A new community-wide health assessment by Austin Public Health concludes that steep housing costs are among the key factors straining the health and well-being of local residents.
For the 2025 Austin-Travis County Community Health Assessment, APH collaborated with other local health organizations to broadly study the area’s health challenges.
The report’s authors pointed to rapid population growth, limited housing supply and rising property values exacerbating affordability issues in recent years. They observed that someone would need to earn $31.27/hour to afford a two-bedroom apartment in Austin at fair market rent as of 2023 — more than four times the minimum wage. U.S. Census estimates show that 36% of Austin households spend 30% or more of their income on housing — a greater percentage than at the state level.
"When housing costs consume a disproportionate share of household income, families are often forced to make difficult trade-offs between rent and other essential needs such as food, transportation and health care," the authors wrote.
Housing costs have also pushed many residents to move to more affordable, outlying areas of Greater Austin, such as Manor, Del Valle and Pflugerville. APH noted this was particularly common among communities of color.
However, these more affordable areas come with sparser health care access, per the assessment. Residents in these areas were more likely to report cost and transportation as barriers to getting care. These limitations were also seen along demographic lines, with Black and Hispanic residents reporting higher rates of poor physical health and chronic health issues compared to other groups.
Another key takeaway identified by APH was widespread high rates of mental health distress across the county. Nearly 18% of adults in Travis County reported having been diagnosed with depression between 2019 and 2023. The rate was highest among women and White, non-Hispanic adults — though the report’s authors noted that national studies suggest depression may be under-diagnosed in Black communities.
The assessment also showed that opioid overdose deaths, along with substance abuse in general, are declining, which APH attributes to the implementation of harm reduction strategies resources such as naloxone. However, the authors said opioids still pose a “serious threat” to public health.
The report praised the quality of Travis County’s hospitals, but found room for improvement in primary care access, especially in certain under-resourced neighborhoods. Travis County has fewer primary care doctors per capita than the United States and Texas at large, according to U.S. Department of Health and Human Services data — just 101 primary care doctors per 100,000 residents.
The assessment will be used to guide local health policy, per a news release from APH.
“These assessments are essential to identifying needs in our community and how best to address them,” said Austin City Manager TC Broadnax in the release. “With this data, our city staff will be better equipped to efficiently address health inequities across Austin and Travis County.”
The city is set to host a summit with local health care providers and other regional leaders to discuss the data collected in the assessment and priorities for an updated community health improvement plan. The event is scheduled for Jan. 23, and is open to the public.
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