Overall
Diff +1.7 RPP
Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington vs Minneapolis-St. Paul-Bloomington
Cost of living comparison based on BEA Regional Price Parities. Minneapolis-St. Paul-Bloomington is 1.7% more expensive than Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington.
1.7% more expensive
Minneapolis-St. Paul-Bloomington, MN-WI is 1.7% more expensive than Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington, TX on BEA Regional Price Parities (overall RPP 104.8 vs 103.1). A $100,000 salary in Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington buys about the same as $101,680 in Minneapolis-St. Paul-Bloomington; the largest component gap is rents.
- Overall RPP 103.1 (Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington) vs 104.8 (Minneapolis-St. Paul-Bloomington)
- $100k in Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington ≈ $101,680 purchasing power in Minneapolis-St. Paul-Bloomington
- Rents drives the gap (-6.0 RPP points)
RPP parity plate
Pair TX:MN 103.1→104.8
PHOTO-FINISH · CROSS-STATE · SPLIT-BUDGET · BOTH-ABOVE · PP-PAR
- PHOTO-FINISH Photo finish
- CROSS-STATE TX × MN
- 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.
Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington
103.1
Cost Index
Minneapolis-St. Paul-Bloomington
104.8
Cost Index
What This Comparison Actually Tells You
Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington, TX and Minneapolis-St. Paul-Bloomington, MN-WI are a photo finish on overall price level, only 1.7 RPP points apart. A salary conversion is therefore a fine adjustment, not evidence of a fundamentally different cost regime.
Rents creates the largest separation: Minneapolis-St. Paul-Bloomington is 6.0 points lower. But rents move against the overall direction, so this is a split budget rather than a clean across-the-board winner.
Comparable population context is incomplete for this pair, so no market-scale explanation is inferred from the price indexes.
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.
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 $101,680 in Minneapolis-St. Paul-Bloomington.
Category Breakdown
Goods
Diff +0.2 RPP
Services
Diff +2.8 RPP
Rents
Diff -6.0 RPP
| Category | Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington | Minneapolis-St. Paul-Bloomington | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Overall | 103.1 | 104.8 | +1.7 |
| Goods | 102.8 | 103.1 | +0.2 |
| Services | 90.7 | 93.5 | +2.8 |
| Rents | 117.9 | 111.8 | -6.0 |
Visual Comparison
Overall
Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington 103.1
Minneapolis-St. Paul-Bloomington 104.8
Goods
Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington 102.8
Minneapolis-St. Paul-Bloomington 103.1
Services
Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington 90.7
Minneapolis-St. Paul-Bloomington 93.5
Rents
Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington 117.9
Minneapolis-St. Paul-Bloomington 111.8
Vertical line = national average (100)
How the Price Gap Changed
Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington and Minneapolis-St. Paul-Bloomington share 17 published annual releases from 2008 through 2024. Their overall gap held broadly steady, moving from 1.6 to 1.7 RPP points. Minneapolis-St. Paul-Bloomington remained the higher-index metro in the latest release.
Services changed the most within this pair: its gap moved 24.7 points between the first and latest shared releases (22.0 to 2.8 points). This describes a relative price-index history, not a forecast or a household budget.
| Release Year | Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington RPP | Minneapolis-St. Paul-Bloomington RPP | Relative Gap |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2008 | 101.4 | 102.9 | 1.6 points Minneapolis-St. Paul-Bloomington higher |
| 2012 | 100.8 | 101.2 | 0.5 points Minneapolis-St. Paul-Bloomington higher |
| 2016 | 98.0 | 102.3 | 4.3 points Minneapolis-St. Paul-Bloomington higher |
| 2020 | 104.5 | 102.4 | 2.1 points Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington higher |
| 2024 | 103.1 | 104.8 | 1.7 points Minneapolis-St. Paul-Bloomington 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.
Salary Equivalents
What a salary in Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington would need to be in Minneapolis-St. Paul-Bloomington for the same purchasing power:
| In Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington | In Minneapolis-St. Paul-Bloomington | Difference |
|---|---|---|
| $50,000 | $50,840 | +$840 |
| $75,000 | $76,260 | +$1,260 |
| $100,000 | $101,680 | +$1,680 |
| $150,000 | $152,520 | +$2,520 |
$ in Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington = in Minneapolis-St. Paul-Bloomington
Same BEA Regional Price Parity ratio as the table above (103.1 → 104.8), computed live from your number, nothing is sent anywhere.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Minneapolis-St. Paul-Bloomington more expensive than Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington?
Minneapolis-St. Paul-Bloomington is 1.7% more expensive than Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington. The overall cost index is 104.8 vs 103.1 (national average = 100).
What salary in Minneapolis-St. Paul-Bloomington equals $100K in Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington?
A $100,000 salary in Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington has the same purchasing power as $101,680 in Minneapolis-St. Paul-Bloomington. This is based on the BEA Regional Price Parity indexes.
How do rents compare between Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington and Minneapolis-St. Paul-Bloomington?
Rents in Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington are indexed at 117.9 while Minneapolis-St. Paul-Bloomington is at 111.8 (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.