Texas dominated a new ranking of America’s most affordable cities. McAllen, the border city at the center of the nation’s border crisis earlier this year, has been ranked the most affordable urban area in the country.
A new report by the Virginia-based Council for Community and Economic Research released the ranking, which claimed that the cost for a “professional/managerial standard of living” is “20 percent below the national average in McAllen.”
Harlingen and San Marcos — both urban areas in the Lone Star State — also made the council’s top ten list for affordability. Texas was the only state that is home to more than one city in the top ten.
The council considered the cost of housing, utilities, grocery items, transportation, health care and miscellaneous goods and services while putting together the rankings. Steve Alhenius, McAllen Chamber of Commerce president, told the McAllen Monitor that such expenditures “can make a difference for young professionals who are just starting out in a career who want their dollar to go a little bit further.”
In McAllen, most standard two-bedroom standard houses sell for around $222,000, according to the Monitor. The very same house would cost double in many other U.S. cities; in Seattle, for instance, it would cost about $534,000.
Similarly, average monthly rent for a two-bedroom apartment is $752 in McAllen; in Austin, Texas it would cost $1,043 to rent the same apartment.
The “Texas Model” of low taxes and reliable regulation has arguably allowed affordability to increase in the Lone Star State. As companies flock to the state, they are able to provide consumers with lower prices across the board.
Follow Kristin Tate on Twitter @KristinBTate.
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