Albuquerque vs Austin - Cost of Living Comparison

Updated: March 11, 2026

	Albuquerque	Austin
🚶 Cost of living one person	$2026	$2444
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Cost of living Family	$5037	$5560
🏠 One person rent	$1168	$1531
🏘️ Family rent	$2063	$2491
🍽️ Food expenses	$606	$605
🚐 Transport expenses	$95.4	$120
💳 Monthly salary after tax	$3847	$4939
😷 Air quality	Excellent	Excellent
✈️ Airport proximity	9 km	13 km
🎓 Higher education	27	65
😀 Quality of life	83	90
🏙️ Population	565K	962K

The cost of living in Albuquerque is 17% less expensive than in Austin. Cities ranked 1965th and 985th ($2026 vs $2444) in the list of the most expensive cities in the world and ranked 1541st and 845th in the United States.

The average after-tax salary is enough to cover living expenses for 1.9 months in Albuquerque compared to 2 months in Austin. Ranked 185th vs 54th best cities to live in the United States, and 561st vs 217th among the best cities to live in the world.

Salary adjustment calculator
the estimated difference in money purchasing power

Share this infographic!

Use the link below to embed the infographic from our site and automatically keep the data layer up to date.

If you prefer to download the image, please credit us as a source.

<img src="https://livingcost.org/assets/photo/cost/albuquerque/austin.jpg" alt="Cost of living in Albuquerque vs Austin infographic" style="max-width: 100%; height: auto;"><p>Source: <a href="https://livingcost.org/cost/albuquerque/austin" target="_blank">Albuquerque vs Austin - Cost of Living Comparison</a></p>

Prices in Albuquerque vs Austin

Prices for goods and services in Albuquerque and Austin are partly crowdsourced by our visitors, just like yourself. Please consider telling us about your city.

	Albuquerque	Austin
Eating Out
🍱 Lunch Menu	$19	$19.4
🥂 Dinner in a Restaurant, for 2	$73.4	$70.5
🥪 Fast food meal, equiv. McDonald's	$10.3	$11.4
🍻 Beer in a Pub, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$6.02	$7.38
☕ Cappuccino	$5.25	$5.62
🥤 Pepsi / Coke, 0.5 L or 16.9 fl oz	$2.76	$2.98
Rent & Utilities
🏙️ 1 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$1143	$1919
🏡 Cheap 1 bedroom apartment, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$961	$1200
🏙️ 3 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$2114	$3122
🏡 Cheap 3 bedroom apartment, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$1766	$2017
🔌 Utility Bill one person, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$102	$119
🔌 Utility Bill for a Family, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$159	$185
🌐 Internet plan, 50 Mbps+ 1 month unlimited	$68.8	$68
🏦 Mortgage Interest Rate for 20 Years	6.31%	6.32%
🏙️ Apartment price to Buy in city Center, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$2420	$5020
🏡 House price to Buy in Suburbs, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$2241	$3187
Transportation
🚌 Local transport ticket	$1.94	$2.05
🎟️ Monthly ticket local transport	$30.8	$41.7
🚕 Taxi Ride, 8 km or 5 mi	$19.3	$18.1
⛽ Gas / Petrol, 1 L or 0.26 gal	$0.78	$0.72
Groceries
🥛 Milk, 1 L or 1 qt	$0.96	$0.96
🍞 Bread, 0.5 kg or 1.1 lb	$3.13	$2.96
🍚 Rice, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$3.94	$2.88
🥚 Eggs, x12	$4.43	$5.12
🧀 Cheese, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$11.7	$13.1
🐔 Chicken Breast, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$10.5	$12.2
🥩 Round Steak, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$19.2	$14.7
🍏 Apples, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$4.81	$4.23
🍌 Banana, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.53	$1.57
🍊 Oranges, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$3.96	$3.96
🍅 Tomato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$4.67	$3.8
🥔 Potato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.65	$2.41
🧅 Onion, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$3.17	$2.65
🌊 Water, 1 L or 1 qt	$1.78	$1.48
🍹 Coca-Cola / Pepsi, 2 L or 67.6 fl oz	$2.66	$2.75
🍾 Wine (mid-priced), 750 mL bottle	$14.1	$15.8
🍺 Beer, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$2.17	$2.85
🚬 Cigarette pack	$10.5	$9.32
💊 Cold medicince, 1 week	$6.32	$6.76
🧴 Hair Shampoo	$5.24	$6.05
🧻 Toilet paper, 4 rolls	$3.98	$4.18
👄 Toothpaste, 1 tube	$1.87	$2.21
Other
🏋️ Gym Membership, 1 month	$45.3	$70.3
🎫 Cinema Ticket, 1 person	$13.7	$14.7
👩‍⚕️ Doctor's visit	$123	$148
💇 Haircut, simple	$15.3	$25.6
👖 Brand Jeans	$50.8	$55.6
👟 Brand Sneakers	$95.2	$95.5
👶 Daycare or Preschool, 1 month	$1491	$1382
🏫 International Primary School, 1 year	$24972	$21398

Cost of living in other countries

Cost of living

Cost of Living in the nearest cities

Cities near Albuquerque

Distance	City	Cost of living
14 km or 8.5 mi	Rio Rancho	$2040
85 km or 53 mi	Santa Fe	$2216
110 km or 69 mi	Espanola	$2220
170 km or 106 mi	Taos	$2418
197 km or 123 mi	Gallup	$2190
230 km or 143 mi	Farmington	$2472
254 km or 158 mi	Alamogordo	$1734
272 km or 169 mi	Roswell	$1928
311 km or 193 mi	Las Cruces	$1641
321 km or 200 mi	Clovis	$1724
373 km or 232 mi	Carlsbad	$1855
374 km or 232 mi	El Paso	$1828
376 km or 233 mi	Ciudad Juarez	$1002
388 km or 241 mi	Socorro	$1876
393 km or 244 mi	Pueblo	$2140
418 km or 259 mi	Hobbs	$1924
433 km or 269 mi	Fountain	$2323
434 km or 270 mi	Amarillo	$1817
437 km or 272 mi	Security-Widefield	$2357
447 km or 278 mi	Colorado Springs	$2451
456 km or 283 mi	Flagstaff	$2589
460 km or 286 mi	Plainview	$2023
467 km or 290 mi	Lubbock	$1934
472 km or 293 mi	Grand Junction	$2168
491 km or 305 mi	Apache Junction	$2490
496 km or 308 mi	Florence	$2444
498 km or 310 mi	Castle Rock	$2510
498 km or 310 mi	Fountain Hills	$2384
502 km or 312 mi	Agua Prieta	$863
502 km or 312 mi	Oro Valley	$2050
505 km or 314 mi	Queen Creek	$3022
510 km or 317 mi	Casas Adobes	$2005
512 km or 318 mi	Tucson	$1930
513 km or 319 mi	Highlands Ranch	$2600
514 km or 320 mi	Gilbert	$2381
515 km or 320 mi	Mesa	$2298
516 km or 320 mi	Marana	$2089
516 km or 321 mi	Parker	$2524
520 km or 323 mi	Littleton	$2286
520 km or 323 mi	Scottsdale	$2471

Cities near Austin

Distance	City	Cost of living
19 km or 12 mi	Pflugerville	$2115
25 km or 15 mi	Round Rock	$2027
25 km or 15 mi	Cedar Park	$2171
31 km or 20 mi	Leander	$2187
37 km or 23 mi	Kyle	$2237
39 km or 24 mi	Georgetown	$2125
51 km or 32 mi	San Marcos	$2229
76 km or 47 mi	New Braunfels	$2221
84 km or 52 mi	Seguin	$2200
86 km or 53 mi	Harker Heights	$2059
90 km or 56 mi	Killeen	$1991
93 km or 58 mi	Copperas Cove	$2083
95 km or 59 mi	Cibolo	$2175
96 km or 60 mi	Schertz	$2174
96 km or 60 mi	Temple	$2153
122 km or 76 mi	San Antonio	$2063
137 km or 85 mi	Bryan	$2000
138 km or 86 mi	Kerrville	$2165
140 km or 87 mi	College Station	$1913
150 km or 93 mi	Waco	$2285
180 km or 112 mi	Victoria	$2226
204 km or 126 mi	Rosenberg	$2114
214 km or 133 mi	Huntsville	$2022
215 km or 133 mi	The Woodlands	$2738
218 km or 136 mi	Stephenville	$2150
218 km or 136 mi	Conroe	$1836
219 km or 136 mi	Sugar Land	$2071
226 km or 140 mi	Missouri	$2094
227 km or 141 mi	Spring	$2112
230 km or 143 mi	Cleburne	$2177
233 km or 145 mi	Corsicana	$2189
234 km or 145 mi	Houston	$2265
248 km or 154 mi	Waxahachie	$2196
249 km or 155 mi	Pearland	$2150
252 km or 156 mi	Burleson	$2175
252 km or 157 mi	Midlothian	$2193
256 km or 159 mi	Pasadena	$2228
258 km or 160 mi	Alvin	$2072
260 km or 161 mi	Friendswood	$2136
260 km or 161 mi	Mansfield	$2302