Can a Quality Engineer afford to live in Houston?

Excellent49% of take-home left to save — you can save aggressively here.
Median salary (gross)
Quality Engineer · Houston
$81,911
Income tax (~21% effective)
United States
– $17,137
Take-home pay
$5,398/mo
$64,774
Living costs (1 person)
$2,740/mo · derived
– $32,880
Savings potential
$2,658/mo · 49% of take-home
$31,894

Single professional, after-tax. Salary − tax − living costs = what you could save each year.

Full salary breakdown →Is this a good salary in Houston? →Compare Houston with another city →

How we calculated this

• Salary: BLS OES median for Quality Engineer, adjusted for Houston.

• Tax: United States single-filer effective rate (~21%). Official calculator.

• Living costs: derived from cost-of-living index for a single professional.

Planning estimates, not financial or tax advice. Updated 2026. Your situation will differ.