Overall
- Lancaster
- 98.3
Diff -4.8 RPP
Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington vs Lancaster
Cost of living comparison based on BEA Regional Price Parities. Lancaster is 4.7% less expensive than Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington.
4.7% less expensive
Lancaster, PA is 4.7% less expensive than Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington, TX on BEA Regional Price Parities (overall RPP 98.3 vs 103.1). A $100,000 salary in Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington buys about the same as $95,312 in Lancaster; the largest component gap is rents.
- Overall RPP 103.1 (Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington) vs 98.3 (Lancaster)
- $100k in Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington ≈ $95,312 purchasing power in Lancaster
- Rents drives the gap (-24.1 RPP points)
RPP parity plate
Pair TX:PA 103.1→98.3
TIER-NEAR · CROSS-STATE · SPLIT-BUDGET · BENCH-CROSS · PP-SHIFT
- TIER-NEAR Near tier
- CROSS-STATE TX × PA
- 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
- Lancaster
- 100.7
Diff -2.2 RPP
Services
- Lancaster
- 107.3
Diff +16.6 RPP
Rents
- Lancaster
- 93.8
Diff -24.1 RPP
| Category | Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington | Lancaster | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Overall | 103.1 | 98.3 | -4.8 |
| Goods | 102.8 | 100.7 | -2.2 |
| Services | 90.7 | 107.3 | +16.6 |
| Rents | 117.9 | 93.8 | -24.1 |
Visual Comparison
Overall
Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington 103.1
Lancaster 98.3
Goods
Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington 102.8
Lancaster 100.7
Services
Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington 90.7
Lancaster 107.3
Rents
Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington 117.9
Lancaster 93.8
Vertical line = national average (100)
What This Comparison Actually Tells You
Rents creates the largest separation: Lancaster is 24.1 points lower. But services move against the overall direction, so this is a split budget rather than a clean across-the-board winner.
Lancaster, PA is 4.7% less expensive than Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington, TX, a meaningful but not extreme shift. The move decision turns on which budget category creates the 4.8-point overall gap.
This route crosses the national benchmark: Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington is above 100 while Lancaster 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 $95,312 in Lancaster.
Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington
103.1
Cost Index
Lancaster
98.3
Cost Index
Salary Equivalents
What a salary in Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington would need to be in Lancaster for the same purchasing power:
| In Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington | In Lancaster | Difference |
|---|---|---|
| $50,000 | $47,656 | $-2,344 |
| $75,000 | $71,484 | $-3,516 |
| $100,000 | $95,312 | $-4,688 |
| $150,000 | $142,968 | $-7,032 |
$ in Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington = in Lancaster
Same BEA Regional Price Parity ratio as the table above (103.1 → 98.3), computed live from your number, nothing is sent anywhere.
How the Price Gap Changed
Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington and Lancaster share 17 published annual releases from 2008 through 2024. Their overall gap widened, moving from 1.2 to 4.8 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 15.9 points between the first and latest shared releases (0.6 to 16.6 points). This describes a relative price-index history, not a forecast or a household budget.
| Release Year | Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington RPP | Lancaster RPP | Relative Gap |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2008 | 101.4 | 100.2 | 1.2 points Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington higher |
| 2012 | 100.8 | 97.8 | 3.0 points Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington higher |
| 2016 | 98.0 | 99.4 | 1.3 points Lancaster higher |
| 2020 | 104.5 | 97.9 | 6.6 points Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington higher |
| 2024 | 103.1 | 98.3 | 4.8 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 Lancaster more expensive than Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington?
Lancaster is 4.7% less expensive than Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington. The overall cost index is 98.3 vs 103.1 (national average = 100).
What salary in Lancaster equals $100K in Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington?
A $100,000 salary in Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington has the same purchasing power as $95,312 in Lancaster. This is based on the BEA Regional Price Parity indexes.
How do rents compare between Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington and Lancaster?
Rents in Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington are indexed at 117.9 while Lancaster is at 93.8 (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.