Texas has 215 HUD rent areas. No other state comes close — Georgia is second with 112, Kentucky third with 101.
Which means Texas's statewide two-bedroom fair market rent of $1,015 is a median taken across 215 places, unweighted by population, where a rent area of four thousand people counts exactly as much as one covering the Houston metro.
It is an average of nowhere. Travis County is $1,852. Harris County is $1,573. Dozens of Texas rent areas sit at exactly $973 — the same administered minimum that is the cheapest rent area in sixteen other states.
A note before you start. This is general education, not housing, legal or financial advice. Rent figures come from HUD's Fair Market Rents for FY2026, published under 24 CFR 888.113 and used to set Housing Choice Voucher payment standards. An FMR is the 40th percentile of GROSS rent — rent plus tenant-paid utilities — for standard-quality units in a defined rent area, so roughly 60% of units cost more and it is not comparable to an advertised rent excluding utilities. Take-home figures are computed by this site's own tax engine for tax year 2026 on a single filer taking the standard deduction. Texas landlord-tenant law is outside this dataset and is not covered here.
1. What HUD says renting costs in Texas
| Unit size | Statewide fair market rent |
|---|---|
| Studio | $789 |
| 1 bedroom | $820 |
| 2 bedroom | $1,015 |
| 3 bedroom | $1,353 |
| 4 bedroom | $1,522 |
Read those as the middle of a very wide distribution, not as what Texans pay. The statewide figure is the median across Texas's 215 distinct rent areas, and the majority of Texans live in the metros that sit well above it.
The studio-to-one-bedroom step is $31, or 3.9%. The two-to-three-bedroom step is $338, or 33%. Texas rent is flat at the small end and steep at the family end, which is the pattern in most states with a lot of rural rent areas at HUD's floor.
Work out what rent your own income actually supports in Texas2. Two hundred and fifteen rent areas
| Measure | Texas | National context |
|---|---|---|
| Distinct rent areas | 215 | Georgia 112, Kentucky 101, Hawaii 5, Rhode Island 3 |
| Cheapest 2-bedroom area | $973 | The administered minimum |
| Dearest 2-bedroom area | $1,931 | California reaches $4,214 |
| Internal spread | 98% | California's is 280% |
Texas's 215 rent areas are a function of its geography. The state has 254 counties — more than any other — and HUD defines rent areas around metros and around groups of rural counties. A state with that many counties and that much rural land ends up with a lot of areas.
Two consequences for reading any Texas rent figure:
The statewide median is dominated by rural areas by count, and by metros by population. Most of Texas's 215 rent areas are rural; most Texans live in six or seven metros. The unweighted median therefore sits far below the population-weighted reality.
Texas has a large number of areas at exactly $973. That same figure is the cheapest rent area in sixteen other states, which makes it an administered minimum rather than a distinct Texas measurement — and it drags the statewide median down further.
The internal spread is 98%, which is moderate by national standards. Texas's most expensive rent area is roughly double its cheapest. In California the ratio is nearly four to one.
3. Three things a fair market rent is not
It is the 40th percentile, not the median. Roughly 60% of standard-quality units rent for more than the FMR. Austin's two-bedroom FMR of $1,852 means a clear majority of Austin two-bedrooms cost more.
It is GROSS rent, including tenant-paid utilities. HUD builds the figure to cover rent plus the utilities a tenant pays. In Texas that matters a great deal — summer cooling costs across most of the state are substantial, and an advertised rent that excludes electricity is not the same quantity as an FMR.
It is per rent area, not per county. A rent area can span several counties, and every county inside it carries the same figure. That is why neighbouring Texas counties frequently show identical numbers.
4. What the two-bedroom actually requires
Most US landlords screen on gross income being at least three times the annual rent.
| Statewide | Harris County (Houston) | Travis County (Austin) | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2-bedroom FMR | $1,015 | $1,573 | $1,852 |
| Gross income a 3x screen demands | $36,540 | $56,628 | $66,672 |
$66,672 to rent a median two-bedroom in Austin. That is HUD's 40th percentile, so about 60% of Austin two-bedrooms cost more still.
What passing that screen leaves
| Statewide 2-bed | |
|---|---|
| Gross income required | $36,540 |
| Texas take-home, single filer | About $31,540 |
| Take-home per month | $2,628 |
| Rent | $1,015 |
| Rent as a share of take-home | 38.6% |
Someone who exactly passes a Texas landlord's income screen is spending 38.6% of what reaches their account on rent.
That 38.6% is among the lowest figures in the country, and the reason is that Texas has no state income tax — so more of the gross income the landlord is measuring actually reaches you.
| State | Rent as % of take-home at exactly 3x gross |
|---|---|
| Hawaii | 44.7% |
| Oregon | 43.1% |
| California | 40.9% |
| Texas | 38.6% |
| North Dakota | 38.2% |
But look at the range. From 38.2% to 44.7%. The 3x rule never lands on 30% in any state — not even in a state with no income tax at all. That is the single most useful thing on this page.
The 3x rule is an underwriting test, not an affordability test. It answers "will the landlord approve me." Whether you can carry the rent is a different question with a different answer.
5. 30% of gross, and 30% of what you actually get
The 30% rule is HUD's cost-burden threshold under 24 CFR 5.603, and HUD applies it to gross income because that is what a housing programme can verify.
| Annual salary | 30% of gross | 30% of Texas take-home | The gap |
|---|---|---|---|
| $45,000 | $1,125 | $958 | $167 |
| $60,000 | $1,500 | $1,260 | $240 |
| $85,000 | $2,125 | $1,716 | $409 |
In Texas that gap is entirely federal tax and FICA. There is no state income tax line, which is why Texas's gaps are the smallest of any state — $409 at $85,000 against California's $501 and Oregon's $581.
It is still $409 a month that the 30%-of-gross rule counts and you never see.
What the two-bedroom costs at real salaries
| Annual salary | Statewide | Harris (Houston) | Travis (Austin) |
|---|---|---|---|
| $45,000 | 31.8% | 49.2% | 58.0% |
| $60,000 | 24.2% | 37.5% | 44.1% |
| $85,000 | 17.7% | 27.5% | 32.4% |
Rent as a share of take-home pay.
At $45,000, Austin's two-bedroom is 58% of take-home. HUD calls above 50% severely cost-burdened, and a landlord's 3x screen would refuse the application long before the budget did — $66,672 of income is required and this renter has $45,000.
At $85,000, Houston works and Austin is over the line. 27.5% against 32.4%. Two Texas metros, one salary, and the answer changes.
6. Two counties, and what they show
| County | Studio | 2 bedroom | 3 bedroom | Rent area |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Harris County | $1,280 | $1,573 | $2,116 | Houston-The Woodlands-Sugar Land, TX |
| Travis County | $1,474 | $1,852 | $2,347 | Austin-Round Rock-San Marcos, TX MSA |
Austin is $279 a month more than Houston on a two-bedroom — $3,348 a year — and $194 more on a studio.
Both are far above the statewide $1,015. Houston is 55% above it; Austin is 82% above it. Between them, the Houston and Austin metros hold a very large share of Texas's renters, which is the clearest demonstration that an unweighted median across 215 areas is the wrong number for most Texans.
Note the rent-area names. Harris County is in the Houston-The Woodlands-Sugar Land area, which spans several counties — all of which carry $1,573. Travis County is in the Austin-Round Rock-San Marcos MSA, and the same applies there.
7. Rent versus buy in Texas, and the property tax problem
Texas is the state where "rent is throwing money away" goes wrong most often, and the reason is property tax.
Texas has no income tax and among the highest effective property tax rates in the country. For a renter that is invisible — you do not receive a property tax bill. For an owner it is the largest recurring cost after the mortgage itself, and it does not stop when the mortgage is paid off.
Three things decide the rent-versus-buy comparison:
Appreciation. Buying overtakes renting mainly through appreciation, which varies by county and is backward-looking. This site's calculator uses FHFA House Price Index measurements rather than forecasts. In some US counties buying never overtakes renting within thirty years.
Selling costs. Around 7% of the sale price in agent commission and transfer tax, and it never comes back.
Ongoing carrying cost. This is where Texas differs from most states. A high property tax rate pushes the break-even year out, because every year of ownership carries a cost that a renter does not pay.
The honest framing: Texas's no-income-tax advantage helps a renter and an owner equally, and its property tax burden falls on the owner alone. That combination is more favourable to renting than the "no income tax, buy a house" narrative suggests.
Run the Texas rent-versus-buy calculator with your own county and hold period.
8. What you can actually control
Find out which of the 215 rent areas you are in. The county is a proxy; the rent area is the answer, and Texas has more of them than anywhere.
Get the landlord test and the budget test straight. 3x gross gets you approved. 30% of take-home is what you can carry. On Austin's $1,852 those are $66,672 of income and, at that income, $1,393 of rent — $459 less than the rent itself.
Existing debt does not appear in the landlord's test. A 3x screen does not subtract your car payment or student loan. That is how someone gets approved for a rent they cannot carry, and Texas's high vehicle ownership rates make car payments an unusually common version of it.
Ask what is included, and ask specifically about electricity. The FMR is a gross-rent figure and Texas summers are expensive. A $1,650 rent with electricity included can be cheaper in total than $1,500 without it across a Texas summer.
Understand what deregulated electricity means for your budget. Most of Texas is served by a retail choice market, which means the rate you pay depends on the plan you select. That is a genuine lever, and it is one that does not exist in most states.
And note what Texas does not take. No state income tax means the whole of the gap between 30%-of-gross and 30%-of-take-home is federal. There is no state-level tax lever to pull here — which makes the Texas budget arithmetic simpler than most, and means the rent area you choose does more of the work.
9. How HUD's cost-burden thresholds actually work
The 30% and 50% figures quoted throughout this article are not rules of thumb. They are regulatory definitions, and knowing where they come from tells you what they are and are not good for.
HUD defines a household as "cost-burdened" when it spends more than 30% of gross income on housing, and "severely cost-burdened" above 50%. The threshold traces back to the National Housing Act, and HUD uses it to measure housing need and to set programme eligibility.
Three things follow from that origin, and all three matter to a renter:
It is measured against gross income because a housing programme can verify gross income. A caseworker can read a W-2. They cannot easily verify what your actual tax withholding, retirement deferrals and health premiums leave you. Gross is administratively tractable, not economically correct.
It counts housing costs, not just rent. HUD's measure includes utilities, which is precisely why the fair market rent is defined as gross rent. If you are comparing your own situation against the 30% threshold, include your utility bills — otherwise you are measuring a smaller number against the same line.
It is a population statistic before it is personal advice. The threshold exists to answer "how many households in this county are struggling," and it does that job well. It was never designed to tell one household what it can afford, and it does not account for household size, debt, childcare, medical costs, or the tax rate where you live.
Which is why this article reports both figures. In Texas a two-bedroom at $1,015 against a $36,540 income is exactly at HUD's 30% line by HUD's own measure. Against what actually reaches that household's account it is closer to 40%. Both numbers are correct; they answer different questions.
If you want one number to plan around, use 30% of take-home. It is the more conservative of the two, it is the one that reflects what you can actually spend, and it is what this site's calculator reports alongside the conventional figure.
10. What a landlord checks besides your income
The 3x income screen is the most visible test, and it is not the only one. None of the following is a legal requirement — they are common industry practice, and individual landlords differ.
Credit score. Most professionally managed buildings run a credit check, and many publish a minimum. A low score does not automatically disqualify you, but it commonly triggers a larger deposit or a guarantor requirement.
Rental history and references. Previous landlords, length of tenancy, and any eviction filings. An eviction filing can appear on a tenant screening report even where the case was dismissed, which is worth knowing if you have one.
The security deposit. How much a landlord may ask for, when it must be returned, and what may be deducted are all governed by state law, and those rules vary enormously. Check Texas's own statute — this site's rent dataset covers HUD fair market rents and does not cover landlord-tenant law, so nothing on this page should be read as describing it.
Application fees. Charged per applicant in most markets, and often non-refundable. Applying to several places at once is a real cost.
Guarantors and co-signers. Where an applicant fails the income screen, many landlords will accept a guarantor — commonly at a higher multiple, such as 80x the monthly rent in annual income rather than 36x. That is a much larger number than the tenant's own test, and it is the usual route for students and recent graduates.
Proof of income. Pay stubs, an offer letter, or tax returns for the self-employed. Self-employed applicants are frequently asked for two years of returns, which is a materially higher bar than a salaried applicant faces on the same income.
The practical point: the 3x screen decides whether you clear the first filter. Everything above decides whether you get the apartment, and several of those items cost money to fail.
11. When these figures change
HUD publishes fair market rents annually, effective at the start of the federal fiscal year on 1 October. The figures in this article are FY2026.
Three ways your area's number can move:
Re-measurement. HUD builds FMRs from American Community Survey data with more recent trend adjustments. A rent area whose measured market has moved will see its figure move with it.
Redefinition. HUD occasionally redraws rent areas — splitting a metro, adding a county to one, or creating a small-area FMR where ZIP-level figures replace a single metro figure. When that happens, a county's published rent can change substantially without any change in its actual market. Texas has 215 rent areas today; that count is not fixed.
The $973 cluster. Seventeen states have their cheapest rent area at exactly $973 for a two-bedroom — the same dollar figure in seventeen separate states, which is a minimum HUD applies to some class of areas rather than seventeen markets coincidentally agreeing. It is not a universal floor: twenty states have rent areas below it, running down to $776 in Alabama. This site has not confirmed the mechanism against HUD's methodology and does not guess at it. What matters practically is that an area sitting at $973 is carrying an administered figure rather than a measured one, and it moves when that administered figure moves.
What that means for planning. A fair market rent is a well-sourced annual snapshot, not a forecast. If you are signing a twelve-month lease, the figure that matters is the rent in the lease, and the FMR is context for judging whether that rent is reasonable for the area and the unit size.
Voucher holders should note one thing more. FMRs set the basis for Housing Choice Voucher payment standards, and a public housing agency may set its standard within a range around the FMR rather than exactly at it. Your agency's payment standard is the operative number, not the published FMR.
Frequently asked questions
What is the average rent in Texas? HUD's statewide fair market rent for a two-bedroom is $1,015 a month for FY2026 — but that is an unweighted median across 215 rent areas, so it describes an average of nowhere. Harris County is $1,573 and Travis County is $1,852.
Why does Texas have so many rent areas? Because it has 254 counties, more than any state, and HUD defines rent areas around metros and around groups of rural counties. Most of Texas's 215 areas are rural; most Texans live in a handful of metros.
What income do I need to rent a two-bedroom in Austin? A 3x landlord screen on Travis County's $1,852 needs $66,672 a year. In Houston, on $1,573, it needs $56,628.
Is 30% of income a realistic rent budget in Texas? 30% of gross on $85,000 is $2,125. 30% of Texas take-home on that salary is $1,716 — the highest of any state at that income, because Texas takes no income tax. Both figures clear the statewide $1,015; only the first clears Austin's $1,852.
Why does the 3x rule still put me at 39% of take-home if Texas has no income tax? Because federal tax and FICA still take 19.26% of an $85,000 salary. Texas's 38.6% is among the lowest in the country and it is still nowhere near 30%.
Do Texas counties near each other show the same rent? Frequently, yes — they are in the same HUD rent area. A rent area can span several counties and every one inside it carries the same published figure.
Is buying better than renting in Texas? Not automatically. Texas's high property tax is a recurring owner-only cost that pushes the break-even year out, and selling costs around 7% never come back. Run the calculator with your own county and hold period.
What is the $973 figure I keep seeing? It is the cheapest two-bedroom rent area in seventeen states, Texas among them — the same dollar figure in seventeen states, which indicates a minimum HUD applies to some class of areas rather than a measurement of each market. It is not a universal floor: twenty states have areas below it, down to $776 in Alabama.
What to do next
Texas's statewide rent figure is an average across 215 places. The rent area is the number that decides what you pay, and the metro you choose matters more here than in almost any state.
- Texas rent affordability calculator — the landlord's test and the budget test, side by side.
- Texas rent vs buy — the break-even year, with property tax counted properly.
- Texas take-home pay — the highest of any state at $85,000.
- The 30% rule is measured against the wrong number — the full argument.
- Renting in the USA in 2026 — all fifty states, county by county.
Every figure on this site is sourced and dated. How we source every number.
Rent figures are HUD Fair Market Rents for FY2026, from HUD User, published under 24 CFR 888.113. An FMR is the 40th percentile of gross rent including tenant-paid utilities for standard-quality units in a defined rent area — not a market median, and not comparable to an advertised rent excluding utilities. Statewide figures are the median across Texas's 215 distinct rent areas, unweighted by population. Take-home figures are computed by this site's own tax engine for tax year 2026 on a single filer taking the standard deduction with no dependents or pre-tax deferrals, using federal figures from IRS Revenue Procedure 2025-32. The 3x landlord screen is a common industry practice, not a legal standard. Texas landlord-tenant law, security deposit rules and property tax rates are outside this dataset. This is general education and not housing, legal or financial advice.