Rank #3 of 33
Austin, TX
Austin-Round Rock-San Marcos, TX
10.5
Tacos per hour at the local median wage
$2.40
Avg taco price
$25.29
Median hourly wage (2024)
$3.00
Fast-casual taqueria
$1.79
Taco Bell crunchy taco
Austin sits above the national average. An hour of local work buys 10.5 tacos here, compared with 9.3 tacos per hour across the 33-city index (+1.2 vs national average).
Local note
Austin's taco culture runs deep — breakfast tacos are a local institution and the city is home to dozens of long-standing trailers and storefronts. Rising rents have pushed fast-casual taco prices above the Texas average, though East Austin and Burnet Road neighborhood spots still hold the line near $3.
Where the numbers come from
Fast-casual: Pueblo Viejo ($2.55+), Tyson's Tacos ($2.85+), Vaquero Taquero ($3+), Taco Joint ($3+). Chain: Taco Bell crunchy taco $1.79 (Texas-low TB tier).
Average taco price ($2.40) is $0.37 below the national average of $2.77.
How this is calculated. Tacos per hour = median hourly wage ÷ average taco price.
Average taco price is the mean of the fast-casual taqueria anchor and the local Taco Bell crunchy taco price.
Wages come from BLS OEWS, May 2024, MSA-level median for all occupations.
Full methodology.