The short answer
Moving from Texas to Philadelphia swaps no state income tax for Pennsylvania's 3.07 percent flat income tax, plus the city's 3.735 percent wage tax for residents. Property taxes flip the other way, about 1.40 percent effective in Texas versus roughly 0.83 percent in Philadelphia County. Prices are comparable; housing stock, cooling, and winter are not.
I'm Craig Lerch, a broker with eXp Realty, and this is general information, not tax or legal advice. Every figure below carries its source and verification month; a CPA should run your numbers, and an attorney the legal layers.
The tax math, side by side
On income, Texas has no state individual income tax, and its constitution requires a two-thirds legislative vote plus a referendum to add one (Texas Comptroller via Tax Foundation, verified October 2026). Pennsylvania taxes earned income at a flat 3.07 percent (Pennsylvania Department of Revenue, verified September 2026). Live inside the city and you also pay the wage tax, 3.735 percent for residents and 3.425 percent for non-residents working in the city, effective July 1, 2026 (City of Philadelphia, verified September 2026). The 3.07 percent is new; the wage tax is what no national comparison mentions.
On property, Texas is the expensive side: the effective owner-occupied rate ran about 1.40 percent in 2024 against a national average around 0.9 percent, with county, city, school, and sometimes MUD (municipal utility district) levies on newer subdivisions (Tax Foundation, verified October 2026). Texas voters raised the school-tax homestead exemption to $100,000 in 2023 and to $140,000 for 2026, but it covers the school layer only, not MUD taxes (Texas Comptroller, verified October 2026). Pennsylvania's average effective rate is about 1.26 percent; Philadelphia County's median is around 0.83 percent (Tax Foundation and SmartAsset, verified September 2026).
On sales tax the gap is smaller than advertised. Texas charges 6.25 percent state, up to 8.25 percent with local add-ons, on nearly everything; Pennsylvania charges 6 percent state plus 2 percent inside the city, 8 percent total, but groceries and most clothing are exempt (Pennsylvania Department of Revenue, verified October 2026). A Texas grocery run taxed at 8.25 percent; a Philadelphia one at zero.
Housing stock: what the spreadsheets miss
Texas builds on slabs, with central air in about 83 percent of homes and some form of cooling in 95 percent (EIA 2020 Residential Energy Consumption Survey, verified October 2026). Philadelphia rowhouses run the other way: radiators for heat, no ductwork, window units for cooling. Nearly every occupied city home has some form of air conditioning, but in an old rowhouse that is often one window unit in the living room (U.S. Census ACS, verified September 2026). "AC" in a Texas listing is central air; the same word in a Philadelphia listing can be one unit in one room, and retrofitting mini-splits into a house with no ductwork is real money.
Prices are closer than most Texans expect. Redfin city medians, three months ending August 2026: Houston $350,000, Dallas $449,000, Austin $550,000, Philadelphia $295,000 (Redfin, verified October 2026). And the closing cost nobody quotes: Philadelphia's transfer tax runs 4.578 percent, 1 percent state plus 3.578 percent city since July 1, 2025, customarily split near evenly (City of Philadelphia, verified September 2026). Texas has no state or local transfer tax (verified October 2026), so the buyer's half on a $400,000 purchase is a line item to budget, not to discover.
Weather: heat, humidity, and a real winter
Houston's normal July high is 94.5 degrees; Philadelphia's is 88 (NOAA 1991-2020 normals, verified October 2026). Both are humid, and a Philadelphia summer is a shorter version of Texas heat, not a reprieve: the city sees roughly 24 days a year at 90 or above (GLISA/NOAA, verified October 2026). The real change is winter: about 23 inches of snow a season against a trace in Houston (NOAA, verified September 2026), and winter has a budget, with the typical PGW gas bill about $99 a month and winter months on row homes $150 to $220 (PGW, verified October 2026).
How it differs across the metro
Inside the city you get the wage tax, rowhouse stock, the 4.578 percent transfer tax, SEPTA, and a walkable life: about a third of city households have no vehicle against about 9.6 percent of Houston households (older city-level analysis, flagged as dated; ACS 2019-2023, verified September 2026). The counterweight is parking: the residential permit is a flat $75 a year per vehicle citywide, and street-cleaning enforcement April through October on posted blocks carries a $31 ticket, so the block is homework before you bid (philapark.org and the City of Philadelphia, verified September 2026).
Suburban Pennsylvania swaps the wage tax for the state income tax plus a local earned income tax of about 1 percent in most towns, capped at 2 percent, with newer stock, forced air, and central air typical (Pennsylvania DCED Act 32, verified September 2026). Effective property rates run about 1.30 to 1.35 percent in Chester, Bucks, and Montgomery Counties, near 1.84 percent in Delaware County (county effective-rate data, verified September 2026).
New Jersey means the shortest commutes to city jobs and the region's highest property bills, a statewide average of $9,898 in 2024, partly offset by ANCHOR relief (New Jersey Treasury, verified September 2026). Delaware means the lowest property rates, about 0.48 percent effective, but a Philadelphia job brings the 3.425 percent non-resident wage tax, and Delaware residents generally get no credit (Tax Foundation, verified September 2026).
If you're coming from Texas
Three surprises will rearrange your plan. First, an income tax you cannot commute around: live in Philadelphia and you pay the 3.735 percent resident wage tax on earnings wherever your employer sits, including remote work for a Texas company, plus the 3.07 percent state tax (phila.gov, verified September 2026). Work in the city from outside it and the 3.425 percent non-resident rate applies, with home workdays counting as city workdays unless your employer requires work outside the city (phila.gov, verified September 2026). Second, the basement: Texas homes sit on slabs; Philadelphia rowhouses usually have full basements with the laundry and the stairs. Third, the car math inverts: SEPTA and walkable errands make one-car or no-car households workable in a way Texas cities are not.
The thing a national relocation listicle cannot tell you is block-level: the flat $75 parking permit, street-cleaning windows that make a posted block off-limits from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. in season, and 12 months of utility history on the exact rowhouse before you offer. Those facts decide whether a car, a window-unit summer, and a January heating bill fit the plan you bring from Texas.
What most people get wrong
- That no-income-tax Texas is cheaper. Run the numbers on actual addresses: about 1.40 percent property on a near-market assessment plus up to 8.25 percent sales on most purchases, against 3.07 percent state income, the resident wage tax, lower property rates, and tax-free groceries and clothing. That math is a question for a CPA, not a slogan.
- That the Philadelphia summer is a reprieve. It is shorter and cooler than Houston, not mild: humid 90s are a normal July.
- That "AC" means central air. In a rowhouse it often means a window unit, and retrofitting ducts into a house with no ductwork is a different project from one in a slab home.
- That the transfer tax is a seller's problem. It is a settlement cost split near evenly, and the buyer's half is due at closing.
- That a state average describes the house. The assessed value, the school and municipal bills on the exact address, and the utility history describe the house.
Your next step
Build the comparison on addresses, not states. For each shortlist house, pull the county assessment and the current year's bill, file the Philadelphia Homestead Exemption if it will be your primary residence, ask for 12 months of utility history and the cooling system in writing, then total it with a CPA. The tax line reads lower than a Texas bill; the transfer tax, winter heat, and permit read higher. Knowing both before you offer is the whole game.
Texas line items do not carry over cleanly. Book a 20-minute call with no follow-up and bring your current tax and utility numbers; I will translate each one for the addresses you are considering. Nothing surprises you at settlement.