Traffic Woes

How much time and money do Houstonians waste in traffic? New report reveals surprising numbers

Katy Freeway highway Interstate 10 traffic traffic jam March 2014

A new report found that Houstonians waste 61 hours a year stuck in traffic.

It's common knowledge that Houstonians hate the city's traffic congestion, but a new report examines just how bad it's getting. The Texas A&M Transportation Institute's 2015 Urban Mobility Scorecard delves into the real cost of traffic in Houston and across the nation.

According to the report, each commuter in Houston wastes 61 hours per year in traffic. The average for large cities with populations between 1 and 3 million (such as San Antonio, Portland and Denver) is 45 hours, placing Houston well above the average and at No. 5 in the country for the worst congestion among this demographic.

The ratio for Houston is 1.43, meaning a commute that should take about 30 minutes takes close to 42 minutes during high traffic times.

The scorecard also explains how much longer it takes to get somewhere during peak flow times versus free flow times. The ratio for Houston is 1.43, meaning a commute that should take about 30 minutes takes close to 42 minutes during high traffic times.

But it's not just about wasting time on the roads. The scorecard also looked at exactly how much dough we're spending by calculating the yearly congestion cost per auto commuter. Combine how much gas we waste during commutes with the value of our travel time delay, and each Houston commuter is throwing away $1,490.

Traffic has historically been a significant problem in the city, so it comes as no surprise that Houstonians are tired of suffering from traffic congestion. According to this year's Kinder Houston Area Survey — conducted annually by Rice University's Kinder Institute for Urban Research — 65 percent of Harris County residents who have lived in the area for three years or more feel that traffic congestion has continued to worsen, up from 56 percent in 2013 and from 53 percent in 2011. Moreover, 28 percent of respondents spontaneously named traffic as the city's biggest problem.

However, the problem isn't one faced by Houston alone. Commuters in Austin and Dallas-Forth Worth waste 52 hours and 53 hours per year, respectively. San Antonio has it better, at 44 hours wasted per year.

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salary news

Houstonians need a $15K income hike from last year to live comfortably

Photo by Hanson Lu on Unsplash

More disposable income means less stress at the grocery store.

As the cost of living in Houston fluctuates, a financially stable income is getting harder to come by. A new study has revealed that Houstonians need to make nearly $15,000 more than they did last year to make living comfortable in 2025.

That's according to SmartAsset's latest report, "Salary Needed to Live Comfortably in U.S. Cities – 2025 Study" which examined data from MIT’s Living Wage Calculator to determine the cost of living for a childless individual in the 100 largest American metro areas.

Single adults in Houston would need to make $90,064 a year to live a comfortable life in 2025, or $14,976 more than last year's salary requirements.

That's also a huge jump from SmartAsset's 2023 report, when single Houstonians only needed to make $62,260 post-tax to live a financially stable life.

Despite that shocking increase, Houston locals have the No. 15 most affordable salary requirements nationwide in order to maintain financial stability in 2025, the report found.

For a family of two working adults and two children, the combined income necessary to live comfortably in Houston is $206,669 a year. For additional context, the median household income in the city was $62,637 in 2023.

Breaking down the cost of living in Houston
SmartAsset also used the 50/30/20 budgeting strategy to figure out what a “comfortable lifestyle” meant for the purpose of their study: 50 percent of their income goes to a person’s needs/living expenses, 30 percent to a person’s wants, and 20 percent for their savings or paying down debt.

That means a childless Houstonian would need to spend $47,965 of their salary on their living expenses, $28,779 for discretionary expenses, and put about $18,012 toward their savings or debt payments.

Families of four would have to spend about $103,335 on living expenses, $62,001 on entertainment or hobbies, and $41,334 toward savings or paying down debt in order to live comfortably in Houston, based on the study's findings.

"Most households aim to maintain a cushion between the necessary spending for day-to-day necessities – like housing, food, utilities and childcare – while also enjoying life in the moment and saving for the future," the report's author wrote. "This means keeping room in the budget for the occasional vacation or splurge, as well as savings for long-term goals like retirement or a child’s college education."

Elsewhere in Texas
San Antonio was the only Texas city that was more budget-friendly than Houston, ranking No. 6 among the top 10 U.S. cities with the lowest salary requirements to live a financially stable life in 2025.

Single San Antonio residents need to make $86,694 in order to live comfortably in their city.

That's not too far off from Indianapolis, Indiana, which ranked as the No. 1 U.S. city with residents needing to make $1,515 less than San Antonio residents to live comfortably in the city.

Here's how other Texas cities fared in the report:

No. 31 – Dallas, Irving, and Garland (tied, $95,930)
No. 34 – Fort Worth and Arlington (tied, $96,429)
No. 51 – Austin ($101,587)
No. 69 – Plano, Frisco, and McKinney (tied, $107,994)

The U.S. city where residents need to make the most money to maintain a comfortable lifestyle in 2025 is San Jose, California. Single individuals need to make a minimum of $147,430, with families of four requiring $371,571 a year to be financially stable.

finance income families cost of living rent prices