Overall
- Longview-Kelso
- 97.5
Diff -5.5 RPP
Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington vs Longview-Kelso
Cost of living comparison based on BEA Regional Price Parities. Longview-Kelso is 5.4% less expensive than Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington.
5.4% less expensive
Longview-Kelso, WA is 5.4% less expensive than Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington, TX on BEA Regional Price Parities (overall RPP 97.5 vs 103.1). A $100,000 salary in Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington buys about the same as $94,621 in Longview-Kelso; the largest component gap is rents.
- Overall RPP 103.1 (Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington) vs 97.5 (Longview-Kelso)
- $100k in Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington ≈ $94,621 purchasing power in Longview-Kelso
- Rents drives the gap (-35.3 RPP points)
RPP parity plate
Pair TX:WA 103.1→97.5
TIER-NEAR · CROSS-STATE · SPLIT-BUDGET · BENCH-CROSS · PP-SHIFT
- TIER-NEAR Near tier
- CROSS-STATE TX × WA
- 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
- Longview-Kelso
- 105.0
Diff +2.2 RPP
Services
- Longview-Kelso
- 98.5
Diff +7.7 RPP
Rents
- Longview-Kelso
- 82.5
Diff -35.3 RPP
| Category | Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington | Longview-Kelso | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Overall | 103.1 | 97.5 | -5.5 |
| Goods | 102.8 | 105.0 | +2.2 |
| Services | 90.7 | 98.5 | +7.7 |
| Rents | 117.9 | 82.5 | -35.3 |
Visual Comparison
Overall
Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington 103.1
Longview-Kelso 97.5
Goods
Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington 102.8
Longview-Kelso 105.0
Services
Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington 90.7
Longview-Kelso 98.5
Rents
Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington 117.9
Longview-Kelso 82.5
Vertical line = national average (100)
What This Comparison Actually Tells You
Rents creates the largest separation: Longview-Kelso is 35.3 points lower. But services and goods move against the overall direction, so this is a split budget rather than a clean across-the-board winner.
Longview-Kelso, WA is 5.4% less expensive than Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington, TX, a meaningful but not extreme shift. The move decision turns on which budget category creates the 5.5-point overall gap.
This route crosses the national benchmark: Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington is above 100 while Longview-Kelso 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 $94,621 in Longview-Kelso.
Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington
103.1
Cost Index
Longview-Kelso
97.5
Cost Index
Salary Equivalents
What a salary in Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington would need to be in Longview-Kelso for the same purchasing power:
| In Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington | In Longview-Kelso | Difference |
|---|---|---|
| $50,000 | $47,311 | $-2,689 |
| $75,000 | $70,966 | $-4,034 |
| $100,000 | $94,621 | $-5,379 |
| $150,000 | $141,932 | $-8,068 |
$ in Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington = in Longview-Kelso
Same BEA Regional Price Parity ratio as the table above (103.1 → 97.5), computed live from your number, nothing is sent anywhere.
How the Price Gap Changed
Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington and Longview-Kelso share 17 published annual releases from 2008 through 2024. Their overall gap widened, moving from 3.2 to 5.5 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 51.1 points between the first and latest shared releases (43.4 to 7.7 points). This describes a relative price-index history, not a forecast or a household budget.
| Release Year | Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington RPP | Longview-Kelso RPP | Relative Gap |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2008 | 101.4 | 98.1 | 3.2 points Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington higher |
| 2012 | 100.8 | 92.5 | 8.3 points Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington higher |
| 2016 | 98.0 | 96.8 | 1.2 points Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington higher |
| 2020 | 104.5 | 100.0 | 4.5 points Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington higher |
| 2024 | 103.1 | 97.5 | 5.5 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 Longview-Kelso more expensive than Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington?
Longview-Kelso is 5.4% less expensive than Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington. The overall cost index is 97.5 vs 103.1 (national average = 100).
What salary in Longview-Kelso equals $100K in Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington?
A $100,000 salary in Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington has the same purchasing power as $94,621 in Longview-Kelso. This is based on the BEA Regional Price Parity indexes.
How do rents compare between Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington and Longview-Kelso?
Rents in Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington are indexed at 117.9 while Longview-Kelso is at 82.5 (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.