Temple TX vs Waco TX
The Honest Comparison

How Far Is Temple TX from Waco TX?

Temple and Waco are 36 miles apart on TxDOT’s mileage-between-cities grid, and I-35 connects them directly. That grid is an official city-to-city estimate, not a door-to-door measurement, and it does not publish drive times. Drive times on I-35 vary with traffic and construction, so use a live map for the day and hour you would actually travel rather than any fixed minute figure, and drive the route once before you commit to a commute.

Where Each City Sits on the Larger Map

Temple is the city closer to Austin; Waco is the city closer to Dallas. If your work or family pulls you south, Temple saves 35 miles each way; if it pulls you north, Waco saves 35 miles. Belton and Killeen are not in TxDOT’s grid, so this page does not quote distances for them.

Source: TxDOT, Traveling Across Texas mileage grid (PDF last modified January 2022; city-to-city estimates, route not stated).

How Do Home Prices in Temple Compare to Waco?

Which city is cheaper depends on whose numbers you use, so the two tables below show each city on the same source and say what that source measures. Redfin reports a three-month median sale price built from MLS and public records; Zillow’s headline figure is a modeled typical home value (its Home Value Index), with sale and list medians alongside. Both were captured on September 24, 2026.

Same source, same window: Redfin, three months ending August 2026

Sources: Redfin Temple and Redfin Waco, “based on Redfin calculations of home data from MLS and/or public records.”

Same source: Zillow, July and August 2026

Sources: Zillow Temple and Zillow Waco. The Home Value Index is a modeled value built from Zestimates, not a sale price.

Temple’s MLS record

For Temple I also have the MLS closed-sale record: a $269,900 median across 1,457 closed sales from August 21, 2025 through September 1, 2026 (sales above $5,000; not a strict trailing year), $156 per square foot, 69 median days on market and a 99.9% median sale-to-list ratio, from the Central Texas MLS export pulled September 2, 2026. Waco listings run through a different MLS, and I do not hold an equivalent export for it, so the Waco figures on this page are Redfin’s and Zillow’s estimates rather than MLS closings.

Read across the sources: Temple’s median sits in a narrow band from $261,000 to $270,000, while Waco’s ranges from $235,000 to $279,000 depending on who is counting. On Redfin’s matched pair Temple is lower on price and price per square foot, slower to sell (80 vs 55 median days) and closer to list price (98.1% vs 97.2%). On Zillow, Temple is the higher-priced city. Neither city is clearly cheaper at the city level, which is why the comparison that matters is the two houses you would actually buy. Use the Temple buyer guide to frame a budget band, then price the Temple side against a real listing.

Are Schools Better in Temple or Waco?

On the Texas Education Agency’s A-F accountability scale, Temple ISD scores higher than Waco ISD in each of the three rating years shown below: C (77) versus D (63) in the final 2025 ratings, and B (81) versus D (66) in the preliminary 2026 ratings released August 14, 2026 (final ratings are due December 11, 2026). Waco ISD spends more per student. Both are district-level figures; the campus assigned to a specific address is what you will actually use, and some Temple addresses are zoned to Belton ISD or other districts, so confirm the campus before you rely on any of this.

Sources: TEA 2025 summary, Temple ISD; TEA 2025 summary, Waco ISD; TEA 2026 preliminary summary, Temple ISD; TEA 2026 preliminary summary, Waco ISD; TAPR Temple ISD; TAPR Waco ISD; PEIMS financial report, Temple ISD; PEIMS financial report, Waco ISD; TEA 2025 statewide campus file.

Temple High School moved from D (69) in 2024 to C (79) in the final 2025 ratings and to A (90) in the preliminary 2026 ratings. Waco ISD’s per-student spending is higher than Temple ISD’s on both operating and instructional measures, so the rating gap is not a spending gap. If a specific campus matters to you, look it up on TEA’s site by address rather than by district, and compare the current year’s rating with the prior year’s before drawing a trend.

Which City Has a Stronger Job Market?

The two economies are built differently. Temple’s largest employers are a hospital system and a VA medical center, followed by the school district and two distribution centers; Waco’s are a private university, a hospital, the school district and a second hospital. McLennan County posted the lower unemployment rate in April, June and July 2026 and for 2025 as a whole, and Waco is the larger city by about 49,000 residents.

Largest employers

Sources: City of Temple FY2025 Annual Comprehensive Financial Report, principal employers table (source note: employer human-resources departments); Greater Waco Chamber / Waco Economic Development, major employers (undated list, retrieved September 24, 2026). The Waco list carries no year, so treat its counts as indicative.

Baylor Scott & White and the VA together employ 12,806 people in Temple on the city’s FY2025 figures, and BSW Medical Center in Temple describes itself as the only designated Level I trauma center between Dallas and Austin. Temple’s other anchors are distribution: H-E-B, McLane and Walmart all run distribution centers here on the I-35 corridor.

The University Factor: Baylor vs UMHB

Baylor University enrolled 19,858 students in fall 2025 (Baylor Institutional Research) and plays in the Big 12; it is also the city’s largest employer, a presence Temple has no equivalent of. Temple’s nearest university is the University of Mary Hardin-Baylor in Belton, which reports nearly 3,800 students and was chartered in 1845. If Belton’s smaller-town setting appeals, the homes for sale in Belton sit just south of Temple’s hospital corridor.

What Are Rental Prices in Temple vs Waco?

If you plan to rent first, know that the two public rent trackers measure different things and disagree on which city costs more. Apartment List estimates the median rent on new leases; Zillow’s Rental Manager reports the average asking rent of units currently listed. Both are shown for both cities.

Sources: Apartment List Temple, Apartment List Waco (methodology: median rent across new leases, anchored to Census recent-mover data); Zillow Rental Manager Temple and Zillow Rental Manager Waco (averages of current listings, all property types).

On Apartment List’s new-lease medians Waco is the more expensive city to rent in; on Zillow’s average asking rent across all listed rentals Temple is, though Zillow’s two- and three-bedroom averages are higher in Waco. The gap between the two trackers within one city is larger than the gap between the cities, so use them to size a budget, then price actual listings for the bedroom count you need. If you are relocating for a hospital or university job, ask the employer about housing resources before you sign anything.

Choose Temple If… / Choose Waco If…

Neither city is objectively better. These lists map the figures above to the situations they actually favor.

Want This Comparison Run for Your Situation?

Choose the option that fits you and send it. I will follow up personally to get your timeline, budget and where you would work, then send the same-source figures that apply to you and the specific homes worth comparing. There is no automated briefing and no drip sequence. Prefer to talk? Book a 15-minute housing call or call or text 254-718-4249.

Related Guides