What would a year cost you in this county?
Your income and household, the county's own home prices, rents, property-tax rate and childcare, and the state's income and sales tax. Two counties side by side.
What the calculator does
Pick a county, enter your income, whether you would buy or rent, how many people are in the household and how many children are under five, and the calculator adds up a year of the big fixed costs at that county's own prices. Buying uses the county's median home value from Zillow with a mortgage at 20 percent down and 6.75 percent over 30 years, plus property tax at the county's effective rate from the Tax Foundation. Renting uses the county's median two-bedroom rent, or the HUD fair market rent where the survey has none. Childcare uses County Health Rankings' cost burden for the county. State income tax is the effective rate at your income under that state's 2026 brackets, and sales tax is the state's average combined rate on an assumed share of spending. Home insurance, car insurance, groceries and utilities are state-level figures and are labeled that way in the table. Federal income and payroll taxes are not in the total, so the number is what the place costs, not what you keep.
3,063 of the 3,222 counties in the database report both a home value and a property-tax rate, the two county figures the estimate leans on most; where a county lacks one, the line falls back to the state figure and the table labels it that way. Add a second county to see the same lines side by side, and follow the link on any county to its full profile.
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A worked example: Harris County, Texas, on $85,000
Two adults and one child under 5, buying the county's median home ($282,112), with one car. At $85,000 a year the model puts the household's costs at $4,786 a month, $57,437 a year, which leaves $27,563 before federal income and payroll tax. Here is every line.
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| Cost line | Figure from | A month | A year |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mortgage (20% down, 6.75%, 30 yr) · county median home | Harris County | $1,464 | $17,568 |
| Property tax · 1.77% effective | Harris County | $416 | $4,992 |
| Home insurance | Texas | $267 | $3,204 |
| Car insurance | Texas | $178 | $2,136 |
| Childcare (1 under 5) · CHR: 28% of local median income for two children | Harris County | $825 | $9,900 |
| Groceries (3) · national $450/person scaled by state COL | Texas | $1,310 | $15,720 |
| Utilities | Texas | $243 | $2,916 |
| State income tax · no state income tax | Texas | $0 | $0 |
| Sales tax | Texas | $84 | $1,008 |
| Total modeled cost | $4,786 | $57,437 | |
| Left from $85,000, before federal income and payroll tax | $2,297 | $27,563 | |
How the method works. The mortgage assumes 20 percent down at 6.75 percent over 30 years on the county's median home value (Zillow). Property tax is the county's effective rate from the Tax Foundation, 1.77 percent here, applied to that home. Childcare uses County Health Rankings' childcare cost burden, the cost of care for two children as a share of the county's median household income, halved for one child and applied to that median income. State income tax is Texas's effective rate at this income, which is zero because Texas has none. Sales tax is Texas's average combined rate on an assumed taxable share of spending. Home insurance, car insurance, groceries ($450 a person scaled by the state cost-of-living index) and utilities are state-level figures and are labeled that way. Federal taxes are outside the model.
See the full Harris County profile, or find counties with a lower bill on the county map.