Amarillo Named One Of The Cheapest Cities To Live In

We've seen the cost of living rise in Amarillo over the last few years, and it's definitely been a stretch for a lot of people to make ends meet.

No matter where you are, the cost of living is becoming almost unbearable. It's important to keep things in perspective though as many others are struggling, and some more than others.

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We can certainly sit here and complain about how much things are these days, but ConsumerAffairs recently did a study and it showed something pretty amazing about Amarillo.

CHEAPEST CITIES IN AMERICA TO LIVE IN

The study broke down the most affordable, and cheapest, places to live in the country, and Amarillo found itself inside the top 10 of that list. Not a bad place to be. Now, when a study like this is done, there are always questions as to what was included in the study.

Some of the things inside the study included housing costs, grocery costs, utility costs, and health care costs amongst a couple of other things. Those things all factored into the cost of living index score. They also took into account the median household income, unemployment rate, and the state-local tax.

WHERE DOES AMARILLO RANK

Based on these factors, Amarillo found itself solidly placed as the sixth cheapest place in America to live. I'd say that's not exactly a bad place to be when it comes to being able to afford life.

On the list, Amarillo checked in with the cheapest health care costs in the country, even if it's hard to believe with how expensive health care is these days. We also have the second-most affordable housing, meaning the costs of buying or renting a home are among some of the cheapest you'll find in the country.

Our unemployment rate sits at 3.3% in the study, which is pretty on par for the majority of cities that were listed at 10 of the cheapest to live in. Our median household income in Amarillo is $62,260 which factors in big time from the standpoint of how many people can afford to comfortable live here.

ARE WE THE CHEAPEST CITY TO LIVE IN IN TEXAS

Amazingly we aren't. Now, I'm sure you're sitting there thinking to yourself it must be some city a bit smaller than us. Would it surprise you if I told you the city that ranks above us at number five was Austin?

I can tell you it shocked me, and I lived there for over seven years. So how did Austin end up above us as more affordable? This is where all those different factors come in. The housing costs in Austin are astronomical, in fact, they're 15.2% above the average of the country.

So with housing being so expensive, how does it rank above us who has the second-lowest housing costs? It comes down to a slightly better unemployment rate, and a much higher median household income. $89,415 is the median household income in Austin, meaning they can afford the higher housing costs there. Everything else is pretty on par with Amarillo.