Overall
Diff +3.5 RPP
Albany-Schenectady-Troy vs Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington
Cost of living comparison based on BEA Regional Price Parities. Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington is 3.5% more expensive than Albany-Schenectady-Troy.
3.5% more expensive
Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington, TX is 3.5% more expensive than Albany-Schenectady-Troy, NY on BEA Regional Price Parities (overall RPP 103.1 vs 99.6). A $100,000 salary in Albany-Schenectady-Troy buys about the same as $103,539 in Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington; the largest component gap is services.
- Overall RPP 99.6 (Albany-Schenectady-Troy) vs 103.1 (Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington)
- $100k in Albany-Schenectady-Troy ≈ $103,539 purchasing power in Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington
- Services drives the gap (-43.3 RPP points)
RPP parity plate
Pair NY:TX 99.6→103.1
TIER-NEAR · CROSS-STATE · SPLIT-BUDGET · BENCH-CROSS · PP-SHIFT
- TIER-NEAR Near tier
- CROSS-STATE NY × TX
- SPLIT-BUDGET Split budget
- BENCH-CROSS Benchmark cross
- PP-SHIFT PP shift
Instrument codes from this pair's BEA Regional Price Parities (overall · goods · services · rents · national benchmark 100 · purchasing-power conversion), not a ranking or recommendation.
Category Breakdown
Goods
Diff +3.1 RPP
Services
- Albany-Schenectady-Troy
- 134.0
Diff -43.3 RPP
Rents
- Albany-Schenectady-Troy
- 102.6
Diff +15.3 RPP
| Category | Albany-Schenectady-Troy | Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Overall | 99.6 | 103.1 | +3.5 |
| Goods | 99.7 | 102.8 | +3.1 |
| Services | 134.0 | 90.7 | -43.3 |
| Rents | 102.6 | 117.9 | +15.3 |
Visual Comparison
Overall
Albany-Schenectady-Troy 99.6
Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington 103.1
Goods
Albany-Schenectady-Troy 99.7
Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington 102.8
Services
Albany-Schenectady-Troy 134.0
Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington 90.7
Rents
Albany-Schenectady-Troy 102.6
Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington 117.9
Vertical line = national average (100)
What This Comparison Actually Tells You
Services creates the largest separation: Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington is 43.3 points lower. But services move against the overall direction, so this is a split budget rather than a clean across-the-board winner.
Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington, TX is 3.5% more expensive than Albany-Schenectady-Troy, NY, a meaningful but not extreme shift. The move decision turns on which budget category creates the 3.5-point overall gap.
This route crosses the national benchmark: Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington is above 100 while Albany-Schenectady-Troy is below it. That makes the move a change of price regime, not merely a rank swap.
Comparable population context is incomplete for this pair, so no market-scale explanation is inferred from the price indexes.
For a service-heavy household, test childcare, health, and other locally supplied costs before relying on rent alone. The BEA ratio converts $100,000 in Albany-Schenectady-Troy to $103,539 in Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington, but it is not a personal spending weight.
Albany-Schenectady-Troy
99.6
Cost Index
Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington
103.1
Cost Index
Salary Equivalents
What a salary in Albany-Schenectady-Troy would need to be in Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington for the same purchasing power:
| In Albany-Schenectady-Troy | In Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington | Difference |
|---|---|---|
| $50,000 | $51,770 | +$1,770 |
| $75,000 | $77,655 | +$2,655 |
| $100,000 | $103,539 | +$3,539 |
| $150,000 | $155,309 | +$5,309 |
$ in Albany-Schenectady-Troy = in Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington
Same BEA Regional Price Parity ratio as the table above (99.6 → 103.1), computed live from your number, nothing is sent anywhere.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington more expensive than Albany-Schenectady-Troy?
Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington is 3.5% more expensive than Albany-Schenectady-Troy. The overall cost index is 103.1 vs 99.6 (national average = 100).
What salary in Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington equals $100K in Albany-Schenectady-Troy?
A $100,000 salary in Albany-Schenectady-Troy has the same purchasing power as $103,539 in Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington. This is based on the BEA Regional Price Parity indexes.
How do rents compare between Albany-Schenectady-Troy and Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington?
Rents in Albany-Schenectady-Troy are indexed at 102.6 while Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington is at 117.9 (national average = 100). Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington has higher rents.
Data sources
- BEA Regional Price Parities (RPP), the cost-of-living indices shown on this page
- U.S. Census Bureau, American Community Survey (ACS), gross-rent observations behind the rents component
- BLS Consumer Price Index (CPI), goods and services price relatives
- BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS), labor-driven services component
- HUD Fair Market Rents (FMR), 40th-percentile rent cross-reference
Every figure on PlainCost is rendered directly from BEA Regional Price Parity source data, no number is typed in by an editor. See our editorial standards & corrections policy, the methodology behind these numbers, our changelog, or report a data error. Data current as of 2026-08-11. Rankings measure the published cost-of-living index only; we don't recommend where to live or rate any metro's quality of life.