Cost of Living inEl Paso, TX, United States
Image credit: Dicklyon
Purchasing Power vs. United States
Based on GDP per capita (PPP). United States: $75,489/capita.
How Far Your Money Goes
Prices are 31% lower than the global benchmark (New York City = 100).
Using the country-level NYC comparison for now. We do not have a defensible city-level aggregate cost index for this city yet.
Income Category
Happiness
6.7 / 10
#22 globally
GDP per Capita
City Population
Child Education
Public-school quality, expat access, instruction language, and homeschool legality for relocating families.
Public schools
Public-schooling rules are set nationally for United States; El Paso, TX-specific enrollment notes are still being verified.
Quality
Mixed public-school option
Expat access
Available to residents
conditionalInstruction
English
Language fit is more manageable.
PISA / outcomes
Qualitative only
Using curated quality notes for now.
Why this quality rating
The United States has many excellent public schools, but quality varies sharply by district and neighborhood.
Why the expat-access rating looks like this
Resident families can use local public schools, but school quality depends heavily on district assignment and housing location.
🗺️ Homeschooling
Varies by stateHomeschooling is legal in all 50 US states but regulations vary dramatically. Some states (TX, AK, ID) have minimal oversight; others (NY, PA, MA) require notification, testing, and curriculum approval. Most worldschooling families establish residency in low-regulation states.
Homeschool legality in United States — check current regulations before committing.
Source: User-curated family relocation research (initial seed) (2026-04-14)
Childcare & Domestic Help
Estimate-only country fallback for the family-support costs we track in United States.
Full-time nanny (5 days)
$2,200-$5,700
Estimate-only country fallback
Live-in / 24-7 nanny
$2,750-$6,600
Estimate-only country fallback
Source: curated family relocation research(derived country fallback)
Getting Around
The concrete mobility picture for El Paso: airport access, urban transit, and rideshare practicality.
Airport
El Paso international airport access
The refreshed local city data-type matrix lists El Paso as the highest remaining US mobility/walkability gap; El Paso International is the practical family air anchor.
Urban transit
Sun Metro bus, Brio corridors, and streetcar core
Sun Metro buses, Brio rapid corridors, the downtown streetcar loop, and compact central errands provide a conservative non-car layer, while most cross-city family trips remain road-led.
Rideshare
Uber and Lyft available
Ride-hailing is a routine fallback for airport runs, weather-sensitive errands, and first/last-mile gaps beyond fixed-route transit.
Source: User-curated family relocation research (initial seed) (2026-04-14)
Healthcare
System strength, outcome signals, facility coverage, and self-pay visibility in United States.
Method: country metrics come from public system indicators, facility coverage reflects mapped providers we can inventory, direct pricing only reflects observed self-pay pages, and relative care cost can fall back to broad cost-of-living healthcare indices. Sparse pricing does not imply sparse healthcare availability.
Healthcare system
StrongHigh national coverage, strong doctor availability, and deep nursing capacity support this rating.
Public care
StrongBroad public coverage, relatively low patient cost-sharing, and country-level outcomes are comparatively strong support this rating.
Private care
MixedA clearly private facility base help, but the tracked private-style network still looks thin and self-pay pricing transparency is still sparse.
UHC coverage
88/100
2023
Physicians
3.68/1k
2022
Hospital beds
2.68/1k
2022
Out of pocket
11%
2023
Outcome signals
Life expectancy
78.9 yrs
2024
Maternal mortality
17/100k
2023
Neonatal mortality
3.7/1k
2024
International patient readiness
MixedA visible private hospital base and multiple facilities have websites help, but price transparency is still sparse.
Pricing transparency
LimitedMultiple facilities have crawlable websites help, but published self-pay prices are scarce.
Facility coverage
Self-pay pricing visibility
No verified self-pay prices are published for the tracked facilities in United States yet.
This usually reflects low online price transparency rather than a lack of healthcare providers.
Notable facilities
System metrics: World Bank WDI · Updated 2026-06-01
Safety & Governance
Street Safety
Source: Numbeo where a city row is matched; otherwise World Bank WGI and country-level safety context.
Political Stability
World Bank WGI scale: -2.5 to +2.5.
Wages by Sector
| Sector | Median |
|---|---|
| Information & Technology | $127,908/yr |
| Finance & Insurance | $102,131/yr |
| Professional & Scientific Services | $98,620/yr |
| Utilities | $95,179/yr |
| Manufacturing | $83,306/yr |
| Transport & Logistics | $78,477/yr |
| Mining & Quarrying | $77,028/yr |
| Healthcare & Social Work | $64,992/yr |
| Real Estate | $64,217/yr |
| Other Services | $63,365/yr |
| Retail & Wholesale Trade | $61,528/yr |
| Education | $61,497/yr |
| Construction | $59,242/yr |
| Arts, Entertainment & Recreation | $58,753/yr |
| Administrative & Support Services | $54,336/yr |
| Agriculture & Farming | $40,797/yr |
| Hospitality & Food Service | $32,202/yr |
2025 annual wages in El Paso, TX, United States · Source: BLS OEWS (MSA-adjusted)
Price Comparison vs. US
Visa Information (US passport)
Long-Term Visa Programs
investment
US EB-5 Immigrant Investor (Standard)Quick comparison FAQ
Structured from the deltas already shown on this page — no invented facts, no extra data sources.
How far does your money go in El Paso compared with the US?
Your money goes about 1.2x further in El Paso than in the US, based on the current PPP estimate. We are using the country-level cost index for United States here because a defensible city-level aggregate index is not available yet.
Is El Paso cheaper or more expensive overall than New York City?
El Paso is cheaper overall than New York City — overall living costs are about 31% cheaper than the global benchmark (New York City) for El Paso. We are using the country-level cost index for United States here because a defensible city-level aggregate index is not available yet.
How does rent in El Paso compare with New York City?
Rent in El Paso is about 59% cheaper than the global benchmark (New York City). We are using the country-level cost index for United States here because a defensible city-level aggregate index is not available yet.
How expensive are groceries and restaurants in El Paso?
Groceries in El Paso are about 26% cheaper than the global benchmark (New York City), and restaurant prices are about 27% cheaper than the same benchmark. We are using the country-level cost index for United States here because a defensible city-level aggregate index is not available yet.
About El Paso, TX
El Paso sits at the far western tip of Texas in the United States, pressed against the Rio Grande directly opposite Ciudad Juarez in Mexico, with which it forms one of the largest binational metropolitan areas in the Western Hemisphere. The local economy combines Fort Bliss which is one of the largest US Army installations, cross-border manufacturing logistics tied to the maquiladora belt, and a major medical-school-anchored healthcare sector. Relocators get genuinely cheap housing for a US city of this size, mild winters with cool desert nights, and consistently low violent-crime statistics despite the city's misleading reputation. Trade-offs include extreme summer aridity, limited direct flights compared to Dallas or Phoenix, and dust storms during the spring.
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