The price of housing has become a major political issue in the US, particularly for many young people who feel locked out of home ownership. Comparing the price of a typical home in Texas to other states in the country supports the common wisdom that the cost of a home in Texas is significantly cheaper than in most states (graph 1). Though homes are relatively cheap in Texas, the state has not been immune to skyrocketing housing costs over the past 25 years (graph 2).
While purchasing a home is cheaper in Texas than in most other states, renting is a different story. The last two graphs explore the cost of renting in the state. There we can see that rental prices in Texas are a bit higher than the median for other states. Given the fact that median incomes in Texas are closer to the overall median, this means that renting in Texas can be quite expensive relative to what Texans make. The median rent in Texas is equivalent to about 22% of the median income in the state, ranking it 10th highest among US states.
For those interested in thinking about the data a bit more, measuring the price of a “typical home” is a difficult enterprise. When we think of median housing prices it is important to think about that what is “typical” in Texas and New Jersey may not be the same kind of housing unit. The data here on housing prices come from Zillow, who discuss of their measurement process here.
