Overall
Diff -5.7 RPP
Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington vs Charlotte-Concord-Gastonia
Cost of living comparison based on BEA Regional Price Parities. Charlotte-Concord-Gastonia is 5.6% less expensive than Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington.
5.6% less expensive
Charlotte-Concord-Gastonia, NC-SC is 5.6% less expensive than Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington, TX on BEA Regional Price Parities (overall RPP 97.3 vs 103.1). A $100,000 salary in Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington buys about the same as $94,430 in Charlotte-Concord-Gastonia; the largest component gap is rents.
- Overall RPP 103.1 (Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington) vs 97.3 (Charlotte-Concord-Gastonia)
- $100k in Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington ≈ $94,430 purchasing power in Charlotte-Concord-Gastonia
- Rents drives the gap (-20.2 RPP points)
RPP parity plate
Pair TX:NC 103.1→97.3
TIER-NEAR · CROSS-STATE · RENT-LED · BENCH-CROSS · PP-SHIFT
- TIER-NEAR Near tier
- CROSS-STATE TX × NC
- RENT-LED Rent-led gap
- 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.
Salary Equivalents
What a salary in Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington would need to be in Charlotte-Concord-Gastonia for the same purchasing power:
| In Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington | In Charlotte-Concord-Gastonia | Difference |
|---|---|---|
| $50,000 | $47,215 | $-2,785 |
| $75,000 | $70,823 | $-4,177 |
| $100,000 | $94,430 | $-5,570 |
| $150,000 | $141,645 | $-8,355 |
$ in Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington = in Charlotte-Concord-Gastonia
Same BEA Regional Price Parity ratio as the table above (103.1 → 97.3), computed live from your number, nothing is sent anywhere.
What This Comparison Actually Tells You
Charlotte-Concord-Gastonia, NC-SC is 5.6% less expensive than Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington, TX, a meaningful but not extreme shift. The move decision turns on which budget category creates the 5.7-point overall gap.
This route crosses the national benchmark: Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington is above 100 while Charlotte-Concord-Gastonia is below it. That makes the move a change of price regime, not merely a rank swap.
Rents leads the difference, with Charlotte-Concord-Gastonia 20.2 points lower than Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington. Goods, services, and rents all point in the same broad direction, making the headline comparison more transferable across household types.
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 $94,430 in Charlotte-Concord-Gastonia.
Category Breakdown
Goods
Diff -6.3 RPP
Services
Diff -1.5 RPP
Rents
Diff -20.2 RPP
| Category | Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington | Charlotte-Concord-Gastonia | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Overall | 103.1 | 97.3 | -5.7 |
| Goods | 102.8 | 96.6 | -6.3 |
| Services | 90.7 | 89.2 | -1.5 |
| Rents | 117.9 | 97.6 | -20.2 |
Visual Comparison
Overall
Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington 103.1
Charlotte-Concord-Gastonia 97.3
Goods
Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington 102.8
Charlotte-Concord-Gastonia 96.6
Services
Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington 90.7
Charlotte-Concord-Gastonia 89.2
Rents
Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington 117.9
Charlotte-Concord-Gastonia 97.6
Vertical line = national average (100)
Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington
103.1
Cost Index
Charlotte-Concord-Gastonia
97.3
Cost Index
How the Price Gap Changed
Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington and Charlotte-Concord-Gastonia share 17 published annual releases from 2008 through 2024. Their overall gap held broadly steady, moving from 6.1 to 5.7 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 19.6 points between the first and latest shared releases (21.1 to 1.5 points). This describes a relative price-index history, not a forecast or a household budget.
| Release Year | Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington RPP | Charlotte-Concord-Gastonia RPP | Relative Gap |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2008 | 101.4 | 95.3 | 6.1 points Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington higher |
| 2012 | 100.8 | 96.1 | 4.6 points Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington higher |
| 2016 | 98.0 | 96.9 | 1.1 points Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington higher |
| 2020 | 104.5 | 94.2 | 10.4 points Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington higher |
| 2024 | 103.1 | 97.3 | 5.7 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 Charlotte-Concord-Gastonia more expensive than Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington?
Charlotte-Concord-Gastonia is 5.6% less expensive than Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington. The overall cost index is 97.3 vs 103.1 (national average = 100).
What salary in Charlotte-Concord-Gastonia equals $100K in Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington?
A $100,000 salary in Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington has the same purchasing power as $94,430 in Charlotte-Concord-Gastonia. This is based on the BEA Regional Price Parity indexes.
How do rents compare between Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington and Charlotte-Concord-Gastonia?
Rents in Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington are indexed at 117.9 while Charlotte-Concord-Gastonia is at 97.6 (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.