Cost of Living & Housing in Nacogdoches
Nacogdoches reads as genuinely affordable on every source found this session -- a below-national-average cost of living and a citywide median home price well under the national median -- with the one real caveat that this is a small housing market where year-over-year swings should be read with caution, and that city-level cost/income statistics are meaningfully skewed by SFA's large resident student population.
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Learn moreA below-average cost of living, with a small disclosed spread
BestPlaces puts Nacogdoches's cost-of-living index at 79.6 (100 = national average), about 20.4% below the national average; a separate Redfin cost-of-living calculator citation put the same comparison closer to 91 vs. 100, about 9% below average (base record). Either reading places Nacogdoches meaningfully below the national cost baseline -- the spread is disclosed rather than resolved to one number.
Housing: affordable, but a small market with real price volatility
Redfin's most recent snapshot puts the citywide median sale price at $207,526, down 22.9% year over year (base record). That is a large single-year swing -- in a market this size (roughly 32,600 residents), a handful of atypical sales can move the median substantially more than in a large metro, so treat the year-over-year percentage as noisy rather than a stable trend. Either way, $207,526 sits well below the national median home price cited elsewhere in this dataset (roughly $400K+), making Nacogdoches a genuinely low-cost entry point by national standards.
Property taxes: a disclosed gap on the combined rate
The Nacogdoches County-only adopted rate for 2025-2026 is $0.4486 per $100 of valuation (base record) -- but that is the county's portion alone, not a combined figure including the City of Nacogdoches, Nacogdoches ISD, or any hospital/special district levies. A precise current combined rate was not confirmed this session; budget for a total effective rate that could run meaningfully higher than the county-only figure alone, and confirm the actual combined rate for a specific property directly with the Nacogdoches Central Appraisal District before relying on this figure.
Homeowners insurance runs below the Texas average -- and Nacogdoches is NOT a TWIA county
Average homeowners insurance premiums here are cited around $1,996/year, within a $1,200-$2,500/year range depending on home value, roof age, and proximity to pine forest -- below the disclosed Texas statewide average of $2,400-$4,800/year (base record). One low-quality source incorrectly suggested Nacogdoches County carries Texas Windstorm Insurance Association (TWIA) coverage; it does not -- TWIA covers only 14 designated coastal counties, and Nacogdoches, roughly 150 miles inland, is not one of them. That incorrect claim is explicitly not repeated here.
City-level income and poverty figures are skewed by SFA's student population -- read the county figures instead for a general-population picture
Nacogdoches's citywide median household income ($39,281) and poverty rate (31.55%) are heavily distorted by SFA's roughly 10,000 enrolled students living within city limits, most of whom are counted as low- or no-income by ACS methodology regardless of family financial support. Nacogdoches County's less student-skewed median household income is $53,555 (2024) -- a meaningfully different, more representative figure for a general (non-student) household budgeting for cost of living here.
Key takeaways
- Cost of living runs 9%-20% below the national average across sources (BestPlaces 79.6, an alternate Redfin-cited figure of 91 vs. 100) -- both agree Nacogdoches is genuinely affordable.
- The citywide median home sale price is $207,526, but this is a small market where year-over-year swings (a 22.9% single-year drop was cited this cycle) should be read as noise, not a stable trend.
- Only the Nacogdoches County-only property tax rate ($0.4486 per $100 of valuation for 2025-2026) was confirmed this session -- a precise combined rate including city, school, and hospital-district levies was not, and should be confirmed directly for a specific property.
- Average homeowners insurance ($1,996/year) runs below the Texas statewide average, and Nacogdoches County is NOT TWIA-eligible (it is roughly 150 miles inland, not one of the 14 coastal counties TWIA covers) -- a claim to the contrary found in one low-quality source is incorrect and not repeated here.
- City-level income and poverty statistics ($39,281 median household income, 31.55% poverty rate) are heavily skewed by SFA's large resident student population -- the county-wide median household income ($53,555) is a more representative figure for general households.
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