Yes, El Paso’s Cost of Living Is Cheaper Than Most

I recently wrote an article about El Paso possibly becoming a destination for remote workers because the cost of living here is so cheap compared to major cities across the United States. Apparently there are a lot of people in El Paso that don't believe this and are willing to put up whatever numbers they can come up with to make their argument. The truth is, it is cheaper to live here than most comparable cities.

The one argument people kept bringing up was property taxes. That is one aspect where El Paso is WAY more expensive than other cities. In El Paso, you're most likely going to be paying around 2% of the value of your home in taxes every year. So if you have a $300,000 home, your taxes each year will roughly be around $6,000. The national average is 1.2% of the home's value, and the average in Texas is around 1.67%. So yes, our taxes are insanely high here.

News flash though Hot Rod. Property taxes aren't the only thing to take into account when it comes to cost of living. Let's compare El Paso to some of the major cities where tech companies are located and see if it's a better deal to live in El Paso.

We'll go with a nice round number. We'll say you make $50,000 in El Paso. What would you need to make in these other cities in order to live the same life style. According to Nerd Wallet, here are the numbers for each city:

• San Francisco, CA - $115,000
• Portland, OR - $78,736
• Austin, TX - $58,103
• Miami, FL - $65.977
• Denver, CO - $64,828
• Seattle, WA - $91,609
• San Diego, CA - $82,356

So just what is being taken into account to get these numbers? It's...

• Average rent cost
• Average home price
• Transportation costs
• Food costs
• Entertainment costs
• Healthcare costs

I even looked up Abilene, TX and that was slightly more expensive than El Paso at $51,609. Of course, you could go live in a small, poor ass town and save a TON of money, but one of the reasons I picked El Paso is because it's a big-small city, or small-big city. However you want to look at it. But if you honestly think it's expensive to live here compared to most other places, try moving.