Vancouver vs Austin: which should you move to?
Vancouver or Austin? Housing, rent, crime, climate, income, taxes and transit, side by side, from each city's own published figures. Written for someone deciding where to live, not for a ranking.
The two housing bills are in different currencies, but held against local pay they are far apart. Mortgage, property tax and insurance come to about $5,239 CAD a month in Vancouver, roughly 70% of the metro's 2020 median household income, and about $4,041 USD in Austin, roughly 54% of the city's 2024 median, on homes that cost 12.1 and about 6.2 times those incomes. The tax sits in opposite places: British Columbia takes about $20,500 CAD of $100,000 in income tax and 0.336% of a home's value, while Texas takes no income tax and an effective 1.61%, $9,019 a year on Austin's median house. Austin has the labor market, 3.7% metro unemployment in July 2026 against 6.0%. Homicide favors Vancouver: 26 in 2025, about 3.5 per 100,000 with 11 from one attack, against 51 in Austin, about 5.1. Choose Vancouver to live without a car and for coverage that comes with residency. Choose Austin for the job market and a house bought on a salary.
Vancouver prices are in CAD and Austin prices are in USD. The tables leave them in their own currency and compare ratios and rates instead; a conversion would be stale by the time you read it.
| Measure | Vancouver | Austin | Advantage |
|---|---|---|---|
| City population | 662,248 (2021) | 1,002,632 (2025) | Not directly comparable |
| Metro population | 3,088,036 (2025) | 2,620,945 (2025) | Not directly comparable |
| Five-year growth Growth is pressure on rents and roads as much as it is opportunity, so it is reported without a winner. | 4.9% (2016-2021) | 4.6% (2020-2025) | Not directly comparable |
What a home costs in each
The figures the two cities' rent-versus-buy and mortgage calculators run on, read from the same tables.
| Measure | Vancouver | Austin | Advantage |
|---|---|---|---|
| Benchmark home price MLS® HPI or equivalent benchmark. Lower is treated as the advantage, which is the buyer's view rather than the owner's. | $1,088,800 (July 2026) | $560,000 (August 2026) | Not directly comparable |
| Detached house benchmark | $1,822,900 | $527,943 | Not directly comparable |
| Apartment or condominium benchmark | $688,000 | $355,596 | Not directly comparable |
| Two-bedroom rent | $2,638/mo (average, October 2025) | $1,812/mo (average, August 2026) | Not directly comparable |
| One-bedroom rent | $1,860/mo | $1,421/mo | Not directly comparable |
| Two-bedroom rent against median income A year of two-bedroom rent as a share of the median household income below. A household paying the median rent out of the median income is a fiction, but it is the same fiction in both columns and it crosses currencies. | 35.2% of a year's income | 24.0% of a year's income | Austin |
| Mortgage payment on the benchmark, 20% down 25 years in Vancouver against 30 in Austin, each compounding the way its own country's lenders do. The rates are not a spread you can shop: they are what each market charges. | $4,744/mo at 4.34% | $2,990/mo at 7.03% | Not directly comparable |
| Price to household income Benchmark price divided by the median household income below. A ratio is comparable across currencies; the dollars are not. | 12.1× | 6.2× | Austin |
| Property tax on the benchmark home The effective rate on market value, which is what the two rates have in common and what the Advantage column is decided on; the bills are in each city's own dollars. | $3,663/yr (0.336%, 2026) | $9,022/yr (1.611%, 2025) | Vancouver |
| Transfer tax on the benchmark home Compared as a share of the price. Where the seller pays it, it is a cost of leaving rather than arriving. | $19,776 (buyer pays) | None | Austin |
| Rent control A cap protects a sitting tenant and does nothing for the next lease, so neither column is simply better. | 2.3% guideline (2026) | Forbidden by state law | Not directly comparable |
Vancouver: The 2026 total residential levy of $3.36394 per $1,000 of taxable value, including the provincial school, TransLink, BC Assessment, Metro Vancouver and MFA portions, before the Home Owner Grant. Austin: About 1.61% of value for a homesteaded owner, worked out on the $560,000 median sale price. A house in the City of Austin and Austin ISD is taxed by five units for 2025, which add to 2.046485 per $100 before any exemption. Each takes its own homestead exemption off the appraised value first: Austin ISD the state's $140,000, the City, Travis County and Central Health 20%, and Austin Community College 1% with a $5,000 floor. So Travis County levies 0.375845 per $100 on $448,000 after a $112,000 exemption, $1,684; City of Austin levies 0.524017 per $100 on $448,000 after a $112,000 exemption, $2,348; Austin ISD levies 0.9252 per $100 on $420,000 after a $140,000 exemption, $3,886; Austin Community College levies 0.1034 per $100 on $554,400 after a $5,600 exemption, $573; Central Health levies 0.118023 per $100 on $448,000 after a $112,000 exemption, $529. The five come to $9,019 a year, 1.61% of the price. Without a homestead, as a landlord or a buyer who never files, the same house owes $11,460. These are the 2025 rates, the bills mailed in October 2025. For 2026 the City has adopted 0.579948, the county 0.38621, Central Health 0.132863 and ACC 0.103643, and Austin ISD has proposed 0.9184; on the same house those would come to about 1.67%.
How safe each city is, by the numbers it publishes
Police-reported figures for the most recent year each force or statistics agency has released. Rates describe a whole city or metro area, and the spread between neighbourhoods inside one city is usually wider than the gap between the two cities.
| Measure | Vancouver | Austin | Advantage |
|---|---|---|---|
| Crime Severity Index Statistics Canada's weighted index for the metropolitan area, where 100 is Canada in 2006. American cities have no equivalent series. | 83.5 (2025) | Not published | Not directly comparable |
| Violent crime per 100,000 Canada counts every violent Criminal Code incident; the FBI counts four offences. The Canadian figure is always the larger one for that reason alone. | 709 (2025) | 421 (2025) | Not directly comparable |
| Property crime per 100,000 | 4,067 (2025) | 3,093 (2025) | Not directly comparable |
| Homicides Counts, not rates, and a single year in a small city moves a long way on chance alone. What each figure covers is under the table. | 26 (2025) | 51 (2025) | Not directly comparable |
The Vancouver CMA Crime Severity Index fell from 92.33 in 2022 to 82.29 in 2024, then edged up 1.5% to 83.51 in 2025 while Canada's fell 5%. Within the city, VPD counts show violent crime down 15% from 6,288 incidents in 2023 to 5,343 in 2025 (the lowest rate in the five-year table) and property crime down 9% from its 2023 peak, while weapons offences and possession of stolen property rose sharply in 2025.
What the rates cover: City of Vancouver only (VPD), 5,343 violent Criminal Code incidents, 7.09 per 1,000 population, converted to per 100,000. Not a CMA figure.
Homicides: City of Vancouver (VPD culpable homicide). 11 of the 26 were victims of the April 2025 Lapu-Lapu Day festival vehicle attack; 2024 had 11 and 2023 had 15. About 3.5 per 100,000 on the city's 753,100 population estimate; the VPD table rounds the rate to 0.03 per 1,000.
On the FBI's definitions, violent offenses in Austin went from 5,335 in 2022 to 5,046 in 2023, 4,692 in 2024 and 4,221 in 2025, a 10% drop in the last year and 21% in three, and property offenses from 35,035 to 32,900, 32,407 and then 31,011. APD's own NIBRS records for 2025 show aggravated assaults down 13% (3,038 to 2,652), robberies down 5% (835 to 790) and motor vehicle thefts down 26% (5,908 to 4,345), while rapes rose from 501 to 541 and drug offenses, which rise and fall with enforcement, went from 4,097 to 5,256. The 2025 CDE counts were read on 27 September 2026 from a feed last refreshed on 15 September and can still be revised, and APD notes that its open data may differ from its official figures.
What the rates cover: Computed: 4,221 violent offenses (murder, rape, robbery and aggravated assault) in the FBI Crime Data Explorer's summarized data for the Austin Police Department (ORI TX2270100) in calendar 2025, divided by the 1,002,632 Vintage 2025 city population. On the CDE's own agency population of 1,000,639 the rate is 422. APD does not publish a total on this definition: its open NIBRS data sort offenses into crimes against persons (19,469 in 2025, of which 9,464 simple assaults and 5,918 intimidation) and crimes against property (44,250, with robbery, fraud and vandalism inside it), so neither of its totals is the FBI's violent or property count. Summing APD's own 2025 records on the FBI's definition gives 4,219, within two of the CDE.
Homicides: 51 murders and nonnegligent manslaughters in 2025 in both the FBI CDE and APD's open NIBRS data, against 66 in 2024, about 5.1 per 100,000 on the city population. APD's assistant chief put the year's homicides at 55 in January 2026 (KUT), and APD's dataset separately lists 14 negligent manslaughters and 7 justifiable homicides, which the FBI does not count as murder. The high point in the CDE series since 2021 is 81, in 2021.
Winters, summers and what the weather can do to a house
| Measure | Vancouver | Austin | Advantage |
|---|---|---|---|
| January mean | 4.1 °C | 11.2 °C | Not directly comparable |
| July mean | 18.2 °C | 29.9 °C | Not directly comparable |
| Precipitation a year | 1,160 mm | 921 mm | Not directly comparable |
| Snowfall a year | 37 cm | 1 cm | Not directly comparable |
| Sunshine a year | Not published | 2,644 hours | Not directly comparable |
Environment and Climate Change Canada 1991-2020 normals, Vancouver Int'l A (climate ID 1108395). January average 4.1 C, July 18.2 C, annual precipitation 1,159.5 mm with 174 mm in January and 34 mm in July, snowfall 36.6 cm a year. The 1991-2020 normals do not publish bright sunshine hours for this station, so the table shows no sunshine figure for Vancouver.
Hazards: Wildfire smoke from the BC Interior in late summer, heat events (the June 2021 heat dome), atmospheric river flooding in the Fraser Valley (November 2021), and Cascadia earthquake risk; no hurricanes or hail of note.
NOAA NCEI 1991-2020 normals for Austin Camp Mabry (station USW00013958), the official Austin climate station: January mean 52.2F, July mean 85.8F, annual mean 70.0F, 36.25 in of precipitation, 0.2 in of snow. August is the warmest month at 86.5F, with a mean high of 97.8F; July's mean high is 96.6F and January's mean low is 41.8F. May (5.04 in) and October (3.91 in) are the wettest months, and February (1.89 in) and July (1.96 in) the driest. The normals count 122.8 days a year at 90F or above, 28.7 at 100F or above and 11.9 nights at or below freezing. Austin-Bergstrom International Airport (USW00013904), southeast of downtown, averages 50.1F in January and 84.5F in July with 35.57 in of rain, and its nights run colder, with 33.0 at or below freezing a year. Converted here to 11.2 C, 29.9 C, 921 mm and 0.5 cm. Sunshine hours are the older 1961-1990 NCDC means (2,644 hours, 60% of possible), since the 1991-2020 normals do not include sunshine.
Hazards: Flash flooding on the creeks that cross the city is the recurring danger. The Memorial Day flood of 1981 sent Shoal Creek through central Austin and killed 13 people. On 30 to 31 October 2013 a band of 12 to 14 in (305 to 356 mm) of rain between Wimberley and Driftwood, with 6 to 10 in (152 to 254 mm) over central Travis County, sent Onion Creek through southeast Austin, damaging more than 500 homes and killing five people; in 2014 the city authorized $60 million to buy out homes in the Onion Creek floodplain. Over Memorial Day weekend 2015 the Blanco River at Wimberley, upstream in Hays County, rose from about 5 ft to 41 ft (1.5 m to 12.5 m) in four hours overnight and destroyed 350 to 400 homes in the town, and on the holiday itself Camp Mabry recorded 5.20 in (132 mm) and Shoal Creek flooded again. On 4 to 5 July 2025, 15 to 20 in (381 to 508 mm) fell on the headwaters of Cow Creek and Big Sandy Creek northwest of the city; the Central Texas floods of that week killed 139 people, 18 of them in Travis, Williamson and Burnet counties. Heat is the season to plan around: the normals give Camp Mabry 28.7 days a year at or above 100F (37.8 C), and 2023 had 80, including 45 in a row from 8 July to 21 August that broke the 27-day run of 2011, which still holds the record for a year with 90. The station's highest reading is 112F (44.4 C), in September 2000 and again in August 2011. Cold is rare and badly handled when it comes. Winter Storm Uri left 6.4 in (16.3 cm) of snow at Camp Mabry on 14 to 15 February 2021 and a low of 7F (-13.9 C) on the 16th, the coldest there since December 1989 (the airport reached 6F, or -14.4 C), with 164 hours of freezing temperatures. ERCOT cut power across the state grid from 15 to 18 February, about 4.5 million customers lost it at the worst, more than 40% of Austin Energy's customers were without power and the city was under a boil-water notice for seven days. Texas counted 246 deaths from the storm, 28 of them in Travis County. Drought is the slow hazard. Austin's water depends on Lakes Buchanan and Travis, the Highland Lakes reservoirs LCRA manages; their combined storage fell to 42% in March 2024, when most of LCRA's downstream farm customers went without lake water, and the July 2025 rains took it from 51% to more than 95%. It stood at about 92% on 1 July 2026.
What people earn and what the government takes
| Measure | Vancouver | Austin | Advantage |
|---|---|---|---|
| Median household income | $90,000 CAD (2020) | $90,430 USD (2024) | Not directly comparable |
| Unemployment rate Statistics Canada and the Bureau of Labor Statistics define unemployment slightly differently; the Canadian measure runs about a point higher on the same labour market. | 6.0% (July 2026) | 3.7% (July 2026) | Not directly comparable |
| Sales tax | 12% | 8.25% | Austin |
| Top marginal income tax Federal plus provincial or state. The American figure leaves out payroll taxes and the cost of health insurance, both of which a Canadian household covers through the tax it pays here. | 53.5% | 37% | Austin |
| Income tax on $100,000, single filer Computed from each jurisdiction's brackets at a single filer's $100,000 and rounded to the dollar, so a gap of a dollar is rounding rather than tax. Two cities in one province or state are shown as Even, because there the two cells describe the same tax and whatever separates them is method. | $20,500 CAD | $13,449 USD | Not directly comparable |
The Vancouver CMA unemployment rate was 6.0% in July 2026 after 6.6% in June, slightly under the national 6.4%. The regional labour market is service-heavy: the Port of Vancouver is Canada's largest, Metro Vancouver is North America's third-largest film and TV production centre, and YVR set a passenger record in 2025.
Main sectors: Port logistics and trade, Technology and digital media, Film and television production, Tourism and hospitality, Health care and education.
BC has no payroll tax on employees and MSP premiums were eliminated in 2020. Property transfer tax and the speculation and vacancy tax matter for buyers but are not income taxes.
BLS counted 1,421,700 nonfarm jobs in the Austin MSA in July 2026 (not seasonally adjusted), up 23,800 or 1.7% on the year. Mining, logging and construction grew fastest (+5.5%), then professional and business services (+3.2%), the largest sector at 294,600 jobs, and other services (+2.7%), while information shrank 4.9% and government, at 201,000 jobs with the state capital and the University of Texas inside it, was flat. The seasonally adjusted series (FRED AUST448NA) was 1,424,000 in August 2026, 1.2% above August 2025. Average weekly wages across the metro were $1,957 in the first quarter of 2026 against $1,654 nationally. Opportunity Austin, the chamber's economic development program, lists Dell Technologies, Apple, Samsung Austin Semiconductor, Tesla, H-E-B, Amazon's fulfillment centers, the State of Texas, the University of Texas, Ascension Seton, St. David's HealthCare and Baylor Scott & White among the employers with 6,000 or more local jobs. bls.gov answered 403 to curl and FRED refused it, so both were read through the web fetcher.
Main sectors: Professional and business services, the metro's largest sector, Technology and advanced manufacturing (Dell Technologies, Apple, Tesla, Samsung Austin Semiconductor, AMD, Applied Materials), Government and education (the state capital, the University of Texas at Austin, the City of Austin), Trade, transportation and utilities (H-E-B, Amazon fulfillment centers), Health care (Ascension Seton, St. David's HealthCare, Baylor Scott & White).
Property tax is the local levy that matters. Tax Foundation puts Texas's effective property tax rate on owner-occupied homes at 1.40%, and school districts must exempt $140,000 of a homestead's value from their tax, plus another $60,000 for owners 65 or older or disabled, after voters raised the general exemption from $100,000 in November 2025. Part of the City of Austin's own rate, 8.75 cents per $100 of taxable value approved with Project Connect in November 2020, pays for the transit program. In November 2025 Austin voters rejected Proposition Q, a city tax rate increase that would have raised nearly $110 million, by 63% to 37%. The county, school district and other levies on the same bill belong to the housing layer.
Whether you need a car
| Measure | Vancouver | Austin | Advantage |
|---|---|---|---|
| System | TransLink (SkyTrain Expo, Millennium and Canada lines; bus; SeaBus; West Coast Express) | CapMetro buses, including four CapMetro Rapid (formerly MetroRapid) lines, and the Red Line, a 32-mile, 10-station commuter rail line from Leander to downtown (CapMetro Rail, long branded MetroRail); no light rail yet, with Project Connect's first 9.8-mile phase due in 2033 | Not directly comparable |
| Commute by public transit | 22.9% (2021) | 3.0% (2024) | Vancouver |
| Walk or cycle to work | 18.4% (2021) | 4.1% (2024) | Vancouver |
| Airport | Vancouver International Airport, YVR, 26.9 million passengers in 2025, an all-time record and 2.7% above 2024 (Vancouver Airport Authority, January 2026) | Austin-Bergstrom International Airport (AUS), 21,666,852 passengers in 2025, 0.4% fewer than 2024's 21,762,904 and below the 2023 record of 22.1 million, per the airport's calendar-year activity report; 1.06 million of them were international. It sits about 5 miles southeast of downtown on the former Bergstrom Air Force Base and replaced Robert Mueller Municipal Airport in 1999. | Not directly comparable |
396.3 million boardings and 237.6 million journeys in 2025, down about 1.5% from 2024, the first annual decline since the pandemic recovery (TransLink figures reported by Daily Hive, 2026-03-25).
CapMetro carried 26,283,400 unlinked trips in 2025, 24,067,200 of them by bus and 620,600 on the Red Line, and about 77,400 a weekday in the second quarter of 2026, 1,900 of them by train (APTA ridership reports, as cited by Wikipedia; APTA's PDFs refused the fetcher). Two new CapMetro Rapid lines, 800 and 837, opened in February 2025 and reached 10-minute service in June 2026, and the Red Line gained McKalla Station in 2024, with North Burnet/Uptown Station due in 2027; the Green Line commuter rail project has no funding, environmental review or timeline. Light rail is the unfinished promise. Voters approved Project Connect in November 2020 with a city property tax increase of 8.75 cents per $100 of value, for about 20 miles of light rail reaching the airport at $7.1 billion (Texas Tribune). Its first phase is now 9.8 miles and 15 stations in three directions from downtown, no longer reaching the airport, at an estimated $8.2 billion or more; construction is set to start in 2027 and trains to run in 2033. The FTA gave it environmental clearance in January 2026, but the plan counts on about $4.1 billion in federal money that has not been awarded, and a lawsuit over the scaled-back project is still open.
Health care, schools and what each city is like
Health care
Care is paid for through BC's Medical Services Plan, which covers residents after a waiting period of up to three months with no premiums since January 2020; prescription drugs outside hospital fall under income-tested Fair PharmaCare or employer plans. Finding a family doctor is the practical problem: the province's Health Connect Registry reported about 1.4 million BC residents without a primary care provider in mid-2025, and the main acute hospitals are Vancouver General, St. Paul's (moving to a new False Creek site), and BC Children's.
Education
The University of British Columbia (Point Grey campus) and Simon Fraser University (Burnaby, with downtown campuses) are the two research universities, alongside Emily Carr, Langara, and BCIT. K to 12 is run by the Vancouver School Board (District 39), about 50,000 students in 87 elementary and 18 secondary schools, with French immersion and mini-school programs instead of charters; independent schools receive partial provincial funding.
Living there
A dense, mountainous coastal city where most of the region's jobs and housing sit within a few kilometres of water, and where the cost of housing shapes nearly every decision about where to live. Winters are mild, grey and wet from November to March; summers are dry and bright, increasingly interrupted by wildfire smoke. Day to day it is a transit-and-bike city by Canadian standards, with strong East Asian and South Asian communities and a visible drug and homelessness crisis concentrated in the Downtown Eastside.
Health care
Care is paid for through employer or marketplace insurance, Medicare and Medicaid, and Texas is one of the ten states that have not expanded Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act (KFF, August 2026). It had the highest uninsured rate of any state in 2024: 16.7%, or 5,152,427 of 30,799,312 people, against 8.2% nationally and 12.0% in Georgia, the next highest, on the ACS 2024 1-year estimates. The City of Austin's rate was 13.0% and Travis County's 12.6%. Ascension Seton runs Dell Seton Medical Center at The University of Texas, the teaching hospital of UT's Dell Medical School, in partnership with Central Health; it is the region's only adult Level I trauma center and serves 11 Central Texas counties. St. David's HealthCare, a partnership between HCA Healthcare and two local nonprofits, has more than 160 sites and calls itself the Austin area's fourth-largest private employer, and Baylor Scott & White joins both systems on the chamber's list of employers with 6,000 or more local jobs. UT and the Michael & Susan Dell Foundation are building the UT Dell Medical Center, with a new UT MD Anderson Cancer Center, beside Dell Seton on the former Frank Erwin Center site, to open in 2030; the UT System put the plan at $2.5 billion when it was announced in August 2023. This file did not verify a wait time figure for primary or specialist care.
Education
Austin ISD, which covers 230 square miles in the middle of the metro, counted 65,951 students in fall 2026, down 3,765 from 69,716 in 2025-26 and from 72,702 in 2024-25. More than 6,400 students enrolled at the end of last year did not return, and the district fell more than 2,000 short of its own projection (Austin Current, 24 September 2026); district officials told KUT that more than half of the 2025-26 loss could be attributed to families' fear of immigration enforcement, with housing costs and falling birth rates also named. In November 2025 the board approved closing and consolidating 10 schools from the 2026-27 school year, affecting 3,796 students and removing 6,319 seats, together with 24 turnaround plans the Texas Education Agency requires for campuses with repeated unacceptable ratings, adopted to head off state-ordered closures or a takeover. The University of Texas at Austin enrolled a record 55,000 students in fall 2025, 44,314 of them undergraduates, the largest total in its history.
Living there
Austin is the Texas state capital and a university town that has become a technology metro, and its growth has outrun what the city has built for it. The metro passed 2.6 million in 2025 after adding 337,554 people since April 2020, but the city grew by less than 5%, and in 2024-25 Travis County lost 6,590 more people to the rest of the country than it gained, so domestic movers now settle in Williamson and Hays counties instead. Inside the city a quarter of workers work from home, 57.5% drive alone and 3.0% take transit, and the one rail line carries about 1,900 riders a weekday. Summer sets the terms of daily life, with a July mean of 85.8F at Camp Mabry and about 29 days at 100F or more in a normal year, and the creeks that cross the city flood fast. Texas takes no income tax and has the highest uninsured rate of any state. The open question is whether Austin can build the transit and keep the schools its growth calls for: voters approved light rail in 2020, and six years later the first 9.8 miles are not due until 2033 and have no federal money, while Austin ISD, down more than 14,000 students in a decade, closed ten schools in 2026.
Where each city wins, and where it loses
Vancouver's figures are in Canadian dollars and Austin's in US dollars, so each is read against local pay. Vancouver's composite benchmark was $1,088,800 CAD in July 2026; Austin's median sale price was $560,000 USD in August 2026 on Unlock MLS, down 4.3%. The first is 12.1 times the Vancouver metro's 2020 median household income of $90,000 CAD, the second about 6.2 times Austin's 2024 median of $90,430 USD. At 20% down, Vancouver's mortgage at 4.34% is $4,744 CAD a month over the 25 years Canadian lenders use, and Austin's $448,000 loan at 7.03%, Freddie Mac's rate for 24 September 2026, about $2,990 USD over 30. Property tax runs the other way: 0.336% of value in Vancouver, $3,663 CAD a year, against $9,019 USD from Austin's five taxing units, an effective 1.61% with a homestead and $11,460 without. With insurance at $190 CAD and $300 USD a month, the owners carry about $5,239 CAD and $4,041 USD, roughly 70% and 54% of local median income. A two-bedroom averaged $2,638 CAD in October 2025 against $1,812 USD in August 2026, and the rent rules are opposites: British Columbia caps an existing tenancy at 2.3% for 2026, and Texas forbids rent control by statute.
Homicide is the one count that crosses the border intact. Vancouver recorded 26 in 2025, about 3.5 per 100,000 on the city's 753,100 estimate, and 11 of them were victims of one event, the April 2025 Lapu-Lapu Day festival vehicle attack, against 11 in 2024 and 15 in 2023. Austin recorded 51, about 5.1 per 100,000, after 66 in 2024 and 81 in 2021, though APD's assistant chief put 2025 at 55 and nothing published explains the difference. The other rates are different instruments. The Vancouver Police Department counted 5,343 violent Criminal Code incidents in the city, 709 per 100,000, a count that includes common assault and uttering threats; Austin's 421 per 100,000 is 4,221 FBI-definition offenses of murder, rape, robbery and aggravated assault, divided by the Census estimate. Property crime, 4,067 incidents per 100,000 in Vancouver against 3,093 offenses in Austin, is defined differently too. Both are falling on their own counts, Vancouver's violent incidents 15% below 2023 and Austin's violent offenses 21% below 2022, but the Vancouver metro's Crime Severity Index rose 1.5% to 83.51 in 2025 while Canada's fell 5%. The Austin counts were read on 27 September 2026 from a federal feed that can still be revised.
Austin is warmer in winter and much warmer in summer. January averages 4.1 C at Vancouver International and 11.2 C at Camp Mabry; July averages 18.2 C and dry in Vancouver against 29.9 C in Austin, the second-warmest July mean of the fourteen cities this site compares, behind Dallas. Vancouver gets more precipitation, 1,159.5 mm against 921 mm, 174 mm of it in January and 34 mm in July, while Austin's wettest months are May and October. Snow is light in Vancouver, a 36.6 cm normal, and close to absent in Austin at 0.5 cm. Sunshine cannot be compared, because Canada's 1991-2020 normals publish none for Vancouver. Austin's hazards are heat, with 28.7 days a year at or above 100F (37.8 C) in the normals and 80 in 2023; flash floods, as in July 2025, when the Central Texas floods killed 139 people; and the rare hard freeze, when Winter Storm Uri and the grid failure of February 2021 left more than 40% of Austin Energy's customers without power. Vancouver's are late-summer wildfire smoke, heat events like the June 2021 dome, atmospheric river flooding in the Fraser Valley in November 2021 and Cascadia earthquake risk.
The labor markets are in different condition. The Austin metro's unemployment rate was 3.7% in July 2026, seasonally adjusted, on 1,421,700 nonfarm jobs, up 1.7% on the year, and average weekly wages were $1,957 in the first quarter against $1,654 nationally. The Vancouver metro's was 6.0% the same month, down from 6.6% in June and under Canada's 6.4%. Vancouver runs on the Port of Vancouver, Canada's largest, on film and television production, technology and tourism; Austin on technology and chip making, the state capital and the University of Texas. Median household income was $90,000 CAD across the Vancouver metro in 2020 and $90,430 USD in the city of Austin in 2024. The tax systems are near opposites. British Columbia funds itself through income and sales tax: about $20,500 CAD on $100,000, 20.5% before CPP and EI, a top combined rate of 53.5%, and 12% on purchases, 5% GST plus 7% PST. Texas has no state income tax, so the same salary pays $13,449 USD in federal tax for 2025, the top rate is the federal 37% and sales tax is 8.25%. The property tax carries the load instead, an effective 1.61% on Austin's median house against 0.336% in Vancouver.
Transit is the widest gap in the pair. In the 2021 census 22.9% of City of Vancouver commuters took transit and 18.4% walked or cycled, counted in May 2021 with much of the city working from home, and the metro's transit share was 14.9%. In Austin 3.0% of workers commuted by transit in 2024, 4.1% walked or cycled, 57.5% drove alone and 24.8% worked from home, and the metro's transit share was 1.4%. TransLink's Expo, Millennium and Canada SkyTrain lines, buses, SeaBus and West Coast Express logged 396.3 million boardings in 2025. CapMetro carried 26,283,400 trips, 620,600 of them on the Red Line, a 32-mile commuter rail line from Leander to downtown. Austin voters approved light rail in November 2020, and the first phase, now 9.8 miles and 15 stations at an estimated $8.2 billion or more, is due to start construction in 2027 and carry passengers in 2033. It counts on about $4.1 billion in federal money that has not been awarded, and a lawsuit over the scaled-back project is still open. Flying favors Vancouver: YVR handled a record 26.9 million passengers in 2025, against 21,666,852 at Austin-Bergstrom.
Health care is where the border shows most. British Columbia's Medical Services Plan pays for physician and hospital care with nothing due at the point of use and has charged no premiums since January 2020, but a new arrival waits up to three months for coverage and about 1.4 million British Columbians had no primary care provider in mid-2025. In Austin care is bought through an employer or marketplace plan, Medicare or Medicaid, and Texas is one of the ten states that have not expanded Medicaid. It had the highest uninsured rate of the fifty states in 2024, 16.7%, and the City of Austin's was 13.0%. Dell Seton Medical Center is the region's only adult Level I trauma center; Vancouver's major hospitals are Vancouver General and BC Children's. This site verified no wait time figure for either city. The Vancouver School Board teaches about 50,000 students with French immersion and mini-school programs and no charters. Austin ISD counted 65,951 in fall 2026, down 3,765 in a year, and its board approved closing and consolidating 10 schools from the 2026-27 school year. UBC and SFU are Vancouver's research universities; the University of Texas enrolled a record 55,000 students in fall 2025.
What people underestimate is that both markets are falling and neither is cheap because of it. Vancouver's benchmark fell 6.2% in the year to July 2026 in a metro of 3,088,036 that grew 0.2% in the year to July 2025 after a net loss of non-permanent residents. Austin's median sale price fell 4.3% in the year to August 2026, in a metro that has grown 14.8% since 2020. But Austin's growth is in the suburbs: the city grew 4.6%, and in 2024-25 Travis County lost 6,590 more residents to the rest of the country than it gained, so its soft prices come with a region still adding people and a city that added 0.4% in 2024-25. The costs at the door differ too. A Vancouver buyer hands over $19,776 in BC property transfer tax at closing; Texas has no transfer tax, but Austin's figures assume the buyer files a homestead, without which the house owes $11,460 a year. Vancouver's 4.34% is fixed for a five-year term and then renews, while Austin's 7.03%, about a third of a point above the August rate this site's other American cities were written at, holds for thirty years; at their 6.67% Austin's carry would be about $3,934.
Better here
- 22.9% of city commuters took transit in the 2021 census and 18.4% walked or cycled, against 3.0% and 4.1% in Austin in 2024.
- The Medical Services Plan covers physician and hospital care with nothing due at the point of use and has charged no premiums since January 2020, where Texas had the highest uninsured rate of the fifty states in 2024, 16.7%.
- July averages 18.2 C on the 1991-2020 normals against 29.9 C in Austin, where the same normals count 28.7 days a year at or above 100F (37.8 C).
- Property tax is 0.336% of value for 2026, $3,663 CAD a year on the July 2026 benchmark, against an effective 1.61% on Austin's median house for the 2025 tax year.
- An existing tenancy is capped at 2.3% for 2026 under BC rules, while Texas forbids rent control by statute.
- There were 26 homicides in 2025, about 3.5 per 100,000, 11 of them from a single attack, against 51 in Austin at about 5.1.
Worse here
- The benchmark home was 12.1 times the metro's 2020 median household income of $90,000 CAD in July 2026, against about 6.2 times in Austin in August 2026.
- Mortgage, property tax and insurance come to about $5,239 CAD a month on the July 2026 benchmark, roughly 70% of that median, and the buyer pays $19,776 in property transfer tax at closing.
- Metro unemployment was 6.0% in July 2026 against 3.7% in the Austin metro the same month.
- About 1.4 million British Columbians had no primary care provider in mid-2025, and a new arrival waits up to three months for MSP coverage.
- Income tax on $100,000 is about $20,500 CAD for 2025 against $13,449 USD of federal tax in Austin, and sales tax is 12% against 8.25%.
- City property crime ran 4,067 incidents per 100,000 in 2025, and the metro Crime Severity Index rose 1.5% to 83.51 in a year Canada's fell 5%.
Choose Vancouver if
- you want to live without a car, in a city where 22.9% of commuters took transit even in the pandemic census
- you already hold housing equity, because 12.1 times median household income is not a salary purchase
- you want coverage that does not depend on a job, and can wait out the three-month MSP qualifying period
- you would rather have an 18.2 C July and gray rain from November to March than a 29.9 C July and a season of 100F days
The Vancouver guide · Neighbourhoods · Vancouver rent vs buy · Vancouver mortgage calculator
Better here
- Metro unemployment was 3.7% in July 2026 against 6.0% in the Vancouver metro, on 1,421,700 nonfarm jobs growing 1.7% on the year.
- The median sale price of $560,000 USD in August 2026 is about 6.2 times the city's 2024 median household income, against 12.1 times in Vancouver.
- Mortgage, property tax and insurance come to about $4,041 USD a month on the August 2026 median, roughly 54% of local median income against about 70% in Vancouver, and Texas charges no transfer tax.
- Texas levies no income tax, so $100,000 pays $13,449 USD in federal tax for 2025 and $13,170 for 2026, against about $20,500 CAD in Vancouver.
- January averages 11.2 C on the 1991-2020 normals against 4.1 C in Vancouver, and Austin records 2,644 hours of sunshine a year on the 1961-1990 series.
- Violent offenses on the FBI's definitions fell 10% in 2025 to 4,221, about 421 per 100,000, and property offenses fell to 31,011 from 32,407.
Worse here
- There were 51 homicides in 2025, about 5.1 per 100,000, against 26 in Vancouver at about 3.5.
- Property tax on the median house is $9,019 a year for the 2025 tax year with a homestead, an effective 1.61%, and $11,460 without one, against 0.336% of value in Vancouver.
- Only 3.0% of workers commuted by transit in 2024 and 57.5% drove alone, and light rail's first 9.8 miles are not due to carry passengers until 2033.
- 2023 had 80 days at or above 100F (37.8 C), and the Central Texas floods of July 2025 killed 139 people, 18 of them in Travis, Williamson and Burnet counties.
- Texas had the highest uninsured rate of the fifty states in 2024, 16.7%, and in August 2026 was one of ten states that have not expanded Medicaid.
- Austin ISD counted 65,951 students in fall 2026, down 3,765 in a year, after its board approved closing and consolidating 10 schools in November 2025.
Choose Austin if
- you want a house at about six times what households around you earn, bought on a salary rather than on equity
- you want a labor market at 3.7% unemployment in technology, chip making, state government or the University of Texas
- you have employer health insurance you trust and would rather pay tax on a house than on a salary
- you will drive to most things and can plan a summer around days at 100F
The Austin guide · Neighborhoods · Austin rent vs buy · Austin mortgage calculator
Vancouver or Austin, in short
Is Vancouver or Austin cheaper to live in?
Austin, by a wide margin once each bill is held against its own city's pay, because the currencies do not convert here. A Vancouver owner pays about $5,239 CAD a month on mortgage, property tax and insurance, roughly 70% of the metro's 2020 median household income of $90,000 CAD, on a benchmark 12.1 times that income. An Austin owner pays about $4,041 USD, roughly 54% of the city's 2024 median of $90,430 USD, on a median sale price about 6.2 times income, despite a 7.03% mortgage rate against 4.34% and a property tax bill of $9,019 a year. A two-bedroom averaged $2,638 CAD in October 2025 against $1,812 USD in August 2026. Vancouver's buyer also pays $19,776 in property transfer tax at closing, and its income tax is heavier, about $20,500 CAD on $100,000 against $13,449 USD, with 12% sales tax against 8.25%.
Is Vancouver or Austin safer?
Vancouver on homicide, the one count that crosses the border. Vancouver recorded 26 homicides in 2025, about 3.5 per 100,000, and 11 of them were victims of the April 2025 Lapu-Lapu Day festival vehicle attack; Austin recorded 51, about 5.1 per 100,000, down from 66 in 2024. The violent rates, 709 per 100,000 in Vancouver and 421 in Austin, are different instruments: the Canadian count includes common assault and uttering threats, and the American one is murder, rape, robbery and aggravated assault. Property crime, 4,067 incidents per 100,000 against 3,093 offenses, is defined differently as well. Austin's violent offenses fell 10% in 2025, while the Vancouver metro's Crime Severity Index rose 1.5% to 83.51, above the national 75.0; American cities have no equivalent index.
Which has the better climate, Vancouver or Austin?
Austin in winter and Vancouver in summer. January averages 11.2 C in Austin against 4.1 C in Vancouver, where most of the year's 1,159.5 mm falls as gray rain from November to March. July averages 18.2 C and dry in Vancouver against 29.9 C in Austin, where the normals count 28.7 days a year at or above 100F (37.8 C) and 2023 had 80. Snow is light in Vancouver, a 36.6 cm normal, and close to absent in Austin at 0.5 cm. Vancouver's hazards are late-summer wildfire smoke, heat events like the June 2021 dome, atmospheric river flooding and Cascadia earthquake risk; Austin's are flash floods on its creeks, drought on the Highland Lakes and the rare hard freeze, like February 2021, when ERCOT cut power across the state grid.
What happens to my health care if I move from Vancouver to Austin?
Coverage stops coming with residency and starts coming with a job or a purchase. In Vancouver the Medical Services Plan pays for physician and hospital care with nothing due at the point of use and no premium since January 2020, and the problem is access: about 1.4 million British Columbians had no primary care provider in mid-2025. In Austin you need an employer or marketplace plan, Medicare or Medicaid, and the premium, deductible and copay that come with them. Texas is one of the ten states that have not expanded Medicaid and had the highest uninsured rate of the fifty states in 2024, 16.7%; the City of Austin's was 13.0%. Dell Seton Medical Center is the region's only adult Level I trauma center, with St. David's and Baylor Scott & White alongside. This site verified no wait time figure for either city.
Where the figures come from
Housing figures are the ones behind each city's calculators, dated on those pages. The rest are listed here with the date they were retrieved. See the methodology for how facts, estimates and opinion are kept apart.
- Census Profile, 2021 Census of Population: Vancouver, City (CY) and Vancouver (CMA) · Statistics Canada · retrieved Supports: City population, population.metro (2021 count), Five-year growth, Median household income, Transit commute share, Walk and cycle commute share
- Population estimates, July 1, by census metropolitan area and census agglomeration (table 17-10-0148-01) · Statistics Canada · retrieved Supports: Metro population
- The Daily: Canada's population estimates, subprovincial areas, 2025 · Statistics Canada · retrieved Supports: population.growthPct5y note
- Crime severity index and weighted clearance rates, Canada, provinces, territories and Census Metropolitan Areas (table 35-10-0026-01) · Statistics Canada · retrieved Supports: Crime Severity Index, Crime trend
- Police-reported Crime Severity Index and crime rate, by census metropolitan area, 2025 · Statistics Canada, The Daily · retrieved Supports: crime.index note (crime rate, Canada CSI)
- Vancouver Police Department Crime Incident and Crime Rate Statistics, 2021-2025 · Vancouver Police Department · retrieved Supports: Violent crime rate, Property crime rate, Homicides, Crime trend, population.city note
- Violent crime in Vancouver reaches 20-year low, according to VPD report · CTV News Vancouver · retrieved Supports: Crime trend
- Canadian Climate Normals 1991-2020, Vancouver International (Airport) · Environment and Climate Change Canada · retrieved Supports: January mean, July mean, Annual precipitation, Annual snowfall
- The Daily: Labour Force Survey, July 2026 · Statistics Canada · retrieved Supports: Unemployment rate, Labour market
- Personal income tax rates · Government of British Columbia · retrieved Supports: Top marginal income tax, Income tax on $100,000
- BC 2025 and 2026 Tax Rates and Tax Brackets · TaxTips.ca · retrieved Supports: Top marginal income tax, taxes.incomeTaxAt100k (federal brackets and basic personal amount)
- Provincial sales tax (PST) · Government of British Columbia · retrieved Supports: Sales tax
- MSP premiums · Government of British Columbia · retrieved Supports: Health care, Tax notes
- TransLink ridership sees decline in 2025, partly due to fewer young adults · Daily Hive Urbanized · retrieved Supports: Transit ridership
- YVR breaks all-time cargo and passenger records in 2025 · Vancouver Airport Authority · retrieved Supports: Airport passengers, Labour market
- Key sectors underpin Metro Vancouver's growth ambitions · Western Investor · retrieved Supports: Main sectors, Labour market
- 1.4M in B.C. Have No Family Doctor. Most Aren't Listed · The Canada Report · retrieved Supports: Health care
- Our District · Vancouver School Board · retrieved Supports: Education
- Vancouver · Wikipedia · retrieved Supports: point
- Annual Estimates of the Resident Population for Incorporated Places in Texas: April 1, 2020 to July 1, 2025 (SUB-EST2025) · US Census Bureau · retrieved Supports: City population, Five-year growth, Violent crime rate, Property crime rate, Homicides, Character
- Annual Resident Population Estimates and Components of Change for Metropolitan and Micropolitan Statistical Areas and Their Counties: April 1, 2020 to July 1, 2025 (CBSA-EST2025-ALLDATA) · US Census Bureau · retrieved Supports: Metro population, Five-year growth, Character
- Crime Data Explorer summarized agency data, Austin Police Department (TX2270100): violent crime, property crime and homicide, 2021-2025 · FBI · retrieved Supports: Violent crime rate, Property crime rate, Homicides, Crime trend
- NIBRS Group A Offense Crimes (Austin Police Department open data, updated 14 September 2026) · City of Austin Open Data · retrieved Supports: Violent crime rate, Property crime rate, Homicides, Crime trend
- Austin's crime dropped below pre-pandemic highs in 2025 · KUT Radio, Austin's NPR Station · retrieved Supports: Homicides, Crime trend
- US Climate Normals 1991-2020, station USW00013958 Austin Camp Mabry (Access Data Service) · NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information · retrieved Supports: January mean, July mean, Annual precipitation, Annual snowfall, Climate normals, Climate hazards, Character, January 52.2F, July 85.8F and August 86.5F from the monthly series, and annual mean 70.0F, precipitation 36.25 in, snowfall 0.2 in and the counts of days at 90F and 100F and nights at freezing from dataset=normals-annualseasonal-1991-2020 for the same station
- US Climate Normals 1991-2020, station USW00013904 Austin-Bergstrom International Airport (Access Data Service) · NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information · retrieved Supports: Climate normals
- Global Historical Climatology Network daily summaries, Austin Camp Mabry (USW00013958), 1938-2026 · NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information · retrieved Supports: Climate hazards, 80 days at or above 100F in 2023 and 45 in a row from 8 July to 21 August, 90 in 2011 with a 27-day run, 112F on 5 September 2000 and 28 August 2011, 6.4 in of snow on 14 and 15 February 2021, 7F on 16 February 2021 and 4F on 23 December 1989, 5.20 in on 25 May 2015
- Global Historical Climatology Network daily summaries, Austin-Bergstrom International Airport (USW00013904), February 2021 · NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information · retrieved Supports: Climate hazards
- Average Annual Sunshine in US Cities · Current Results (NCDC Comparative Climatic Data, 1961-1990) · retrieved Supports: Sunshine hours
- This Holiday Weekend Marks The 40th Anniversary Of Austin's 1981 Memorial Day Flood · KUT Radio, Austin's NPR Station · retrieved Supports: Climate hazards
- October 30-31, 2013 Halloween Flash Flood Event · National Weather Service, Austin/San Antonio · retrieved Supports: Climate hazards
- Lower Onion Creek Flood Mitigation Buyout Project Gets Kudos from Homeowners · FEMA · retrieved Supports: Climate hazards
- 2015 Memorial Day Weekend Flooding, 23 to 24 May 2015 (Weather Event Summary) · National Weather Service, Austin/San Antonio · retrieved Supports: Climate hazards
- Tornado outbreak and floods of May 23 to 26, 2015 (Wimberley homes destroyed, Shoal Creek on May 25) · Wikipedia · retrieved Supports: Climate hazards
- National Weather Service releases new report on deadly Central Texas floods · KXAN Austin (via Yahoo News) · retrieved Supports: Climate hazards
- 2021 Winter Storm Uri After-Action Review, Findings Report · City of Austin and Travis County · retrieved Supports: Climate hazards
- February 2021 Winter Storm-Related Deaths, Texas (mortality surveillance report) · Texas Department of State Health Services · retrieved Supports: Climate hazards
- The Timeline and Events of the February 2021 Texas Electric Grid Blackouts · The University of Texas at Austin Energy Institute · retrieved Supports: Climate hazards
- Highland Lakes and Colorado River · Lower Colorado River Authority · retrieved Supports: Climate hazards
- Most LCRA agricultural customers will go without Highland Lakes water in 2024 · Lower Colorado River Authority · retrieved Supports: Climate hazards
- Drought persists in Central Texas, Water Management Plan under review · Community Impact · retrieved Supports: Climate hazards
- Water Supply Operations · Lower Colorado River Authority · retrieved Supports: Climate hazards
- ACS 2024 1-year tables B08301 and B19013 for Austin city and the Austin-Round Rock-San Marcos MSA · Census Reporter API (US Census Bureau ACS) · retrieved Supports: Median household income, Transit commute share, Walk and cycle commute share, Character
- ACS 2024 1-year table B27001 (health insurance coverage) for the 50 states, DC, the US, Travis County and Austin city · Census Reporter API (US Census Bureau ACS) · retrieved Supports: Health care, Character
- Unemployment Rate in Austin-Round Rock-San Marcos, TX (MSA), AUST448UR and AUST448URN · FRED, Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis (BLS LAUS data) · retrieved Supports: Unemployment rate
- All Employees: Total Nonfarm in Austin-Round Rock-San Marcos, TX (MSA), AUST448NA · FRED, Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis (BLS CES data) · retrieved Supports: Labour market
- Austin Area Economic Summary · US Bureau of Labor Statistics · retrieved Supports: Unemployment rate, Main sectors, Labour market
- Major Employers · Opportunity Austin (Austin Chamber of Commerce) · retrieved Supports: Main sectors, Labour market, Health care
- City Sales and Use Tax (city rate table) · Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts · retrieved Supports: Sales tax
- Transit Sales and Use Tax (Austin MTA, effective July 1, 1985) · Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts · retrieved Supports: Sales tax
- Sales and Use Tax · Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts · retrieved Supports: Sales tax
- Texas Tax Rates & Rankings · Tax Foundation · retrieved Supports: Top marginal income tax, Income tax on $100,000, Tax notes, Character
- 2025 Tax Brackets and Federal Income Tax Rates · Tax Foundation · retrieved Supports: Top marginal income tax, Income tax on $100,000
- 2026 Tax Brackets and Federal Income Tax Rates · Tax Foundation · retrieved Supports: Top marginal income tax, Income tax on $100,000
- Property Tax Exemptions · Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts · retrieved Supports: Tax notes
- Voters OK property tax breaks for Texas homeowners, businesses · The Texas Tribune · retrieved Supports: Tax notes
- Austin voters reject Proposition Q, a tax rate increase to fund city services · KUT Radio, Austin's NPR Station · retrieved Supports: Tax notes
- CapMetro (citing the APTA Transit Ridership Reports, Q4 2025 and Q2 2026) · Wikipedia · retrieved Supports: Transit system, Transit ridership, Character
- CapMetro Rail (Red Line: Leander to Downtown, 32 miles, 10 stations) · Wikipedia · retrieved Supports: Transit system
- What's on track and behind schedule with Austin's transit expansion nearly 6 years later · KUT Radio, Austin's NPR Station · retrieved Supports: Transit system, Transit ridership, Tax notes, Character
- How Austin's Project Connect went off the rails · The Texas Tribune · retrieved Supports: Transit ridership, Character
- Aviation Activity Report, Calendar Year 2025 vs 2024, Combined Terminals · Austin-Bergstrom International Airport · retrieved Supports: Airport passengers
- Austin-Bergstrom International Airport (annual passenger traffic table and history) · Wikipedia · retrieved Supports: Airport passengers
- Status of State Medicaid Expansion Decisions · KFF · retrieved Supports: Health care
- Dell Seton Medical Center · Wikipedia · retrieved Supports: Health care
- Dell Seton Medical Center at The University of Texas · Ascension Seton · retrieved Supports: Health care
- About St. David's HealthCare · St. David's HealthCare · retrieved Supports: Health care
- Building World-Class Health Care in Austin · Michael & Susan Dell Foundation · retrieved Supports: Health care
- Austin ISD Board approves 24 state-mandated turnaround plans, school consolidation and programmatic reassignments · Austin Independent School District · retrieved Supports: Education
- District Demographics · Austin Independent School District · retrieved Supports: Education
- Austin ISD enrollment dips as transportation costs rise · Austin Current · retrieved Supports: Education, Character
- Austin ISD loses 3,000 students amid school closures and budget crisis · KUT Radio, Austin's NPR Station · retrieved Supports: Education, Character
- UT Sets All-Time Highs for Enrollment and Student Performance · UT News, The University of Texas at Austin · retrieved Supports: Education
- Metro Vancouver home sales lose brief momentum: July 2026 statistics · Greater Vancouver REALTORS® · retrieved Supports: Composite benchmark price of $1,088,800 in July 2026, down 6.2% year over year, Benchmark prices by property type, with every type down on the year
- Rental Market Survey: Vancouver (CY), average rent by bedroom type, October 2025 · Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation · retrieved Supports: One-bedroom average rent of $1,860, Two-bedroom average rent of $2,638, Metro vacancy rate of 3.7%
- Property tax rates · City of Vancouver · retrieved Supports: 2026 total residential levy of $3.36394 per $1,000 of taxable value
- Home owner grant · Province of British Columbia · retrieved Supports: The grant of up to $570 on an eligible principal residence
- Premium information for homeowner and small rental loans · Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation · retrieved Supports: Mortgage default insurance premium rates by loan-to-value
- Regulations amending the Insurable Housing Loan Regulations and the Eligible Mortgage Loan Regulations (SOR/2025-55) · Canada Gazette, Part II · retrieved Supports: The $1.5 million insured price cap, 30-year amortization for first-time buyers and new builds
- Minimum qualifying rate for uninsured mortgages · Office of the Superintendent of Financial Institutions · retrieved Supports: The qualifying rate of the contract rate plus two points, or 5.25%
- Interest rates charged for new and existing lending by chartered banks · Bank of Canada · retrieved Supports: The default mortgage rate of 4.34%, uninsured five-year-plus fixed, funds advanced May 2026
- Property transfer tax · Province of British Columbia · retrieved Supports: Transfer tax brackets, First-time buyer and new build exemptions
- Rent increases · Province of British Columbia · retrieved Supports: 2026 rent increase guideline of 2.3%
- August 2026 Central Texas housing report · Unlock MLS · retrieved Supports: A median residential sale price of $560,000 in the City of Austin in August 2026, down 4.3% from August 2025, 844 homes sold, down 10.3%, 4,554 active listings and 4.6 months of inventory in the City of Austin, No split of the city figures by property type
- Zillow Home Value Index, all homes, middle tier, smoothed and seasonally adjusted, by city · Zillow Research · retrieved Supports: A typical home value of $497,418 for the city of Austin (region 10221) in August 2026, $516,564 in August 2025, so a fall of 3.7% over the year
- Zillow Home Value Index, single-family and condominium series, by city · Zillow Research · retrieved Supports: A typical single-family value of $527,943 in the city of Austin in August 2026, against $546,174 a year earlier, down 3.3%, A typical condominium value of $355,596 in the same month, against $375,347, down 5.3%, from the condominium file at https://files.zillowstatic.com/research/public_csvs/zhvi/City_zhvi_uc_condo_tier_0.33_0.67_sm_sa_month.csv
- Austin, TX average rent and rent trends · RentCafe / Yardi Matrix · retrieved Supports: An average Austin apartment rent of $1,641, down 2.25% from $1,678 a year earlier, updated 31 August 2026, Average rents of $1,287 studio, $1,421 one-bedroom, $1,812 two-bedroom and $2,405 three-bedroom
- Zillow Observed Rent Index, all homes plus multifamily, smoothed, by city · Zillow Research · retrieved Supports: An observed rent index of $1,586 for the city of Austin in August 2026, down 0.31% from $1,591 a year earlier
- Tax rates and truth-in-taxation rate table, all taxing units · Travis County Tax Assessor-Collector · retrieved Supports: 2025 adopted rates per $100: Travis County 0.375845, City of Austin 0.524017, Austin ISD 0.9252, Austin Community College 0.1034, Travis County Healthcare District (Central Health) 0.118023, 2026 adopted rates for Travis County (0.386210), the City of Austin (0.579948), ACC (0.103643) and Central Health (0.132863), and no adopted 2026 rate yet for Austin ISD
- 2026 exemption listing, Travis County taxing units · Travis Central Appraisal District · retrieved Supports: A residence homestead exemption of $140,000 for Austin ISD, with no local option, Local option homestead exemptions of 20% with a $5,000 minimum for Travis County, the City of Austin and the Travis County Healthcare District, and 1% with a $5,000 minimum for Austin Community College, The same exemptions in the 2025 listing, dated 25 July 2025
- Property tax rates · City of Austin Budget Office · retrieved Supports: A fiscal 2026 rate of 0.524017 per $100, maintenance and operations 0.410282 and debt service 0.113735, A fiscal 2027 rate of 0.579948 per $100, adopted on 12 August 2026
- Ordinance No. 20251120-006, reducing the fiscal 2025-2026 tax rate to the voter-approval rate · City of Austin · retrieved Supports: The Council adopted a rate above the voter-approval rate on 13 August 2025, which triggered an automatic election, Proposition Q did not win a majority at the 4 November 2025 election, The rate reduced to the voter-approval rate of $0.524017 per $100 under Tax Code section 26.07(e), effective 1 December 2025
- Notice about tax year 2026 property tax rates and impact statement · Austin Independent School District · retrieved Supports: A 2025 rate of 0.9252 per $100, maintenance and operations 0.8022 and debt service 0.1230, A proposed 2026 rate of 0.9184, maintenance and operations 0.7954 and debt service 0.1230
- Austin ISD claims victory in tax rate election · KUT News · retrieved Supports: Austin ISD's Proposition A passed on 5 November 2024 with about 58% of the vote, raising the district's rate 9.1 cents, from 0.8595 to 0.9505 per $100
- Travis County Prop A, affordable child care passes with majority of vote in 2024 election, unofficial results show · Community Impact · retrieved Supports: Travis County's Proposition A, a tax rate increase of 2.5 cents per $100 to fund child care, passed on 5 November 2024 with 59.43% of the vote, 321,043 to 219,141
- Truth-in-taxation rate table, all Travis County taxing units, 2022 to 2026 · Travis County Tax Assessor-Collector · retrieved Supports: Travis Central Health: a 2026 total rate of 0.132863 per $100, maintenance and operations 0.123603 and debt service 0.00926, against a no-new-revenue rate of 0.118633 and a voter-approval rate of 0.135195; a 2025 total rate of 0.118023, Travis County: a 2024 total rate of 0.344445 per $100 against a voter-approval rate of 0.319445, the 2.5 cents voters approved, Austin ISD: total rates of 0.8595 for 2023 and 0.9505 for 2024, and for 2026 a no-new-revenue and voter-approval rate but no total rate
- ACC approves new property tax rate for fiscal year 2025-26 · Austin Community College District · retrieved Supports: A 2025 rate of 0.1034 per $100
- Central Health board approves fiscal year 2027 tax rate and budget · Central Health (Travis County Healthcare District) · retrieved Supports: The Board of Managers adopted the fiscal 2027 tax rate on Wednesday, 9 September 2026, in a release dated 10 September; the rate itself is in the county's rate table above
- Fiscal year 2027 tax rate impact statement · Travis County · retrieved Supports: A county tax of $1,653.72 in 2025 on a $550,000 homestead after the 20% exemption, the same arithmetic as here, The 2025 rate set with the disaster calculation after the July 2025 floods, which the county said would come out for fiscal 2027
- Valuing property: the homestead cap and the circuit breaker limitation · Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts · retrieved Supports: A residence homestead's appraised value may not rise more than 10% a year, from the year after the owner first qualifies, A 20% annual limit on the appraised value of non-homestead property valued at $5 million or less, the circuit breaker, which expires on 31 December 2026
- Tax Code, Section 41.44: notice of protest · Texas Legislature · retrieved Supports: A protest must be filed by 15 May or the 30th day after the appraisal notice is delivered, whichever is later
- 2025 annual report · Travis Central Appraisal District · retrieved Supports: 210,038 property value appeals filed in 2025, A districtwide single-family median level of appraisal of 1.00
- School district property value study, 2024 final findings, Austin ISD · Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts · retrieved Supports: Austin ISD's local value found within the confidence interval of the state's estimate, so the appraisal district's values stand as market value
- 2026 market values on their way · Travis Central Appraisal District · retrieved Supports: A median residence homestead market value of $493,449 in Travis County for 2026, against $519,677 in 2025
- Annexation · City of Austin Planning Department · retrieved Supports: The City collects no property tax in limited-purpose areas, On full-purpose annexation an area's emergency services district tax may be eliminated
- Senate Bill 2, 86th Legislature: the Texas Property Tax Reform and Transparency Act of 2019 · Texas Legislature Online · retrieved Supports: The enrolled bill summary names Senate Bill 2 of 2019, by Bettencourt et al., the Texas Property Tax Reform and Transparency Act of 2019, with provisions taking effect from 1 January 2020 to 1 January 2022
- Property tax process post-Senate Bill 2 (2019): explanatory Q&A · Texas Municipal League · retrieved Supports: S.B. 2 lowers the multiplier in a city's voter-approval rate from 8 percent to 3.5 percent more maintenance and operations revenue, for nearly every Texas city, A city that adopts a rate above the 3.5 percent voter-approval rate must hold an automatic election on the November uniform election date, where before voters had to petition for one
- Truth in taxation · Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts · retrieved Supports: The voter-approval rate gives taxing units other than school districts and special taxing units about the previous year's operating revenue plus an extra 3.5 percent
- Geologic wonders of Texas: Central Texas · Bureau of Economic Geology, The University of Texas at Austin · retrieved Supports: In Austin the Balcones escarpment generally parallels MoPac (Loop 1): west of it the city is hilly and east of it relatively flat, Hard Lower Cretaceous limestones and dolostones form the hills to the west, and younger Upper Cretaceous rocks including clays the flatter ground to the east
- Houston Black: Texas state soil · Soil Science Society of America, with USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service figures · retrieved Supports: Houston Black, a smectite clay that shrinks when dry and swells when wet, is found in the Blackland Prairie along the route of Interstate 35 from north of Dallas to just south of San Antonio, Construction on it is often plagued by cracking from the shrinking and swelling, and building foundations need reinforcing
- Floodplain management · City of Austin Watershed Protection Department · retrieved Supports: NOAA's Atlas 14 rainfall study of 2018 found Central Texas getting heavier rain than previously thought, and the City is updating its floodplain maps from it, In November 2019 the City based its development regulations on the current FEMA 500-year floodplain instead of the 100-year floodplain, pending completion of the updated maps; the maps are on ATXFloodPro
- Flood zones · Federal Emergency Management Agency · retrieved Supports: The Special Flood Hazard Area is the land flooded by the 1-percent-annual-chance flood, the base or 100-year flood; the ground between it and the 500-year flood is a moderate-risk zone
- Understanding flood risk: real estate, lending and insurance professionals · Federal Emergency Management Agency · retrieved Supports: Federally regulated or insured lenders must require flood insurance for every building in a Special Flood Hazard Area with a federally backed loan
- Primary Mortgage Market Survey, 24 September 2026 · Freddie Mac · retrieved Supports: A 30-year fixed-rate mortgage averaging 7.03%, up from 6.95% the week before and 6.30% a year earlier
- Texas homeowners insurance market overview · Texas Department of Insurance · retrieved Supports: A statewide average homeowners premium of $3,489 a year, from the Texas Statistical Plan for Residential Risks, Hail as the largest cause of paid homeowners losses in every year from 2016 to 2025 except 2021
- Texas homeowners insurance · NerdWallet · retrieved Supports: An average Austin premium of $4,250 a year and a Texas average of $5,910, for $500,000 of dwelling cover
- How much is homeowners insurance in Austin, TX? · Insure.com · retrieved Supports: An average Austin premium of $2,698 a year for $300,000 of dwelling cover, $100,000 of liability and a $1,000 deductible, updated 27 May 2026
- Renters insurance in Texas · NerdWallet · retrieved Supports: An average Austin renters premium of $136 a year for $30,000 of personal property
- Monthly homeowners' or condominium association fee, table B25143, 2024 American Community Survey 1-year estimates, Austin city · United States Census Bureau · retrieved Supports: A median monthly association fee of $76 among Austin owner-occupied units that pay one, 88,975 of 199,801 owner-occupied units, or 44.5%, paying such a fee, from table B25142
- City of Austin utility rates and fees, effective 1 July 2026 · City of Austin · retrieved Supports: A residential solid waste charge of $23.80 a month plus $4.70 to $40.30 by cart size, Clean Community fees of $5.45 and $4.80 a month, charged to every residential customer, A transportation user fee of $21.80 a month for a single-family home
- Homebuyer resources: Down Payment Assistance · City of Austin Housing Department · retrieved Supports: Up to $40,000 in assistance for first-time buyers at or below 80% of median family income, A sales price of no more than $440,000, on a home inside Austin's full-purpose city limits
- Conforming loan limit values for 2026, by county · Federal Housing Finance Agency · retrieved Supports: A baseline one-unit conforming loan limit of $832,750 for 2026, which is the limit in Travis County
- Annual estimates of the resident population for incorporated places, 2020 to 2025 · United States Census Bureau, Population Estimates Program · retrieved Supports: A population of 1,002,632 for Austin on 1 July 2025, against 961,855 at the 2020 census
- 2025 Gazetteer files: places, Texas · United States Census Bureau · retrieved Supports: A land area of 325.013 square miles for Austin city, against 319.937 in the 2020 file