Census: Texas Household Income Rose to $82,625, but Housing Costs Ate Into the Gains

Texas families made a little more money last year, but the cost of keeping a roof overhead took a big bite out of it, according to new U.S. Census Bureau numbers released Thursday.

The state's median household income was $82,625 in 2025, up slightly from the year before, The Texas Tribune reported from the Bureau's 2025 American Community Survey. That still trails the national median of $84,780.

The survey is the Census Bureau's yearly look at how Americans live, from income and rent to commuting and health insurance. The 2025 one-year estimates went public Thursday, the Bureau announced.

Where incomes grew and where they fell

The gains were not spread evenly. Incomes grew in the Houston and San Antonio regions but fell in the McAllen and Dallas-Fort Worth regions, the Tribune reported, and incomes fell dramatically in at least one major urban area.

Hispanic and Black households saw the biggest gains, with typical incomes now at $70,348 and $64,664. White households typically made $92,479, and the gap between white and Hispanic households is wider in Texas than nationally. Asian households had a median income of $122,370, down 2.3% from 2024.

Fewer Texans lived in poverty, including children, and the state's poverty rate shrank. But the number of older Texans and families living in poverty ticked up. Income inequality remains high in Texas but is lower than in the rest of the country.

Rent and mortgages

Housing remains the pain point. More than half of the state's 4.3 million renters were "cost-burdened," meaning they spend about $3 of every $10 they bring home, or more, on housing. That leaves less for groceries, the doctor, gas, child care and savings.

Monthly rents were largely flat for Texas tenants. Homeowners with a mortgage did not fare as well. Their housing costs ticked up, and the share of them considered cost-burdened grew slightly to about 32% in 2025.

There was some good news on property taxes, which Texas lawmakers have spent billions of dollars since the start of the decade trying to rein in. The median property tax bill for a homeowner who has paid off the mortgage shrank about 4.2% from 2024 to 2025, the Tribune reported. For homeowners with a mortgage, the bill was essentially flat. Nationally, the median bill grew but still sits below the typical Texas bill.

Health insurance, cars and solar

The Bureau changed its health insurance questions this year, but Texas still has the nation's highest uninsured rate, a ranking it has held for more than a decade.

This was also the first year the survey asked about electric vehicles. Nationally, about 5.5% of households that have a vehicle reported at least one all-electric or plug-in hybrid, the Bureau said. California led at about 14%. In Texas, households in Travis County, home to Tesla's Gigafactory, were about twice as likely as the state as a whole to own an EV, the Tribune reported.

Solar panels are more common in cities than in the country, but more than 80,000 of Texas' 2.3 million rural households reported having them. Texas trailed the national rate of 5.2% of homes with solar.

The Bureau also asked for the first time how homes handle wastewater. About 85.9% of Texas homes are connected to a public sewer, one of the higher shares in the country, alongside Sun Belt states with newer construction such as Utah, Nevada and Arizona. Older New England states lean much more on septic tanks.

What it means for your household

The numbers line up with what many Texas families have felt at the kitchen table. Paychecks are inching up, but rent and house payments take a heavy share before anything else gets paid.

Voters this election season are worried about the cost of living, the Tribune noted, and these figures show why. Lower tax bills on paid-off homes are welcome relief for retirees and longtime owners. Young families renting or carrying a new mortgage are still waiting for theirs. That is a fair test for any candidate asking for a vote this year: show how the plan helps them.

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