Travis County Rent Is Up 88% Since 2010. Incomes, 87%

In the typical Travis County census tract, the median rent tenants pay was $940 a month in the 2006-2010 Census estimates and $1,769 in the 2020-2024 estimates, an increase of 88%. Median household income in those same tracts went from $52,639 to $98,408, up 87%. Over fourteen years the two lines have barely separated. That is not what most people feel when a renewal letter arrives, and the gap between the number in the table and the number on the letter is the useful part of this story.

The figures below come from our own pull of the Census Bureau's American Community Survey. Two newer rent numbers, HUD's federal rent standard and Apartment List's monthly city estimate, have both turned down this fall, and they measure something different from what the Census table does. We take them in turn.

Rent paid and household income, tract by tract

For each five-year Census estimate we took every Travis County tract with both a median gross rent and a median household income, then took the median of those tract medians. We also divided a year of rent (12 times the monthly figure) by the tract's median household income, which gives a rough "rent as a share of income" for each tract, and counted the tracts where that share passes 30%.

Three things stand out. The typical rent share has sat between 21.7% and 22.6% in every period. The count of tracts above 30% is 35 in the first period and 35 in the last, though the county has more tracts on the 2020 map (271 against 213), so the share of tracts is a little lower now: 12.9% against 16.4%. And the most recent five years were the fastest, with rent up 34% since the 2015-2019 estimates and income up 35%.

Gross rent, in the Census Bureau's definition, is monthly contract rent plus the estimated average monthly cost of utilities and fuels, so it is a little higher than the rent line in a lease. Our earlier look at what Travis County tenants report paying walks through the 25th and 75th percentile tracts for the latest period.

Why a flat ratio can still feel tight

The table is honest about the average, and the average hides at least three things.

• The income column is every household, not renters. Our table does not split income by tenure. If renters in a tract earn less than owners, a renter household's real rent share is higher than 22%. We cannot say by how much from this data.
• Rent paid is slow money. The ACS asks people what they pay now, and a five-year estimate pools 60 months of answers. The Census Bureau itself calls 5-year estimates the least current and the most reliable for small areas. A tenant who signed a lease in 2021 and renewed in 2023 is in the sample at that tenant's own price; the ACS does not tell you what the apartment next door asks today.
• The tightness shows up in vacancy. Weighting each tract's housing vacancy rate by households, the county went from 8.3% in the 2006-2010 estimates to 7.6%, then 7.9%, and 5.3% in 2020-2024. Fewer empty homes means less leverage for a renter at the moment of a move.

About half of Travis County households rent, and that share has moved by under two points in fourteen years. The 2020 tract map has more tracts than the 2010 map, so the household counts themselves are not comparable across the break; the shares are.

The two numbers that turned down this fall

Federal and private trackers now point the other way from the Census trend line, and for a reason: they are looking at current rents rather than a pooled history.

HUD's Fair Market Rent for a two-bedroom in the Austin-Round Rock area, which HUD sets at the 40th percentile of gross rents for an area's rental units and which we read from HUD's published tables (source date October 1, 2026), was $1,949 in fiscal 2025, $1,852 in fiscal 2026 and $1,817 for fiscal 2027. That is 6.8% below the fiscal 2025 figure. The mechanics are in our fiscal 2027 write-up.

Apartment List's November 2026 Austin rent report puts the city's median asking rent at $1,323, down 0.2% in October and 1.3% from a year earlier; the metro as a whole is at $1,296, down 1.2%. The report says the state average is down 1.5% and the national average up 0.1%. Within the metro the picture is uneven: the report lists Georgetown up 5.3% over the year and Kyle down 7.8%. Apartment List says it starts from Census median rents and extends them forward with growth rates from its own listing data, so its dollar levels are not an independent count and should not be set beside our $1,769 as if they were rival measurements. Apartment List's median spans all apartment sizes, and the Census figure includes utilities, so the levels differ for reasons that have nothing to do with a trend. The direction of change is the comparable piece.

Put together: rent that sitting tenants pay has climbed with incomes for fourteen years, and the newest read on what new leases cost has softened. Those two facts can both be true, because a renewal and a new lease are priced from different starting points.

What this means if you're renting here

• Know which number you are being compared to. A renewal quote is set against what you pay now. A new unit is set against what the market asks today. Right now those can sit on opposite sides of each other.
• Price your own unit. Look at what comparable units in your building or a few blocks away are advertising at this moment, and keep the screenshots with dates. If a renewal comes in above them, you have something concrete to raise with the landlord. A landlord may say no, and nothing in the data guarantees a particular outcome.
• Count the whole bill. Gross rent includes utilities, and Austin renters now see fees itemized before they apply; see our look at the City's rental fee disclosure rule so you compare total monthly cost and not only the headline rent.
• Use the 30% line as a check, not a verdict. Twelve times your monthly rent divided by your household's annual income is the same sum we ran for tracts. It is arithmetic, not a judgment of anyone's budget. For lending, tax or legal questions about your own situation, talk with a licensed professional or a tenant-rights organization.
• If a purchase is on your list, run the same ratio for it. Our Austin housing research shows the parcel, flood and tax records for a street before you tour it, and it gives a buyer's version of the same sum.

If you are weighing a renewal against a move, or a rental against a first purchase, a local agent on our team can walk through the timing with you.

Sources

• Austin Local Team analysis of U.S. Census Bureau American Community Survey 5-year records, Travis County tracts, estimate periods ending 2010, 2014, 2019 and 2024, pulled September 30, 2026 (tract counts and medians in the tables; rent share of income and tract counts above 30% are our arithmetic).
• U.S. Census Bureau, ACS estimates guidance and the ACS user note on contract rent (gross rent definition), read October 31, 2026.
• HUD Fair Market Rents, Austin-Round Rock area, fiscal years 2025 to 2027, two-bedroom, as loaded in our database; source date October 1, 2026.
• Apartment List, Austin Rent Report, November 2026, read October 31, 2026.