Moving to California from Texas
What to Expect
A comprehensive look at what changes when you move from Texas to California — from daily expenses to quality of life.
If you moved from Texas to California, you would find that California is 37.2% more expensive than Texas. A $75,000 salary in Texas would need to be roughly $103,000 in California to maintain the same lifestyle. Houston and Los Angeles are about 1,350 mi apart.
Thinking of moving to California? Get a shortlist of towns in California that match your priorities: size, cost, taxes, safety, disaster risk, hospitals and transport. Find my towns →Is California cheaper than Texas?
The biggest cost differences at a glance
Restaurants
pay 18.8% more
Groceries
pay 29.2% more
Transportation
pay 20.4% more
Housing
pay 67.2% more
Childcare
pay 32.9% more
Entertainment and Sports
pay 26.4% more
Data: MyLifeElsewhere's crowdsourced cost of living database, with prices submitted and updated by users worldwide. Exchange rates are refreshed regularly from public sources.
What salary do you need in California?
What does your salary buy?
$75,000 → $103,000
To maintain the same standard of living in California
Calculate with your salary →Cost of living by city
Cost of living varies a lot by city. Each figure is a city's overall cost of living as a percentage of New York City (the priciest, = 100%).
On average, cities in California cost about 47% more than cities in Texas.
Compare cities head-to-head
Key Indicator Comparison
How Texas and California stack up on safety, healthcare, jobs, and infrastructure.
Is it safe?
incidents per 100,000 people per year
incidents per 100,000 people per year
Texas performs better than California across all safety metrics.
How's the healthcare?
share of people without health insurance
share of adults with obesity
share of adults with diabetes
share of adults who smoke
California performs significantly better than Texas across all health & wellbeing metrics.
What about housing?
typical price of a home
typical monthly gross rent
share of homes that are owner-occupied
Texas performs better than California across all what about housing? metrics.
Will I have good infrastructure?
share of households with internet
minutes each way to work
Texas generally does better on infrastructure, though California leads in internet access.
What are the job prospects?
percentage of the labour force without work
a broad measure of economic output per person
typical annual income of a household
share of people below the poverty line
California generally does better on employment & economy, though Texas leads in unemployment rate.
Is it good for families?
average years of life at birth
share of adults with a 4-year college degree
California performs significantly better than Texas across all family life metrics.
Sources: US Census Bureau (American Community Survey) (2023), Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (PLACES) (2022), FBI Uniform Crime Reporting (2023), Bureau of Labor Statistics (2025), Bureau of Economic Analysis (2024), OECD Regional Demography (2020). How we calculate this
Weather in California vs Texas
Monthly averages — select a city to compare.
Avg. annual high / low
Avg. annual high / low
| Months | Houston | Los Angeles |
|---|---|---|
| Jan–Mar | 67°/48°F (20°/9°C) | 69°/49°F (21°/10°C) |
| Apr–Jun | 86°/67°F (30°/19°C) | 75°/57°F (24°/14°C) |
| Jul–Sep | 93°/73°F (34°/23°C) | 83°/64°F (29°/18°C) |
| Oct–Dec | 73°/53°F (23°/11°C) | 73°/53°F (23°/12°C) |
View all months
| Month | Houston | Los Angeles |
|---|---|---|
| Jan | 63°/43°F (17.2°/6.2°C) | 68°/48°F (20.1°/8.8°C) |
| Feb | 66°/47°F (19.1°/8.1°C) | 69°/49°F (20.3°/9.6°C) |
| Mar | 73°/53°F (22.8°/11.4°C) | 70°/51°F (21.2°/10.6°C) |
| Apr | 80°/59°F (26.4°/15.2°C) | 73°/53°F (22.6°/11.9°C) |
| May | 86°/68°F (30.2°/19.8°C) | 74°/57°F (23.6°/13.9°C) |
| Jun | 91°/73°F (33.0°/22.9°C) | 78°/60°F (25.6°/15.7°C) |
| Jul | 94°/75°F (34.3°/23.9°C) | 83°/64°F (28.4°/17.6°C) |
| Aug | 94°/75°F (34.7°/23.8°C) | 84°/64°F (29.1°/17.8°C) |
| Sep | 90°/70°F (32.1°/21.0°C) | 83°/63°F (28.4°/17.3°C) |
| Oct | 82°/61°F (27.8°/16.1°C) | 78°/59°F (25.8°/14.8°C) |
| Nov | 72°/52°F (22.5°/11.2°C) | 73°/52°F (22.7°/11.1°C) |
| Dec | 64°/45°F (17.9°/7.0°C) | 68°/47°F (19.8°/8.6°C) |
Data:
National Weather Service
Frequently Asked Questions
Is it cheaper to live in California than Texas?
Day-to-day costs in California run about 37% higher than Texas on average; specific cities can swing further.
How much money do I need to move to California?
A safe rule of thumb is 3 months of local expenses plus relocation costs. On a $75,000 comparable salary, that's around $25,750 in California for everyday spending, before movers, a truck rental, and a rental deposit.
Is California safe?
Texas performs better than California across all safety metrics.
How is healthcare in California compared to Texas?
California performs significantly better than Texas across all health & wellbeing metrics.
What's the weather like in California compared to Texas?
The average high temperature in Los Angeles is 75°F, compared to 80°F in Houston. Los Angeles receives around 14.9 in of rainfall per year, while Houston gets 49.8 in.
