Overall
Diff +17.5 RPP
Austin-Round Rock-San Marcos vs San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont
Cost of living comparison based on BEA Regional Price Parities. San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont is 17.9% more expensive than Austin-Round Rock-San Marcos.
17.9% more expensive
San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont, CA is 17.9% more expensive than Austin-Round Rock-San Marcos, TX on BEA Regional Price Parities (overall RPP 115.6 vs 98.1). A $100,000 salary in Austin-Round Rock-San Marcos buys about the same as $117,893 in San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont; the largest component gap is services.
- Overall RPP 98.1 (Austin-Round Rock-San Marcos) vs 115.6 (San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont)
- $100k in Austin-Round Rock-San Marcos ≈ $117,893 purchasing power in San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont
- Services drives the gap (+90.5 RPP points)
RPP parity plate
Pair TX:CA 98.1→115.6
TIER-GAP · CROSS-STATE · SERVICES-LED · BENCH-CROSS · PP-STEEP
- TIER-GAP Clear tier gap
- CROSS-STATE TX × CA
- SERVICES-LED Services-led gap
- BENCH-CROSS Benchmark cross
- PP-STEEP Steep PP convert
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.
What This Comparison Actually Tells You
Austin-Round Rock-San Marcos, TX and San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont, CA sit in clearly different price tiers, separated by 17.5 RPP points. At this distance, treating the same nominal salary as equivalent would materially change purchasing power.
This route crosses the national benchmark: San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont is above 100 while Austin-Round Rock-San Marcos is below it. That makes the move a change of price regime, not merely a rank swap.
Services leads the difference, with San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont 90.5 points higher than Austin-Round Rock-San Marcos. Goods, services, and rents all point in the same broad direction, making the headline comparison more transferable across household types.
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 Austin-Round Rock-San Marcos to $117,893 in San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont, but it is not a personal spending weight.
How the Price Gap Changed
Austin-Round Rock-San Marcos and San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont share 17 published annual releases from 2008 through 2024. Their overall gap narrowed, moving from 19.5 to 17.5 RPP points. San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont remained the higher-index metro in the latest release.
Services changed the most within this pair: its gap moved 74.6 points between the first and latest shared releases (15.9 to 90.5 points). This describes a relative price-index history, not a forecast or a household budget.
| Release Year | Austin-Round Rock-San Marcos RPP | San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont RPP | Relative Gap |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2008 | 99.6 | 119.1 | 19.5 points San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont higher |
| 2012 | 100.9 | 112.5 | 11.6 points San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont higher |
| 2016 | 102.6 | 116.4 | 13.8 points San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont higher |
| 2020 | 101.1 | 119.6 | 18.5 points San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont higher |
| 2024 | 98.1 | 115.6 | 17.5 points San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont higher |
Annual BEA Regional Price Parity releases; a higher index means a higher price level relative to the national average of 100. Selected years shown from the full shared series.
Category Breakdown
Goods
Diff +14.7 RPP
Services
Diff +90.5 RPP
Rents
Diff +74.4 RPP
| Category | Austin-Round Rock-San Marcos | San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Overall | 98.1 | 115.6 | +17.5 |
| Goods | 93.8 | 108.5 | +14.7 |
| Services | 82.0 | 172.6 | +90.5 |
| Rents | 120.4 | 194.7 | +74.4 |
Visual Comparison
Overall
Austin-Round Rock-San Marcos 98.1
San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont 115.6
Goods
Austin-Round Rock-San Marcos 93.8
San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont 108.5
Services
Austin-Round Rock-San Marcos 82.0
San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont 172.6
Rents
Austin-Round Rock-San Marcos 120.4
San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont 194.7
Vertical line = national average (100)
Salary Equivalents
What a salary in Austin-Round Rock-San Marcos would need to be in San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont for the same purchasing power:
| In Austin-Round Rock-San Marcos | In San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont | Difference |
|---|---|---|
| $50,000 | $58,947 | +$8,947 |
| $75,000 | $88,420 | +$13,420 |
| $100,000 | $117,893 | +$17,893 |
| $150,000 | $176,840 | +$26,840 |
$ in Austin-Round Rock-San Marcos = in San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont
Same BEA Regional Price Parity ratio as the table above (98.1 → 115.6), computed live from your number, nothing is sent anywhere.
Austin-Round Rock-San Marcos
98.1
Cost Index
San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont
115.6
Cost Index
Frequently Asked Questions
Is San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont more expensive than Austin-Round Rock-San Marcos?
San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont is 17.9% more expensive than Austin-Round Rock-San Marcos. The overall cost index is 115.6 vs 98.1 (national average = 100).
What salary in San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont equals $100K in Austin-Round Rock-San Marcos?
A $100,000 salary in Austin-Round Rock-San Marcos has the same purchasing power as $117,893 in San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont. This is based on the BEA Regional Price Parity indexes.
How do rents compare between Austin-Round Rock-San Marcos and San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont?
Rents in Austin-Round Rock-San Marcos are indexed at 120.4 while San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont is at 194.7 (national average = 100). San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont 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.