Dallas has higher cost of living than any other city in Texas for 2025

Dallas takes the top slot in an unenviable list: namely, the cost of living. According to a new cost-of-living index for 2025, Dallas comes in as the city with the highest cost of living in Texas.

The index, compiled by Numbeo, a Serbian online database, surveys 52 major cities on factors such as perceived crime rates, healthcare quality, and other statistics.

Among all 52 cities New York is No. 1, followed by San Francisco, Honolulu, Boston, and Washington DC. On that national list, Dallas comes in at No. 24.

Among other Texas cities, Austin ranks at No. 36, Houston is at No. 40, and San Antonio lands at No. 45.

Numbeo’s cost-of-living index takes into account the cost of items like groceries, restaurant meals, transportation, and utilities. The index excludes rent.

When rent is added to the cost-of-living index, Dallas is still No. 1 in Texas. The city grabs the 21st spot in North America, one notch above Austin. Houston ranks 35th, and San Antonio ranks 42nd.

Unbiased, a personal finance website, reported in November that the cost of living in Dallas is 3 percent higher than the national average and 12 percent higher than the Texas average. Data from Numbeo indicates that a single person in Dallas spends an estimated $1,192 a month without rent. For a family of four in Dallas, estimated monthly costs total $4,202 without rent.

“On average, you can expect to pay more for almost everything in Dallas than you would in many other cities and towns in Texas,” Unbiased notes. “However, your personal preferences and purchasing choices may allow for a slightly lower or higher cost of living than the average resident.”

Rent index
While Dallas holds the top Texas spot on Numbeo’s overall cost-of-living index, Austin faces the highest rent prices. Numbeo's rent index for Austin puts it in 12th place among major cities in North America and highest in Texas, above Dallas, Houston, and San Antonio.

As Numbeo explains, the rent index estimates the cost of renting an apartment in a city compared with New York City. If the rent index is 50, for example, this suggests the average rent in that city is 50 percent below the average rent in New York City.

Elsewhere in Texas, the rent index is:

• 46.2 in Dallas
• 39.8 in Houston
• 34.6 in San Antonio

Restaurant index
In contrast to its showing on the rent and cost-of-living indexes, Houston outranks Dallas, Austin, and San Antonio on Numbeo’s restaurant index. This index compares the prices of meals and drinks at restaurants and bars to those in New York City.

Houston sits at No. 25 on the restaurant index. Dallas comes in at No. 32, Austin at No. 34, and San Antonio at No. 36.

The National Restaurant Association reported in December that menu prices in the U.S. had risen 3.6 percent in the past 12 months, outpacing gains in grocery prices and the federal government’s overall Consumer Price Index. Fortunately for diners, that was the smallest 12-month increase in menu prices since August 2020, according to the association.

Toast, which provides a cloud-based restaurant management system, says the higher menu prices reflect higher food prices.

“Food prices have been increasing due to inflation, labor expenses, fuel costs, and supply chain disruptions, all of which impact restaurant profitability, Toast says. “While raising menu prices is one option to combat rising food costs, some restaurants have introduced service charges and simplified menus to avoid passing all costs onto customers.”