Texas vs. California: what really changes when you leave LA, the Bay Area or San Diego.

Side by side

We used the same source on both sides wherever we could: Apartment List for rent, Zillow for home values, EIA for gas, Experian for car insurance and BEA for overall prices. The one exception is Houston home prices, noted below.

Zillow’s home value index is a typical value for all homes in the city, not a sale price. We couldn’t open Zillow’s Houston page, so the Houston row uses HAR’s sale-price median instead; don’t compare it directly to the Zillow figures. The Los Angeles and San Diego sales tax rows use the county rate, which applies in cities that don’t add their own district tax; some LA County cities, such as Santa Monica (11.25%) and Long Beach (11.00%), charge more. BEA’s next price-parity release, with 2025 data, is due Dec 10, 2026.

California income tax, in plain terms

California taxes wages on a ladder of nine brackets, from 1% up to 12.3%. The FTB’s newest published schedule is for tax year 2025. For a single filer, the 9.3% bracket starts at $72,724 of taxable income and runs all the way to $371,479, so most professionals moving to Texas are paying 9.3% on their last dollar.

On top of that, there are two other charges:

• The 1% surtax on income over $1 million. It is now called the Behavioral Health Services Tax (formerly the Mental Health Services Tax). This is what turns 12.3% into the 13.3% top rate you see quoted.
• SDI. Employers withhold 1.3% of wages for 2026, up from 1.2% in 2025. Since Jan 1, 2024 there has been no wage cap, so it applies to every dollar of salary. It funds disability and paid family leave benefits, but it comes out of your paycheck like a tax.

Texas has none of this: no state income tax, no state disability payroll deduction. Federal income tax, Social Security and Medicare are the same in both states.

A note on “2026 California brackets”

As of Oct 31, 2026, the FTB has not posted inflation-adjusted brackets for 2026. Its own 2026 estimated-tax instructions tell people to use the 2025 tax table. Sites that list “2026 brackets” are projecting. That’s why our worked example uses the 2025 schedule.

Worked example: $90,000 and $150,000 in Los Angeles vs. Austin

This counts only state and local income tax plus SDI, for a single filer with wages only. Our assumptions:

• Single filer, no dependents, all income from wages, full-year resident.
• California standard deduction of $5,706 and one personal exemption credit of $153. No other deductions or credits.
• Tax from the 2025 Schedule X, as the FTB tells 2026 estimate payers to do. Under $100,000 of taxable income the FTB’s tax table applies, which can differ from the schedule by a few dollars.
• SDI at 1.3% of all wages. The city of Los Angeles has no local income tax, and neither does Austin.
• Federal tax, sales tax and property tax are left out.

The result is the same in San Francisco, San Jose or San Diego, since none of them adds a local income tax.

Then add rent

For a renter, rent is usually a bigger gap than income tax. The median 1-bedroom is $1,864 in LA and $1,172 in Austin. That’s $692 a month, or $8,304 a year, from the same source. From San Francisco, where the median 1-bedroom is $3,879, the gap with Austin is $2,707 a month. So a $150,000 earner leaving a San Francisco 1-bedroom for one in Austin keeps roughly $11,655 in tax and SDI plus about $32,500 in rent, before any other costs change.

And then subtract property tax, if you buy

The other side of the ledger is property tax. Using the Tax Foundation’s statewide effective rates, a $500,000 home works out to about $3,500 a year at California’s 0.70% and about $7,000 at Texas’s 1.40%. That’s an illustration, not a bill: actual Texas bills depend on the city, the school district and your homestead exemption. See Texas property taxes for local rates.

Prop 13 vs. Texas property tax

This is the comparison Californians most often get wrong, in both directions.

How Prop 13 works

California’s general property tax rate is capped at 1% of assessed value, and assessed value can rise no more than 2% a year (or inflation, if lower). The reset comes when a home sells: the buyer’s assessed value becomes the purchase price. Local voter-approved charges, such as bonds, come on top. Because long-time owners are assessed far below market, county-wide effective rates look low, about 0.67% in Los Angeles County. A new buyer, though, starts at 1% of what they paid, plus local add-ons.

How Texas works

Texas has no state property tax. Cities, counties, school districts and special districts each set their own rates. Your home is reappraised every year, but a homestead’s taxable value can rise by no more than 10% a year. The school-tax homestead exemption is now $140,000, and filing is free. The result is a statewide effective rate about twice California’s.

What it means for you

• If you sell a long-held California home, you’re giving up a low Prop 13 assessment. Your Texas bill on a cheaper house can still be higher.
• If you’re a recent California buyer, the gap is smaller than the statewide averages suggest, because your bill is already near 1% plus add-ons.
• Texas rates are set every fall. In Dallas County, a tax rate election is on the Nov 3, 2026 ballot, so the county rate may change.

What surprises people coming from California

Power is about half the price per kWh

California’s residential average was 29.8¢/kWh in August 2026, against 15.9¢ in Texas. Texas summers run the AC hard for months, so your kWh will go up, but the rate gap is large. In Dallas and Houston you pick your own electricity plan. Austin is served by city-owned Austin Energy. See Texas electricity.

Car insurance is about the same, not cheaper

Experian’s September 2026 averages are $2,300 in California and $2,329 in Texas. Leaving LA ($3,066) for Austin ($2,151) saves money. Leaving San Diego ($1,820) for Houston ($2,696) doesn’t. Registration, emissions and the new-resident fee are on our vehicle costs page.

Dallas isn’t cheap, just cheaper

BEA puts DFW at 103.1, about 3% above the U.S. average, while Houston and Austin are just under it. All three sit roughly 7 to 18 points below the big California metros. Most of the savings come from housing and taxes, not groceries.

Home insurance is a real line item

The Texas Department of Insurance puts the average Texas homeowners premium at $3,489 for 2025 (preliminary). Hail and wind drive it. Get quotes before you make an offer; see Texas insurance.

How many Californians are making the move

Census survey data for 2024, compiled by Texas REALTORS, shows about 77,000 people moved from California to Texas, the most from any state. About 45,000 moved the other way, for a net gain to Texas of about 32,000. Florida (about 52,000) and New York (about 28,000) were the next largest sources. These are survey estimates with margins of error, so treat them as rounded.

Out-of-date numbers you’ll still find online

The Tax Foundation’s newest state-local burden figures are still for calendar year 2022, even in its May 2026 Facts & Figures. They’re the latest available, not stale copies. Gas prices change weekly; EIA’s figures here are for the week of Oct 26, 2026.

Where to go next

Pick a city: Austin, Dallas or Houston, or compare them all on the Texas city comparison. Then work through the moving checklist, Texas taxes and child care costs. Leaving New York instead? See Texas vs. New York.

How we check

Every figure links to its source and shows the date it applies to. We prefer the agency that produces the number, such as the FTB, EDD, CDTFA, EIA and BEA. We label anything from a marketplace or aggregator, such as the Experian, Zillow and ElectricRates.org figures here. Read the full methodology.