The Houston count
This series counts the housing landing only: deposit, first month's rent and utilities, from the recorded averages in the First-Month Landing Cash Planner across its 200 cities. Houston, modeled on the city-page structure of NerdWallet's Houston cost of living page, lands lighter than every city counted before it.
| First-month line | Shared room | Studio |
|---|---|---|
| Deposit (one month, the planner's standard setting) | $738 | $1,693 |
| First month's rent | $738 | $1,693 |
| Utilities | $200 | $200 |
| Landing total | $1,676 | $3,586 |
Why Houston lands light
Two of the three lines sit near the middle of the dataset. Shared rent at $738 is 27 percent above the 200-city median of $580, and utilities at $200 are almost exactly the median $203. Nothing in Houston's lines is extreme; the landing is light because the deposit setting is one month, not three. Berlin's shared rent is lower ($680) yet its landing is $3,107, because the German Kaution takes three months upfront. The deposit rule, not the rent, is what separates the two landings.
The studio jump
Going solo in Houston costs an extra $1,910 on landing day. The studio premium is 2.29 times the shared rent, close to the dataset's median premium of 2.33, so Houston is not unusual here; it is simply the standard price of privacy applied to a mid-priced city. Students who split a two-bedroom instead of taking a studio keep the shared figure and the lighter landing.
Housing only, as always in this series
The planner records rent, deposit and utilities for all 200 cities; groceries, transit and insurance are lines you enter yourself, because they vary too much by student to average honestly. Houston's transit and food lines will add real money to the $1,676. Treat the landing as the floor that cannot be negotiated after arrival, then run your own lines in the planner.