H-E-B NOW

Get H-E-B groceries in 45 minutes with new Favor delivery service

The new delivery service promises to deliver 15 grocery items to a customer's doorstep in under an hour.

Photo courtesy of Favor

It's the dawn of a new age for grocery delivery. Austin-based on-demand delivery brand Favor has launched a new service that promises to deliver H-E-B groceries to customers in just under an hour. Called H-E-B Now, the service is meant to be a convenient and fast solution for a Favor customer's last-minute grocery needs.

According to a release, shoppers can order up to 15 items and have them brought right to their doorstep in just 45 minutes or less. It's like using the express check-out lane at any H-E-B, but without the hassle of leaving the house or waiting in line.

Although home delivery is already available either directly through H-E-B or via Instacart, neither commits to anything as fast as a 45-minute order turnaround. Another short-term perk encourages shoppers to make the switch: To celebrate the new launch, any orders over $25 will have no delivery or service fees from now until the end of 2024.

Favor is also launching a new search feature dedicated to all of H-E-B's products to help customers sort through their favorite items and the grocery chain's typical offerings, including produce, dairy, pantry items, deli and prepared foods, meat and seafood, health and beauty supplies, and more. In the new H-E-B tab, shoppers can now find items in beer and wine, as well as products in Blooms by H-E-B, H-E-B Sushiya, True Texas BBQ, among others.

"The new service strengthens Favor’s commitment to delivering the best service and selection with Texas hospitality, no matter what Texans’ delivery needs are," the release says.

Founded in 2013 and acquired by H-E-B five years later, Favor now operates in over 400 Texas cities with more than 100,000 delivery drivers.

More information about H-E-B Now can be found on favordelivery.com.

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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."

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H-E-B NOW

Get H-E-B groceries in 45 minutes with new Favor delivery service

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