Cash Grab

Mysterious donor hatches plan to give Houstonians cash for random acts of kindness

Houston, are you ready to stampede the streets? Friday could be your chance to win up to $200 of hidden cash — thanks to acts of kindness sweeping the nation.

It all started two weeks ago when a San Francisco native created the Twitter account @hiddencash, which has now surged to almost 450,000 followers. The account posts random tweets throughout the day, giving scavenger-hunt-like hints to find white envelopes filled with anywhere between $10 to $210. The brains behind the craze, who has remained anonymous, is a real estate mogul who says that after seeing how fortunate he or she was with financial success, wanted to pay back the city and share their wealth.

The series of events starts with a clue tweeted and often vague photo of the location:

First name of a composer who lived to be over 100 (last name is a European capital) + square root of 49 pic.twitter.com/YcrriWi6jz

— Hidden Cash (@HiddenCash) May 25, 2014

Next the crowds swarm the various venues:

True power of #SocialMedia RT @NBCLA: Crowds rush #Burbank to find @HiddenCash LIVE VIDEO: https://t.co/xlaF7AbWoW pic.twitter.com/yQqcv9c9AJ

— Amber (@AmberTubbs) May 30, 2014

And finally the cash is found and tweeted by the lucky winner.

Found it! Thanks @HiddenCash ! pic.twitter.com/TuV6zU1W3S

— Cassandra (@helloshinyworld) May 30, 2014

So how did this giver make their way to Los Angeles, Nashville, New Orleans, Dallas, Chicago and eventually Houston? A number of the new giveaway accounts are actually various copycats just trying to spread the love, says the San Francisco mogul on his Twitter account.

Since its start, the giving has turned into a two-way street. In exchange for the anonymous cash drops, the Twitter account heads are asking that the cities become inspired to pass the kindness forward by donating toys to local charities, picking up garbage on the beach or even stuffing backpacks for back to school drives.

This phenomenon kicked off in Houston on Tuesday under the account @HoustonHiddenGifts. The mysterious Houston organizer encouraged followers to do such good things as give blood or drop off gifts for cancer patients at M.D. Anderson Cancer Center. (The gift effort fizzled on Wednesday when a number of visitors appeared without advance notice to the hospital.)

Although the Twitter account is still working out some tweaks, the number of followers has jumped by 1,500 to more than 6,000 in the past 12 hours.

While some Houstonians online weren’t very welcoming of the idea, stating that despite the kindness, “nothing is free in life,” the majority has been extremely receptive.

Want your chance to find the cash? Follow @HoustonHiddenGifts or find them on Facebook to get the clues and updates on how you can return the favor and give back to your city.

Houston get ready for it. Our very own cash and other gifts scavenger hunt of random kindness. First drop coming up Friday!

— HoustonHiddenGifts (@HoustonHiddenGi) June 3, 2014

unspecified

Stretching the budget

A $100,000 salary in 2026 goes further in Houston than it did last year

Photo by Leo Yao on Unsplash

$100,000 stretches a little further in 2026.

A 2026 income study has good news for big earners in Houston: A six-figure salary goes further than it did last year.

A Houston resident's $100,000 salary is worth $84,840 after taxes and adjusted for the local cost of living, according to the new financial analysis from SmartAsset. That's about $1,500 more than Houstonians were bringing home last year.

The 2026 take-home pay is about eight percent higher than it was in 2024, when the same salary had an adjusted value of $78,089.

SmartAsset used its paycheck calculator to apply federal, state and local taxes to an annual salary of $100,000 in 69 of the largest American cities. The figure was then adjusted for the local cost of living (which included average costs for housing, groceries, utilities, transportation, and miscellaneous goods and services). Cities were then ranked based on where a six-figure salary is worth the least after applicable taxes and cost of living adjustments.

Houston ranked No. 60 in the overall ranking of U.S. cities where $100,000 is worth the least. If the rankings were flipped and the cities were ranked based on where $100,000 goes the furthest, that places Houston in the No. 10 spot nationwide.

Manhattan, New York remains the No. 1 city where a six-figure salary is worth the least. A Manhattan resident's take-home pay is only worth $29,420 after taxes and adjusted for the cost of living, which is 3.10 percent lower than it was in 2025.

SmartAsset determined Manhattan has a 29.7 percent effective tax rate on six-figure salaries. Meanwhile, the effective tax rate on a $100,000 salary in Texas (based on the eight cities examined in the report) is 21.1 percent. It's worth highlighting that New York implements a statewide graduated-rate income tax from 4-10.90 percent, whereas Texas is one of only eight states that don't tax residents' income.

Oklahoma City, No. 69, is the U.S. city in the report where a $100,000 salary stretches the furthest. A six-figure salary is worth $91,868 in 2026, up from $89,989 last year.

This is the post-tax value of a $100,000 salary in other Texas cities, and their ranking in the report:

Plano (No. 27): $72,653
Dallas (No. 47): $80,103
Austin (No. 53): $82,446
Lubbock (No. 59): $84,567
San Antonio (No. 62): $86,419
El Paso (No. 67): $90,276
Corpus Christi (No. 68): $91,110

According to the report, getting some "financial breathing room" by making six-figures really depends on where someone lives and what their lifestyle is. For residents living in the 42 states that levy some amount of income tax, their take-home pay dwindles further.

"And depending on how taxes are filed, reaching a $100,000 income may push a household from the 22 percent to 24 percent marginal tax bracket," the report's author wrote. "Meanwhile, locations with high costs across housing and everyday essentials may be less forgiving to a $100,000 income."

smartasset income finance six figures