Overall
Diff -2.1 RPP
Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington vs Charleston-North Charleston
Cost of living comparison based on BEA Regional Price Parities. Charleston-North Charleston is 2.1% less expensive than Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington.
2.1% less expensive
Charleston-North Charleston, SC is 2.1% less expensive than Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington, TX on BEA Regional Price Parities (overall RPP 101.0 vs 103.1). A $100,000 salary in Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington buys about the same as $97,936 in Charleston-North Charleston; the largest component gap is goods.
- Overall RPP 103.1 (Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington) vs 101.0 (Charleston-North Charleston)
- $100k in Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington ≈ $97,936 purchasing power in Charleston-North Charleston
- Goods drives the gap (-6.5 RPP points)
RPP parity plate
Pair TX:SC 103.1→101.0
TIER-NEAR · CROSS-STATE · SPLIT-BUDGET · BOTH-ABOVE · PP-PAR
- TIER-NEAR Near tier
- CROSS-STATE TX × SC
- SPLIT-BUDGET Split budget
- BOTH-ABOVE Both above 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.
Category Breakdown
Goods
Diff -6.5 RPP
Services
Diff -2.5 RPP
Rents
Diff +1.9 RPP
| Category | Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington | Charleston-North Charleston | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Overall | 103.1 | 101.0 | -2.1 |
| Goods | 102.8 | 96.3 | -6.5 |
| Services | 90.7 | 88.2 | -2.5 |
| Rents | 117.9 | 119.8 | +1.9 |
Visual Comparison
Overall
Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington 103.1
Charleston-North Charleston 101.0
Goods
Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington 102.8
Charleston-North Charleston 96.3
Services
Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington 90.7
Charleston-North Charleston 88.2
Rents
Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington 117.9
Charleston-North Charleston 119.8
Vertical line = national average (100)
What This Comparison Actually Tells You
Goods creates the largest separation: Charleston-North Charleston is 6.5 points lower. But rents move against the overall direction, so this is a split budget rather than a clean across-the-board winner.
Charleston-North Charleston, SC is 2.1% less expensive than Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington, TX, a meaningful but not extreme shift. The move decision turns on which budget category creates the 2.1-point overall gap.
Both metros exceed the U.S. benchmark of 100. The choice is between two national premiums, so local wages need to clear the higher baseline in either market.
Comparable population context is incomplete for this pair, so no market-scale explanation is inferred from the price indexes.
For a goods-led difference, remember that many tradable prices vary less by address than housing or labor-priced services. Use $97,936 in Charleston-North Charleston as the BEA equivalent of $100,000 in Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington, then replace the national basket with your own.
Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington
103.1
Cost Index
Charleston-North Charleston
101.0
Cost Index
Salary Equivalents
What a salary in Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington would need to be in Charleston-North Charleston for the same purchasing power:
| In Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington | In Charleston-North Charleston | Difference |
|---|---|---|
| $50,000 | $48,968 | $-1,032 |
| $75,000 | $73,452 | $-1,548 |
| $100,000 | $97,936 | $-2,064 |
| $150,000 | $146,904 | $-3,096 |
$ in Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington = in Charleston-North Charleston
Same BEA Regional Price Parity ratio as the table above (103.1 → 101.0), computed live from your number, nothing is sent anywhere.
How the Price Gap Changed
Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington and Charleston-North Charleston share 17 published annual releases from 2008 through 2024. Their overall gap narrowed, moving from 3.9 to 2.1 RPP points. Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington remained the higher-index metro in the latest release.
Services changed the most within this pair: its gap moved 19.3 points between the first and latest shared releases (21.8 to 2.5 points). This describes a relative price-index history, not a forecast or a household budget.
| Release Year | Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington RPP | Charleston-North Charleston RPP | Relative Gap |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2008 | 101.4 | 97.4 | 3.9 points Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington higher |
| 2012 | 100.8 | 100.3 | 0.4 points Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington higher |
| 2016 | 98.0 | 99.7 | 1.7 points Charleston-North Charleston higher |
| 2020 | 104.5 | 98.0 | 6.5 points Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington higher |
| 2024 | 103.1 | 101.0 | 2.1 points Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington 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.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Charleston-North Charleston more expensive than Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington?
Charleston-North Charleston is 2.1% less expensive than Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington. The overall cost index is 101.0 vs 103.1 (national average = 100).
What salary in Charleston-North Charleston equals $100K in Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington?
A $100,000 salary in Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington has the same purchasing power as $97,936 in Charleston-North Charleston. This is based on the BEA Regional Price Parity indexes.
How do rents compare between Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington and Charleston-North Charleston?
Rents in Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington are indexed at 117.9 while Charleston-North Charleston is at 119.8 (national average = 100). Charleston-North Charleston 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.