Overall
- Bellingham
- 103.3
Diff -4.7 RPP
Bellingham vs Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands
Cost of living comparison based on BEA Regional Price Parities. Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands is 4.6% less expensive than Bellingham.
4.6% less expensive
Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands, TX is 4.6% less expensive than Bellingham, WA on BEA Regional Price Parities (overall RPP 98.6 vs 103.3). A $100,000 salary in Bellingham buys about the same as $95,447 in Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands; the largest component gap is rents.
- Overall RPP 103.3 (Bellingham) vs 98.6 (Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands)
- $100k in Bellingham ≈ $95,447 purchasing power in Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands
- Rents drives the gap (-8.4 RPP points)
RPP parity plate
Pair WA:TX 103.3→98.6
TIER-NEAR · CROSS-STATE · RENT-LED · BENCH-CROSS · PP-SHIFT
- TIER-NEAR Near tier
- CROSS-STATE WA × TX
- RENT-LED Rent-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.
Salary Equivalents
What a salary in Bellingham would need to be in Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands for the same purchasing power:
| In Bellingham | In Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands | Difference |
|---|---|---|
| $50,000 | $47,723 | $-2,277 |
| $75,000 | $71,585 | $-3,415 |
| $100,000 | $95,447 | $-4,553 |
| $150,000 | $143,170 | $-6,830 |
$ in Bellingham = in Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands
Same BEA Regional Price Parity ratio as the table above (103.3 → 98.6), computed live from your number, nothing is sent anywhere.
What This Comparison Actually Tells You
Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands, TX is 4.6% less expensive than Bellingham, WA, a meaningful but not extreme shift. The move decision turns on which budget category creates the 4.7-point overall gap.
This route crosses the national benchmark: Bellingham 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.
Rents leads the difference, with Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands 8.4 points lower than Bellingham. 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 housing-sensitive move, validate the rent gap first: HUD Fair Market Rent and the actual unit size can overturn what the blended index implies. On the BEA ratio alone, $100,000 in Bellingham corresponds to $95,447 in Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands.
Category Breakdown
Goods
- Bellingham
- 105.0
Diff -4.4 RPP
Services
- Bellingham
- 99.9
Diff -4.6 RPP
Rents
- Bellingham
- 112.9
Diff -8.4 RPP
| Category | Bellingham | Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Overall | 103.3 | 98.6 | -4.7 |
| Goods | 105.0 | 100.6 | -4.4 |
| Services | 99.9 | 95.3 | -4.6 |
| Rents | 112.9 | 104.5 | -8.4 |
Visual Comparison
Overall
Bellingham 103.3
Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands 98.6
Goods
Bellingham 105.0
Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands 100.6
Services
Bellingham 99.9
Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands 95.3
Rents
Bellingham 112.9
Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands 104.5
Vertical line = national average (100)
Bellingham
103.3
Cost Index
Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands
98.6
Cost Index
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands more expensive than Bellingham?
Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands is 4.6% less expensive than Bellingham. The overall cost index is 98.6 vs 103.3 (national average = 100).
What salary in Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands equals $100K in Bellingham?
A $100,000 salary in Bellingham has the same purchasing power as $95,447 in Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands. This is based on the BEA Regional Price Parity indexes.
How do rents compare between Bellingham and Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands?
Rents in Bellingham are indexed at 112.9 while Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands is at 104.5 (national average = 100). Bellingham 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.