Overall
- Bowling Green
- 90.2
- Beaumont-Port Arthur
- 90.0
Diff -0.1 RPP
Bowling Green vs Beaumont-Port Arthur
Cost of living comparison based on BEA Regional Price Parities. Beaumont-Port Arthur is 0.1% less expensive than Bowling Green.
0.1% less expensive
Beaumont-Port Arthur, TX is 0.1% less expensive than Bowling Green, KY on BEA Regional Price Parities (overall RPP 90.0 vs 90.2). A $100,000 salary in Bowling Green buys about the same as $99,853 in Beaumont-Port Arthur; the largest component gap is services.
- Overall RPP 90.2 (Bowling Green) vs 90.0 (Beaumont-Port Arthur)
- $100k in Bowling Green ≈ $99,853 purchasing power in Beaumont-Port Arthur
- Services drives the gap (+7.9 RPP points)
RPP parity plate
Pair KY:TX 90.2→90.0
PHOTO-FINISH · CROSS-STATE · SPLIT-BUDGET · BOTH-BELOW · PP-PAR
- PHOTO-FINISH Photo finish
- CROSS-STATE KY × TX
- SPLIT-BUDGET Split budget
- BOTH-BELOW Both below 100
- PP-PAR PP near-par
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.
Bowling Green
90.2
Cost Index
Beaumont-Port Arthur
90.0
Cost Index
What This Comparison Actually Tells You
Bowling Green, KY and Beaumont-Port Arthur, TX are a photo finish on overall price level, only 0.1 RPP points apart. A salary conversion is therefore a fine adjustment, not evidence of a fundamentally different cost regime.
Services creates the largest separation: Beaumont-Port Arthur is 7.9 points higher. But services and rents move against the overall direction, so this is a split budget rather than a clean across-the-board winner.
Comparable population context is incomplete for this pair, so no market-scale explanation is inferred from the price indexes.
Both metros remain below the U.S. benchmark of 100. This comparison chooses between two below-average price levels; “more expensive” here does not mean nationally expensive.
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 Bowling Green to $99,853 in Beaumont-Port Arthur, but it is not a personal spending weight.
Category Breakdown
Goods
- Bowling Green
- 96.2
- Beaumont-Port Arthur
- 93.8
Diff -2.5 RPP
Services
- Bowling Green
- 75.2
- Beaumont-Port Arthur
- 83.1
Diff +7.9 RPP
Rents
- Bowling Green
- 63.4
- Beaumont-Port Arthur
- 70.9
Diff +7.5 RPP
| Category | Bowling Green | Beaumont-Port Arthur | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Overall | 90.2 | 90.0 | -0.1 |
| Goods | 96.2 | 93.8 | -2.5 |
| Services | 75.2 | 83.1 | +7.9 |
| Rents | 63.4 | 70.9 | +7.5 |
Visual Comparison
Overall
Bowling Green 90.2
Beaumont-Port Arthur 90.0
Goods
Bowling Green 96.2
Beaumont-Port Arthur 93.8
Services
Bowling Green 75.2
Beaumont-Port Arthur 83.1
Rents
Bowling Green 63.4
Beaumont-Port Arthur 70.9
Vertical line = national average (100)
How the Price Gap Changed
Bowling Green and Beaumont-Port Arthur share 17 published annual releases from 2008 through 2024. Their overall gap narrowed, moving from 6.8 to 0.1 RPP points. Bowling Green remained the higher-index metro in the latest release.
Services changed the most within this pair: its gap moved 22.9 points between the first and latest shared releases (30.8 to 7.9 points). This describes a relative price-index history, not a forecast or a household budget.
| Release Year | Bowling Green RPP | Beaumont-Port Arthur RPP | Relative Gap |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2008 | 86.6 | 93.4 | 6.8 points Beaumont-Port Arthur higher |
| 2012 | 88.7 | 93.3 | 4.7 points Beaumont-Port Arthur higher |
| 2016 | 87.3 | 94.8 | 7.4 points Beaumont-Port Arthur higher |
| 2020 | 89.4 | 90.1 | 0.7 points Beaumont-Port Arthur higher |
| 2024 | 90.2 | 90.0 | 0.1 points Bowling Green 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.
Salary Equivalents
What a salary in Bowling Green would need to be in Beaumont-Port Arthur for the same purchasing power:
| In Bowling Green | In Beaumont-Port Arthur | Difference |
|---|---|---|
| $50,000 | $49,926 | $-74 |
| $75,000 | $74,889 | $-111 |
| $100,000 | $99,853 | $-147 |
| $150,000 | $149,779 | $-221 |
$ in Bowling Green = in Beaumont-Port Arthur
Same BEA Regional Price Parity ratio as the table above (90.2 → 90.0), computed live from your number, nothing is sent anywhere.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Beaumont-Port Arthur more expensive than Bowling Green?
Beaumont-Port Arthur is 0.1% less expensive than Bowling Green. The overall cost index is 90.0 vs 90.2 (national average = 100).
What salary in Beaumont-Port Arthur equals $100K in Bowling Green?
A $100,000 salary in Bowling Green has the same purchasing power as $99,853 in Beaumont-Port Arthur. This is based on the BEA Regional Price Parity indexes.
How do rents compare between Bowling Green and Beaumont-Port Arthur?
Rents in Bowling Green are indexed at 63.4 while Beaumont-Port Arthur is at 70.9 (national average = 100). Beaumont-Port Arthur 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.