Overall
Diff -5.9 RPP
Baltimore-Columbia-Towson vs Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands
Cost of living comparison based on BEA Regional Price Parities. Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands is 5.6% less expensive than Baltimore-Columbia-Towson.
5.6% less expensive
Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands, TX is 5.6% less expensive than Baltimore-Columbia-Towson, MD on BEA Regional Price Parities (overall RPP 98.6 vs 104.5). A $100,000 salary in Baltimore-Columbia-Towson buys about the same as $94,394 in Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands; the largest component gap is services.
- Overall RPP 104.5 (Baltimore-Columbia-Towson) vs 98.6 (Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands)
- $100k in Baltimore-Columbia-Towson ≈ $94,394 purchasing power in Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands
- Services drives the gap (-14.9 RPP points)
RPP parity plate
Pair MD:TX 104.5→98.6
TIER-NEAR · CROSS-STATE · SERVICES-LED · BENCH-CROSS · PP-SHIFT
- TIER-NEAR Near tier
- CROSS-STATE MD × TX
- SERVICES-LED Services-led gap
- 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.
What This Comparison Actually Tells You
Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands, TX is 5.6% less expensive than Baltimore-Columbia-Towson, MD, a meaningful but not extreme shift. The move decision turns on which budget category creates the 5.9-point overall gap.
This route crosses the national benchmark: Baltimore-Columbia-Towson is above 100 while Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands is below it. That makes the move a change of price regime, not merely a rank swap.
Services leads the difference, with Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands 14.9 points lower than Baltimore-Columbia-Towson. 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 Baltimore-Columbia-Towson to $94,394 in Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands, but it is not a personal spending weight.
How the Price Gap Changed
Baltimore-Columbia-Towson and Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands share 17 published annual releases from 2008 through 2024. Their overall gap narrowed, moving from 6.9 to 5.9 RPP points. Baltimore-Columbia-Towson remained the higher-index metro in the latest release.
Rents changed the most within this pair: its gap moved 12.4 points between the first and latest shared releases (26.1 to 13.7 points). This describes a relative price-index history, not a forecast or a household budget.
| Release Year | Baltimore-Columbia-Towson RPP | Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands RPP | Relative Gap |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2008 | 106.4 | 99.4 | 6.9 points Baltimore-Columbia-Towson higher |
| 2012 | 106.5 | 100.0 | 6.4 points Baltimore-Columbia-Towson higher |
| 2016 | 106.1 | 102.4 | 3.7 points Baltimore-Columbia-Towson higher |
| 2020 | 105.4 | 100.0 | 5.4 points Baltimore-Columbia-Towson higher |
| 2024 | 104.5 | 98.6 | 5.9 points Baltimore-Columbia-Towson 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 -1.7 RPP
Services
Diff -14.9 RPP
Rents
Diff -13.7 RPP
| Category | Baltimore-Columbia-Towson | Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Overall | 104.5 | 98.6 | -5.9 |
| Goods | 102.4 | 100.6 | -1.7 |
| Services | 110.2 | 95.3 | -14.9 |
| Rents | 118.2 | 104.5 | -13.7 |
Visual Comparison
Overall
Baltimore-Columbia-Towson 104.5
Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands 98.6
Goods
Baltimore-Columbia-Towson 102.4
Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands 100.6
Services
Baltimore-Columbia-Towson 110.2
Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands 95.3
Rents
Baltimore-Columbia-Towson 118.2
Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands 104.5
Vertical line = national average (100)
Salary Equivalents
What a salary in Baltimore-Columbia-Towson would need to be in Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands for the same purchasing power:
| In Baltimore-Columbia-Towson | In Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands | Difference |
|---|---|---|
| $50,000 | $47,197 | $-2,803 |
| $75,000 | $70,795 | $-4,205 |
| $100,000 | $94,394 | $-5,606 |
| $150,000 | $141,590 | $-8,410 |
$ in Baltimore-Columbia-Towson = in Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands
Same BEA Regional Price Parity ratio as the table above (104.5 → 98.6), computed live from your number, nothing is sent anywhere.
Baltimore-Columbia-Towson
104.5
Cost Index
Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands
98.6
Cost Index
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands more expensive than Baltimore-Columbia-Towson?
Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands is 5.6% less expensive than Baltimore-Columbia-Towson. The overall cost index is 98.6 vs 104.5 (national average = 100).
What salary in Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands equals $100K in Baltimore-Columbia-Towson?
A $100,000 salary in Baltimore-Columbia-Towson has the same purchasing power as $94,394 in Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands. This is based on the BEA Regional Price Parity indexes.
How do rents compare between Baltimore-Columbia-Towson and Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands?
Rents in Baltimore-Columbia-Towson are indexed at 118.2 while Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands is at 104.5 (national average = 100). Baltimore-Columbia-Towson 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.