Overall
- Cincinnati
- 95.4
Diff +7.7 RPP
Cincinnati vs Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington
Cost of living comparison based on BEA Regional Price Parities. Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington is 8.1% more expensive than Cincinnati.
8.1% more expensive
Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington, TX is 8.1% more expensive than Cincinnati, OH-KY-IN on BEA Regional Price Parities (overall RPP 103.1 vs 95.4). A $100,000 salary in Cincinnati buys about the same as $108,095 in Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington; the largest component gap is rents.
- Overall RPP 95.4 (Cincinnati) vs 103.1 (Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington)
- $100k in Cincinnati ≈ $108,095 purchasing power in Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington
- Rents drives the gap (+30.3 RPP points)
RPP parity plate
Pair OH:TX 95.4→103.1
TIER-NEAR · CROSS-STATE · SPLIT-BUDGET · BENCH-CROSS · PP-SHIFT
- TIER-NEAR Near tier
- CROSS-STATE OH × 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
- Cincinnati
- 93.8
Diff +9.1 RPP
Services
- Cincinnati
- 91.0
Diff -0.2 RPP
Rents
- Cincinnati
- 87.6
Diff +30.3 RPP
| Category | Cincinnati | Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Overall | 95.4 | 103.1 | +7.7 |
| Goods | 93.8 | 102.8 | +9.1 |
| Services | 91.0 | 90.7 | -0.2 |
| Rents | 87.6 | 117.9 | +30.3 |
Visual Comparison
Overall
Cincinnati 95.4
Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington 103.1
Goods
Cincinnati 93.8
Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington 102.8
Services
Cincinnati 91.0
Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington 90.7
Rents
Cincinnati 87.6
Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington 117.9
Vertical line = national average (100)
What This Comparison Actually Tells You
Rents creates the largest separation: Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington is 30.3 points higher. But services move against the overall direction, so this is a split budget rather than a clean across-the-board winner.
Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington, TX is 8.1% more expensive than Cincinnati, OH-KY-IN, a meaningful but not extreme shift. The move decision turns on which budget category creates the 7.7-point overall gap.
This route crosses the national benchmark: Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington is above 100 while Cincinnati 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 Cincinnati corresponds to $108,095 in Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington.
Cincinnati
95.4
Cost Index
Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington
103.1
Cost Index
Salary Equivalents
What a salary in Cincinnati would need to be in Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington for the same purchasing power:
| In Cincinnati | In Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington | Difference |
|---|---|---|
| $50,000 | $54,047 | +$4,047 |
| $75,000 | $81,071 | +$6,071 |
| $100,000 | $108,095 | +$8,095 |
| $150,000 | $162,142 | +$12,142 |
$ in Cincinnati = in Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington
Same BEA Regional Price Parity ratio as the table above (95.4 → 103.1), computed live from your number, nothing is sent anywhere.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington more expensive than Cincinnati?
Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington is 8.1% more expensive than Cincinnati. The overall cost index is 103.1 vs 95.4 (national average = 100).
What salary in Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington equals $100K in Cincinnati?
A $100,000 salary in Cincinnati has the same purchasing power as $108,095 in Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington. This is based on the BEA Regional Price Parity indexes.
How do rents compare between Cincinnati and Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington?
Rents in Cincinnati are indexed at 87.6 while Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington is at 117.9 (national average = 100). Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington 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.