Overall
- Boston-Cambridge-Newton
- 108.3
Diff -9.6 RPP
Boston-Cambridge-Newton vs Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands
Cost of living comparison based on BEA Regional Price Parities. Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands is 8.9% less expensive than Boston-Cambridge-Newton.
8.9% less expensive
Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands, TX is 8.9% less expensive than Boston-Cambridge-Newton, MA-NH on BEA Regional Price Parities (overall RPP 98.6 vs 108.3). A $100,000 salary in Boston-Cambridge-Newton buys about the same as $91,099 in Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands; the largest component gap is services.
- Overall RPP 108.3 (Boston-Cambridge-Newton) vs 98.6 (Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands)
- $100k in Boston-Cambridge-Newton ≈ $91,099 purchasing power in Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands
- Services drives the gap (-53.5 RPP points)
RPP parity plate
Pair MA:TX 108.3→98.6
TIER-GAP · CROSS-STATE · SPLIT-BUDGET · BENCH-CROSS · PP-SHIFT
- TIER-GAP Clear tier gap
- CROSS-STATE MA × 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 +1.0 RPP
Services
- Boston-Cambridge-Newton
- 148.8
Diff -53.5 RPP
Rents
- Boston-Cambridge-Newton
- 148.4
Diff -43.9 RPP
| Category | Boston-Cambridge-Newton | Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Overall | 108.3 | 98.6 | -9.6 |
| Goods | 99.7 | 100.6 | +1.0 |
| Services | 148.8 | 95.3 | -53.5 |
| Rents | 148.4 | 104.5 | -43.9 |
Visual Comparison
Overall
Boston-Cambridge-Newton 108.3
Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands 98.6
Goods
Boston-Cambridge-Newton 99.7
Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands 100.6
Services
Boston-Cambridge-Newton 148.8
Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands 95.3
Rents
Boston-Cambridge-Newton 148.4
Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands 104.5
Vertical line = national average (100)
What This Comparison Actually Tells You
Services creates the largest separation: Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands is 53.5 points lower. But goods move against the overall direction, so this is a split budget rather than a clean across-the-board winner.
Boston-Cambridge-Newton, MA-NH and Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands, TX sit in clearly different price tiers, separated by 9.6 RPP points. At this distance, treating the same nominal salary as equivalent would materially change purchasing power.
This route crosses the national benchmark: Boston-Cambridge-Newton 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.
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 Boston-Cambridge-Newton to $91,099 in Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands, but it is not a personal spending weight.
Boston-Cambridge-Newton
108.3
Cost Index
Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands
98.6
Cost Index
Salary Equivalents
What a salary in Boston-Cambridge-Newton would need to be in Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands for the same purchasing power:
| In Boston-Cambridge-Newton | In Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands | Difference |
|---|---|---|
| $50,000 | $45,549 | $-4,451 |
| $75,000 | $68,324 | $-6,676 |
| $100,000 | $91,099 | $-8,901 |
| $150,000 | $136,648 | $-13,352 |
$ in Boston-Cambridge-Newton = in Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands
Same BEA Regional Price Parity ratio as the table above (108.3 → 98.6), computed live from your number, nothing is sent anywhere.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands more expensive than Boston-Cambridge-Newton?
Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands is 8.9% less expensive than Boston-Cambridge-Newton. The overall cost index is 98.6 vs 108.3 (national average = 100).
What salary in Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands equals $100K in Boston-Cambridge-Newton?
A $100,000 salary in Boston-Cambridge-Newton has the same purchasing power as $91,099 in Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands. This is based on the BEA Regional Price Parity indexes.
How do rents compare between Boston-Cambridge-Newton and Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands?
Rents in Boston-Cambridge-Newton are indexed at 148.4 while Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands is at 104.5 (national average = 100). Boston-Cambridge-Newton 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.