Low cost of living: City of McAllen ranks number one in U.S.

With so much more local traffic than in years gone by — hoooooooonk — one almost hesitates to mention the great things about Hidalgo County. After all, some argue, do we really need more people moving here?

According to the U.S. Census, the county’s population in 1990 was approximately 384,000.

Fast forward 32 years, and by 2022, the same population was almost pegged at 900,000.

Meanwhile, some of us are traveling down the very same roads we did 30 years ago, with minor improvements. The rest of the roads are currently under construction.

Hyperbole, maybe, but not by much.

Yet, a local news source like The Advance would be remiss in not mentioning good news about this area whenever it tends to pop up across national media.

Such is the case with Realtor. com’s economic research team, which released a story last week that carried this catchy headline: The Top 10 Cities With the Lowest Cost of Living – Where You Get the Most for Every Dollar.

Leading the cities, coming in at numero uno — McAllen.

The story doesn’t mention if the data used to score McAllen first was solely taken from the city, or the Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA), McAllen-Edinburg-Mission, which actually includes all of Hidalgo County.

According to the Realtors.com story: “To find which cities have the highest and lowest cost of living, the economic research team at Realtor. com examined the latest regional price parities (RPPs) data by the Bureau of Economic Analysis.”

Then comes the good news:

“Topping the list is McAllen, Tx.”

According to the Realtors.com story, McAllen (and by extension, all of Hidalgo County, not counting property taxes) has a regional price parity (RPP) of 86.92 percent.

In layman’s terms, that means residents here pay only $86.92 for bare living essentials, while the rest of the country pays $100.

Put another way, the cost of living here is 13 percent less than the norm.

Indicating that the Realtors. com survey is including all of Hidalgo County, here is a quote taken from the Oct. 23, 2024 story: “The metros (MSAs) with the lowest cost of living are largely concentrated in the South and the Midwest,” says Realtor. com senior economic research analyst Hannah Jones. “These areas tend to be smaller, with only Birmingham, AL, representing the 50 largest U.S. metros, as the 50th largest.”

As the story points out, it’s not just the cost of goods that are low here, but the cost of buying a home as well: “Home prices in these areas were $100,000 or more below the national median in September.”

Ka-ching.

What is amazing for people who have called the Valley home for many years is the median home price now cited in the story — “$275,000.”

Final excerpt from the Realtors.com story:

“McAllen’s location close to the Mexico border has fueled a trade-based economy and manufacturing jobs,” says real estate agent Cara Ameer. “There is no income tax in Texas, and property taxes are lower in McAllen. There is plenty of land on which to develop, which helps keep prices more affordable. In addition, McAllen has a lower cost of living, so that coupled with job opportunities helps create a more affordable environment.”

So there you have it. Low on crime, according to national data, a low cost of living, relative speaking, according to Realtors.com, this remains a great place to live.

Question is: Do we want to tell the world or keep it to ourselves?