Cost of Living in Pearland
Pearland's overall cost of living runs almost exactly at the national average and meaningfully below the Texas average -- BestPlaces.net scores it 99.7, or 0.3% below the U.S. average and 5.8% below the average Texas city. That near-parity headline sits alongside a real household-income advantage: Pearland's median household income (cited $112,300-$118,842 depending on source) runs well above both the Houston-metro and Texas medians.
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Learn moreThe Overall Index
BestPlaces.net's cost-of-living index for Pearland (retrieved August 2026) scores the city at 99.7 against a national baseline of 100 -- essentially at parity with the national average, and 5.8% below the average Texas city specifically. That's a different profile than Houston proper, which BestPlaces scores meaningfully below the national average (96.9, per the Houston topic pages) -- Pearland is not the cheaper option relative to the national baseline that some other Houston-area suburbs are.
A Real Income Advantage
Pearland's median household income was cited at $112,300 (up from $97,400 five years earlier, per Pearland Economic Development Corporation-aligned reporting) and separately at $118,842 with a 5.7% one-year increase (2023-2024, per a Census-based demographic aggregator) -- both figures land well above the Houston-metro median cited elsewhere in this dataset ($60,440-$64,813) and above the Texas statewide figure. Even with cost of living running near the national average rather than meaningfully below it, Pearland households have real earning power above much of the surrounding metro.
Housing and Rent
Housing figures are covered in full on the housing-market and renting topic pages -- median sale price around $377,774 (May 2026, Redfin) and rent estimates that vary substantially by source (roughly $1,347-$1,799 for an overall average apartment, depending on tracker and month). This summary intentionally does not repeat those figures.
Taxes Are the Other Half of the Picture
Texas has no state personal income tax, a structural, statewide advantage. It does not offset a genuinely significant property-tax bill for Pearland homeowners specifically -- sources this session cited a combined effective rate as high as 2.20%-2.26% for the city overall, well above the Texas statewide average of about 1.60% cited in the state record, though ZIP-level figures from the same source ran considerably lower (1.60%-1.64%). See the taxes topic page for the full breakdown and the disclosed disagreement between these figures.
Key takeaways
- Pearland's overall cost of living runs almost exactly at the U.S. average (BestPlaces.net index: 99.7) and 5.8% below the average Texas city -- a different profile than Houston proper, which reads meaningfully below the national average.
- Median household income is cited at $112,300-$118,842 depending on source -- well above both the Houston-metro median ($60,440-$64,813) and the Texas statewide figure.
- Median home sale price runs about $377,774 (May 2026); rent estimates vary substantially by source ($1,347-$1,799 for an overall apartment average) -- see the housing-market and renting topic pages.
- No state income tax is a real, statewide advantage, but it doesn't offset property taxes, which sources cited anywhere from about 1.60% to 2.26% effective for Pearland specifically -- a genuinely wide, disclosed disagreement (see the taxes topic page).
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