Houston, TX

The affordability dashboard for Houston, TX aggregates Census ACS 5-Year Estimates across 96 ZIP codes covering 2,906,700 residents, then layers in county-level federal data to produce an overall grade of D (49/100). The headline inputs are median household income of $69,649, median home value of $305,665, median rent of $1,363 per month, and 31.2% of adults holding a bachelor's degree or higher. These four metrics alone explain most of the variance between city dashboards.

Cross-agency feeds widen the picture beyond Census demographics. HUD publishes a Fair Market Rent for a 2-bedroom in this county at $1,573 per month (studio $1,280, 1BR $1,323, 3BR $2,116, 4BR $2,639). Department of Labor data lists infant center-based childcare at $9,620 per year, consuming 14% of the local median household income.

Reading the overall grade requires reading all seven dimensions together. The score weights Income 20%, Safety 20%, Housing 15%, Rent 15%, Education 10%, Commute 10%, and Childcare 10%, with each sub-score benchmarked against national percentiles rather than state averages — so the grade is genuinely comparable across any city in the country. Pressure points are housing. Unemployment currently reads 7.2% and poverty 19.1% — numbers worth keeping alongside the headline grade.