Overall
- Cape Coral-Fort Myers
- 102.3
Diff -3.7 RPP
Cape Coral-Fort Myers vs Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands
Cost of living comparison based on BEA Regional Price Parities. Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands is 3.6% less expensive than Cape Coral-Fort Myers.
3.6% less expensive
Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands, TX is 3.6% less expensive than Cape Coral-Fort Myers, FL on BEA Regional Price Parities (overall RPP 98.6 vs 102.3). A $100,000 salary in Cape Coral-Fort Myers buys about the same as $96,365 in Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands; the largest component gap is rents.
- Overall RPP 102.3 (Cape Coral-Fort Myers) vs 98.6 (Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands)
- $100k in Cape Coral-Fort Myers ≈ $96,365 purchasing power in Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands
- Rents drives the gap (-20.6 RPP points)
RPP parity plate
Pair FL:TX 102.3→98.6
TIER-NEAR · CROSS-STATE · SPLIT-BUDGET · BENCH-CROSS · PP-SHIFT
- TIER-NEAR Near tier
- CROSS-STATE FL × 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 +4.4 RPP
Services
Diff +8.4 RPP
Rents
- Cape Coral-Fort Myers
- 125.1
Diff -20.6 RPP
| Category | Cape Coral-Fort Myers | Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Overall | 102.3 | 98.6 | -3.7 |
| Goods | 96.2 | 100.6 | +4.4 |
| Services | 86.9 | 95.3 | +8.4 |
| Rents | 125.1 | 104.5 | -20.6 |
Visual Comparison
Overall
Cape Coral-Fort Myers 102.3
Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands 98.6
Goods
Cape Coral-Fort Myers 96.2
Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands 100.6
Services
Cape Coral-Fort Myers 86.9
Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands 95.3
Rents
Cape Coral-Fort Myers 125.1
Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands 104.5
Vertical line = national average (100)
What This Comparison Actually Tells You
Rents creates the largest separation: Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands is 20.6 points lower. But services and goods move against the overall direction, so this is a split budget rather than a clean across-the-board winner.
Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands, TX is 3.6% less expensive than Cape Coral-Fort Myers, FL, a meaningful but not extreme shift. The move decision turns on which budget category creates the 3.7-point overall gap.
This route crosses the national benchmark: Cape Coral-Fort Myers 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 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 Cape Coral-Fort Myers corresponds to $96,365 in Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands.
Cape Coral-Fort Myers
102.3
Cost Index
Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands
98.6
Cost Index
Salary Equivalents
What a salary in Cape Coral-Fort Myers would need to be in Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands for the same purchasing power:
| In Cape Coral-Fort Myers | In Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands | Difference |
|---|---|---|
| $50,000 | $48,183 | $-1,817 |
| $75,000 | $72,274 | $-2,726 |
| $100,000 | $96,365 | $-3,635 |
| $150,000 | $144,548 | $-5,452 |
$ in Cape Coral-Fort Myers = in Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands
Same BEA Regional Price Parity ratio as the table above (102.3 → 98.6), computed live from your number, nothing is sent anywhere.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands more expensive than Cape Coral-Fort Myers?
Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands is 3.6% less expensive than Cape Coral-Fort Myers. The overall cost index is 98.6 vs 102.3 (national average = 100).
What salary in Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands equals $100K in Cape Coral-Fort Myers?
A $100,000 salary in Cape Coral-Fort Myers has the same purchasing power as $96,365 in Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands. This is based on the BEA Regional Price Parity indexes.
How do rents compare between Cape Coral-Fort Myers and Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands?
Rents in Cape Coral-Fort Myers are indexed at 125.1 while Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands is at 104.5 (national average = 100). Cape Coral-Fort Myers 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.