Rank #6 of 33
Houston, TX
Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands, TX
10.3
Tacos per hour at the local median wage
$2.27
Avg taco price
$23.31
Median hourly wage (2024)
$2.75
Fast-casual taqueria
$1.79
Taco Bell crunchy taco
Houston sits above the national average. An hour of local work buys 10.3 tacos here, compared with 9.3 tacos per hour across the 33-city index (+1.0 vs national average).
Local note
Houston is one of the largest and most affordable taco markets in the country, with thousands of trucks, taquerias, and tortilla-chain locations spread across the metro. Prices sit firmly in the bottom tier nationally, supported by deep supply chains and a vast Mexican-American population.
Where the numbers come from
Fast-casual: Tacos a Go Go ($2.15 corn / $2.79 flour), Taquerias Arandas, Laredo Taqueria, Escalante's. Chain: Taco Bell crunchy taco $1.79 (Texas-low TB tier).
Average taco price ($2.27) is $0.50 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.