Austin Housing Sets the Plan Before the Truck Does
Settle housing first. A typical home in El Paso is valued around $171,700, and in Austin it is $512,700, roughly three times as much. The rent difference is smaller but still lands every month: $1,041 in El Paso against $1,655 in Austin, more than $600 extra. Both cities are in Texas, so no state line is involved and your planning can stay on the two places themselves.
Our team has 35+ years of hands-on service-provider experience, including an operator who ran a moving company for 18 years.
The price range at the top of this page covers the move itself. The housing numbers below are what shape everything else, so give them more of your planning time than the truck.
Closing the $340,000 Gap Before You List the El Paso House
The sale of a typical El Paso home will not buy a typical Austin one. The difference has to come from savings, a larger loan, equity built up over the years, or a smaller or older home than the one you are leaving. Run that arithmetic before you list anything, because it decides how much furniture is worth carrying across the state.
Two things follow from it:
- Fewer rooms to fill. A smaller Austin home needs less furniture. Sell or donate the second dining set, the garage shelving and the spare-bedroom pieces in El Paso, where you have the time and space to do it properly.
- Storage while you shop. If you rent in Austin first while you look for a purchase, part of the household may need to be stored. Ask each mover whether they offer storage and how it is billed, since it is a separate service from the move.
One bright spot in the comparison: Texas has no state income tax, so neither city takes a bite of your paycheck at that line. The pressure comes from housing.
Renting in Austin and Reading the Pay Gap
The $1,655 rent is a typical figure, not a floor, so your own search may land above or below it. In Austin 56% of households rent, against 40% in El Paso, which brings more leasing offices and more buildings with their own move-in rules.
Check your El Paso lease end date and the notice you owe before you commit to anything in Austin. Moving a few days early can mean paying two rents, and moving late can mean paying for a place you have already left. Ask the Austin landlord for a move-in window in writing first, then book the movers around that window rather than the other way around. Measure the new apartment, not the old one, and decide room by room what travels.
Median household income is $58,734 in El Paso and $91,461 in Austin. Pay rises in Austin, but by a smaller proportion than home values do, so a higher salary does not make the first month free. Set aside the move, deposits and first rent as separate lines. If a new employer is covering part of the move, ask before you hire anyone whether they reimburse a bill or pay the mover directly, and whether they want a written proposal, since that changes which paperwork you collect.
Where to Live in Austin
Austin's neighborhoods differ widely in price, atmosphere and commute. These are the areas to research:
- East Austin. A long-established corridor with a mix of longtime residents, creative businesses and new development. Rents vary widely by block.
- South Congress and South Lamar. Walkable and central, with strong restaurant and retail scenes. Proximity is priced in.
- North Loop and Hyde Park. More residential and calmer than the areas closest to downtown.
- Cedar Park, Round Rock and Pflugerville. Northern suburbs with noticeably lower housing costs than central Austin and direct access to the tech corridors along US-183 and TX-45.
- Buda and Kyle. Fast-growing southern suburbs, suited to a household that does not need daily downtown access.
If your job is downtown or in the Domain area, test the commute at rush hour before you sign a lease. Austin traffic belongs in the housing decision.
From a Driveway in El Paso to an Elevator in Austin
This difference changes moving day more than any other. In El Paso, 68% of homes are detached houses and 19% sit in buildings of five or more units. In Austin, detached houses are 44% and the larger multi-unit buildings make up 42%.
A detached house means a driveway, a garage, a front door the truck can reach and room to stage boxes. A larger Austin building puts the same belongings through other limits:
- Elevators. A building may reserve one elevator for moves and ask you to book it. Ask the property manager for the slot and give your mover the exact time.
- Loading dock or street parking. A truck that sits in your El Paso driveway may need a dock or a reserved zone in Austin. Ask the building what paperwork it wants from the mover.
- Stairs and long carries. The distance from truck to door adds time, and time is a large part of what a mover charges.
If you are buying a detached house in Austin instead, the checklist flips: look at the driveway, the steps at the front door and the room for a truck on your street.
Tell every mover which kind of home sits at each end. A proposal built on the wrong assumption about stairs or elevators can change on moving day.
Austin's turnover adds to this. 21% of Austin residents changed homes within the last year, against 13% in El Paso, so leasing offices run many move-ins. Ask for their written rules on elevators, hours and parking, and follow them.
Austin's Scale and What It Means for Your Search
Austin has 967,862 residents and El Paso has 678,147, with the Austin metro area past 2 million. Expect more dining, music and outdoor options, along with more noise, more traffic and a faster pace than El Paso's slower, more spread-out feel. A bigger market also means more movers to compare and more variation between them, so compare written proposals, not just the first number you hear.
To see who works at each end, start with movers in El Paso and movers in Austin.
Haboob Season, Ice Storms and Thunderstorms: Timing Around the Weather
Both cities have long summers above 100°F, but the heat is different. El Paso is high-desert dry, while Austin is humid subtropical, where moisture makes the same temperature feel hotter. Allow yourself some time to adjust.
Each end has its own hazard:
- Leaving El Paso. Dust storms (haboobs) typically run from June to September, and a wall of dust can cut visibility to near zero within minutes, which is dangerous for an open truck. El Paso also sees high-wind days and summer wildfire smoke from regional fires. Check the forecast the day before your pack-out.
- Arriving in Austin. Spring brings severe thunderstorms and tornado risk across Central Texas, from March through May. If delivery falls then, know where you would shelter if a warning goes out, and keep the delivery window flexible. Winter can bring ice, as the February 2021 ice storm showed, so for a December to February move ask what happens to the schedule if roads close.
Fall, from September to November, avoids the worst of both: El Paso's dust season has passed and Austin's heat is easing. If you do move in summer, start early at both ends, keep water on hand for everyone carrying, and take plants, electronics and anything heat-sensitive in your own car rather than in the truck.
What Texas Requires of an In-State Mover
El Paso to Austin is an in-state move, so Texas rules apply and the federal interstate rules do not. The Texas Department of Motor Vehicles (TxDMV) regulates movers here.
- Proposal. Before loading, the mover must give you a written proposal that is either binding or not-to-exceed. On a move this length, choose one of those so the number you see is the number at the end. A walk-through, in person or on video, makes the proposal more accurate, because a mover who has seen the stairs and the garage can price them.
- Liability. You and the mover agree in writing on what the mover owes for damage. The contract can set it as low as $0, and 60 cents per pound is a common example, so read that line before you sign.
- Delivery. No fixed number of days is set for you. The delivery window is whatever is agreed with the carrier, and a load shared with other customers can stretch it, so get the window written on the bill of lading rather than relying on a spoken promise.
- Claims. File within 90 days.
Comparing Movers on the El Paso to Austin Run
The price of this move depends on how much you are moving, the stairs and elevators at each end, the date you pick and whether you add packing or storage. A smaller load from a house with a short carry costs less than a full load ferried down from a fifth-floor unit.
- Check the license. In-state Texas movers must be registered with TxDMV. Confirm it in TxDMV's Truck Stop lookup before you sign anything.
- Collect three written proposals. A local El Paso company, a national van line and a Texas regional carrier give you a useful spread.
- Read the reviews for themes. On review sites, one or two bad reviews among strong ones mean little, but a pattern of late deliveries or damaged items does.
- Ask each company the route questions. Have they handled moves between buildings like yours, and will they send someone to see the home?
- Hold off on a large deposit and keep your own copy of everything you sign.
Use find movers to compare companies, or browse by state for more options.
Questions That Come Up on This Particular Move
Austin's cost index is 98 against El Paso's 90. Does that make Austin only about 9% more expensive?
Those two readings come from the 2024 federal index, which sets the U.S. at 100, and yes, that is the overall gap, but housing is where it concentrates. Home values here differ by nearly $340,000 and typical rent by more than $600 a month. The shared 0% state income tax helps, but housing is the dominant line in the budget.
Where does the delivery date for my belongings get written down?
On the bill of lading, as a window agreed before pickup. Ask the mover to put it in writing and to say how a shared load could change it.
Do I have to redo my car papers when I move from El Paso to Austin?
Not the out-of-state steps, because you stay in Texas. The one item to check is emissions testing: it applies in the Austin area, so ask about it at your next registration.
Can I apply for the homestead exemption on an Austin house I buy?
Texas offers a school-tax homestead exemption of $140,000, with another $60,000 if you are 65 or older or disabled, and the application is due by April 30. Know it before you set a purchase budget, and confirm with the state how it applies to your home.