Overall
- Rochester
- 97.0
Diff -6.1 RPP
Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington vs Rochester
Cost of living comparison based on BEA Regional Price Parities. Rochester is 5.9% less expensive than Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington.
5.9% less expensive
Rochester, NY is 5.9% less expensive than Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington, TX on BEA Regional Price Parities (overall RPP 97.0 vs 103.1). A $100,000 salary in Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington buys about the same as $94,126 in Rochester; the largest component gap is services.
- Overall RPP 103.1 (Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington) vs 97.0 (Rochester)
- $100k in Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington ≈ $94,126 purchasing power in Rochester
- Services drives the gap (+42.5 RPP points)
RPP parity plate
Pair TX:NY 103.1→97.0
TIER-NEAR · CROSS-STATE · SPLIT-BUDGET · BENCH-CROSS · PP-SHIFT
- TIER-NEAR Near tier
- CROSS-STATE TX × NY
- 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
- Rochester
- 99.7
Diff -3.1 RPP
Services
- Rochester
- 133.2
Diff +42.5 RPP
Rents
- Rochester
- 87.5
Diff -30.4 RPP
| Category | Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington | Rochester | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Overall | 103.1 | 97.0 | -6.1 |
| Goods | 102.8 | 99.7 | -3.1 |
| Services | 90.7 | 133.2 | +42.5 |
| Rents | 117.9 | 87.5 | -30.4 |
Visual Comparison
Overall
Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington 103.1
Rochester 97.0
Goods
Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington 102.8
Rochester 99.7
Services
Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington 90.7
Rochester 133.2
Rents
Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington 117.9
Rochester 87.5
Vertical line = national average (100)
What This Comparison Actually Tells You
Services creates the largest separation: Rochester is 42.5 points higher. But services move against the overall direction, so this is a split budget rather than a clean across-the-board winner.
Rochester, NY is 5.9% less expensive than Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington, TX, a meaningful but not extreme shift. The move decision turns on which budget category creates the 6.1-point overall gap.
This route crosses the national benchmark: Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington is above 100 while Rochester 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 service-heavy household, test childcare, health, and other locally supplied costs before relying on rent alone. The BEA ratio converts $100,000 in Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington to $94,126 in Rochester, but it is not a personal spending weight.
Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington
103.1
Cost Index
Rochester
97.0
Cost Index
Salary Equivalents
What a salary in Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington would need to be in Rochester for the same purchasing power:
| In Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington | In Rochester | Difference |
|---|---|---|
| $50,000 | $47,063 | $-2,937 |
| $75,000 | $70,595 | $-4,405 |
| $100,000 | $94,126 | $-5,874 |
| $150,000 | $141,190 | $-8,810 |
$ in Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington = in Rochester
Same BEA Regional Price Parity ratio as the table above (103.1 → 97.0), computed live from your number, nothing is sent anywhere.
How the Price Gap Changed
Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington and Rochester share 17 published annual releases from 2008 through 2024. Their overall gap widened, moving from 0.5 to 6.1 RPP points. Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington remained the higher-index metro in the latest release.
Rents changed the most within this pair: its gap moved 21.9 points between the first and latest shared releases (8.5 to 30.4 points). This describes a relative price-index history, not a forecast or a household budget.
| Release Year | Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington RPP | Rochester RPP | Relative Gap |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2008 | 101.4 | 100.8 | 0.5 points Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington higher |
| 2012 | 100.8 | 98.5 | 2.3 points Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington higher |
| 2016 | 98.0 | 99.8 | 1.8 points Rochester higher |
| 2020 | 104.5 | 97.3 | 7.2 points Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington higher |
| 2024 | 103.1 | 97.0 | 6.1 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 Rochester more expensive than Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington?
Rochester is 5.9% less expensive than Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington. The overall cost index is 97.0 vs 103.1 (national average = 100).
What salary in Rochester equals $100K in Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington?
A $100,000 salary in Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington has the same purchasing power as $94,126 in Rochester. This is based on the BEA Regional Price Parity indexes.
How do rents compare between Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington and Rochester?
Rents in Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington are indexed at 117.9 while Rochester is at 87.5 (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.