Overall
- Charleston
- 88.7
Diff -14.4 RPP
Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington vs Charleston
Cost of living comparison based on BEA Regional Price Parities. Charleston is 13.9% less expensive than Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington.
13.9% less expensive
Charleston, WV is 13.9% less expensive than Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington, TX on BEA Regional Price Parities (overall RPP 88.7 vs 103.1). A $100,000 salary in Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington buys about the same as $86,058 in Charleston; the largest component gap is rents.
- Overall RPP 103.1 (Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington) vs 88.7 (Charleston)
- $100k in Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington ≈ $86,058 purchasing power in Charleston
- Rents drives the gap (-66.5 RPP points)
RPP parity plate
Pair TX:WV 103.1→88.7
TIER-GAP · CROSS-STATE · SPLIT-BUDGET · BENCH-CROSS · PP-SHIFT
- TIER-GAP Clear tier gap
- CROSS-STATE TX × WV
- 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
- Charleston
- 96.3
Diff -6.6 RPP
Services
- Charleston
- 91.7
Diff +1.0 RPP
Rents
- Charleston
- 51.4
Diff -66.5 RPP
| Category | Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington | Charleston | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Overall | 103.1 | 88.7 | -14.4 |
| Goods | 102.8 | 96.3 | -6.6 |
| Services | 90.7 | 91.7 | +1.0 |
| Rents | 117.9 | 51.4 | -66.5 |
Visual Comparison
Overall
Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington 103.1
Charleston 88.7
Goods
Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington 102.8
Charleston 96.3
Services
Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington 90.7
Charleston 91.7
Rents
Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington 117.9
Charleston 51.4
Vertical line = national average (100)
What This Comparison Actually Tells You
Rents creates the largest separation: Charleston is 66.5 points lower. 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 and Charleston, WV sit in clearly different price tiers, separated by 14.4 RPP points. At this distance, treating the same nominal salary as equivalent would materially change purchasing power.
This route crosses the national benchmark: Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington is above 100 while Charleston 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 Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington corresponds to $86,058 in Charleston.
Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington
103.1
Cost Index
Charleston
88.7
Cost Index
Salary Equivalents
What a salary in Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington would need to be in Charleston for the same purchasing power:
| In Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington | In Charleston | Difference |
|---|---|---|
| $50,000 | $43,029 | $-6,971 |
| $75,000 | $64,543 | $-10,457 |
| $100,000 | $86,058 | $-13,942 |
| $150,000 | $129,087 | $-20,913 |
$ in Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington = in Charleston
Same BEA Regional Price Parity ratio as the table above (103.1 → 88.7), computed live from your number, nothing is sent anywhere.
How the Price Gap Changed
Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington and Charleston share 17 published annual releases from 2008 through 2024. Their overall gap widened, moving from 10.6 to 14.4 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 36.4 points between the first and latest shared releases (35.4 to 1.0 points). This describes a relative price-index history, not a forecast or a household budget.
| Release Year | Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington RPP | Charleston RPP | Relative Gap |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2008 | 101.4 | 90.7 | 10.6 points Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington higher |
| 2012 | 100.8 | 93.4 | 7.4 points Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington higher |
| 2016 | 98.0 | 92.7 | 5.3 points Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington higher |
| 2020 | 104.5 | 87.4 | 17.1 points Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington higher |
| 2024 | 103.1 | 88.7 | 14.4 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 more expensive than Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington?
Charleston is 13.9% less expensive than Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington. The overall cost index is 88.7 vs 103.1 (national average = 100).
What salary in Charleston equals $100K in Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington?
A $100,000 salary in Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington has the same purchasing power as $86,058 in Charleston. This is based on the BEA Regional Price Parity indexes.
How do rents compare between Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington and Charleston?
Rents in Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington are indexed at 117.9 while Charleston is at 51.4 (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.