2025 Compare Cities Cost of Living:
Houston, TX vs Ottumwa, IA

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Highlights
Is it cheaper to live in Ottumwa or is it cheaper to live in Houston?
- Ottumwa is 26.6% less expensive than Houston.

Which city has more affordable housing, Ottumwa or Houston?
- Ottumwa housing costs are 67.1% less expensive than Houston housing costs.

Is Health Care more affordable in Houston or is Health Care more affordable in Ottumwa.
- Health related expenses are 25.4% more in Ottumwa.
 Houston, TXOttumwa, IAUnited States
 Overall  Unlock71.1100
 Food & Groceries98.1  Unlock100
 Health  Unlock119.3100
 Housing75.4  Unlock100
 Median Home Cost  Unlock$97,700$338,100
 Utilities97  Unlock100
 Transportation  Unlock62.8100
 Miscellaneous105.9  Unlock100
100 = National Average (Below 100 means cheaper than the US average. Above 100 means more expensive.)
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Reviews for Houston    371 Reviews

Over 3 years ago

I moved to Houston from the San Francisco Bay area in 1991 after college but I have always had family here. Houston is not what you think of when you think of Texas  More

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Over 3 years ago

There's definitely lots of jobs/economic opportunity. It's quite racially diverse if that's your thing. Houston has awful urban sprawl. Expect awful traffic. Hot as hell  More

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Over 3 years ago

There's definitely lots of jobs/economic opportunity. It's quite racially diverse if that's your thing. Houston has awful urban sprawl. Expect awful traffic. Hot as hell  More

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Reviews for Ottumwa    5 Reviews

Over 12 years ago

Ottumwa has a seemingly high rate of theft-related crimes as well as drug use which I'm sure correlates to the incidences of assault. For a community of 20-30,000, the  More

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Over 16 years ago

ottumwa, Iowa has no diverse culture. It is not very open especially when it comes to branching out to new ideas of others culture...The idea of culture here is the pro  More

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Over 17 years ago

Pros: 1. Extremely low cost of living and housing 2. Affordable place to live Cons: 1. High crime rate 2. Very poor school system 3. Economically depressed 4.  More

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