Median?

Below. According to the Apartment List Rent Index, Austin's all-sizes median of $1,328 as of August 2026 sits $62 under the national median of $1,390, or about 4% lower.

How Much More Does a Two-Bedroom Cost Than a One-Bedroom in Austin?

About $256 a month. The median one-bedroom is $1,176 and the median two-bedroom is $1,432 as of August 2026, according to the Apartment List Rent Index. That is the cost of the larger apartment, not the cost per person: two renters splitting that two-bedroom equally would pay about $716 each.

What Salary Do You Need to Rent in Austin?

Using Apartment List's August 2026 median one-bedroom rent of $1,176, the rent-only 30% calculation corresponds to about $47,040 in annual gross income ($1,176 x 12 / 0.30). This is a planning benchmark, not a requirement, and it uses gross income, while the Apartment List Cost of Living Calculator uses after-tax income and will give a different number.

How Much Is Electricity in an Austin Apartment?

At 500 kWh a month, Austin Energy's inside-city residential rate comes to about $73. The advertised first-step energy rate of 4.640 cents per kWh is not what you pay: a power supply adjustment, a regulatory charge, and a community benefit charge add 6.525 cents to every kilowatt-hour, taking the real first-step rate to 11.165 cents, and a $16.50 customer charge applies on top. Above 900 kWh the energy rate steps up again, which is where an Austin summer tends to land.

How Do Solo and Shared Austin Budgets Compare?

According to the Apartment List Rent Index, at the August 2026 medians a two-bedroom costs about $716 per renter if two people split it equally, against $1,176 for a one-bedroom on your own. That is a difference of about $460 a month, or $5,520 a year, before utilities and fees. That $716 share corresponds to about $28,640 in annual gross income at the rent-only 30% benchmark.

Is 30% of Income a Hard Limit for Rent?

No. It is a widely used benchmark, and HUD treats housing costs above 30% of income, including utilities, as cost-burdened. According to Apartment List research, about 51.8% of U.S. renter households are cost-burdened and 26.1% are severely cost-burdened, spending more than half their income on housing, based on 2024 ACS data. Those are national figures, not Austin specific.