Overall
- Salisbury
- 95.6
Diff -7.5 RPP
Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington vs Salisbury
Cost of living comparison based on BEA Regional Price Parities. Salisbury is 7.2% less expensive than Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington.
7.2% less expensive
Salisbury, MD is 7.2% less expensive than Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington, TX on BEA Regional Price Parities (overall RPP 95.6 vs 103.1). A $100,000 salary in Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington buys about the same as $92,751 in Salisbury; the largest component gap is rents.
- Overall RPP 103.1 (Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington) vs 95.6 (Salisbury)
- $100k in Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington ≈ $92,751 purchasing power in Salisbury
- Rents drives the gap (-30.7 RPP points)
RPP parity plate
Pair TX:MD 103.1→95.6
TIER-NEAR · CROSS-STATE · SPLIT-BUDGET · BENCH-CROSS · PP-SHIFT
- TIER-NEAR Near tier
- CROSS-STATE TX × MD
- 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
- Salisbury
- 96.6
Diff -6.2 RPP
Services
- Salisbury
- 102.8
Diff +12.1 RPP
Rents
- Salisbury
- 87.2
Diff -30.7 RPP
| Category | Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington | Salisbury | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Overall | 103.1 | 95.6 | -7.5 |
| Goods | 102.8 | 96.6 | -6.2 |
| Services | 90.7 | 102.8 | +12.1 |
| Rents | 117.9 | 87.2 | -30.7 |
Visual Comparison
Overall
Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington 103.1
Salisbury 95.6
Goods
Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington 102.8
Salisbury 96.6
Services
Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington 90.7
Salisbury 102.8
Rents
Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington 117.9
Salisbury 87.2
Vertical line = national average (100)
What This Comparison Actually Tells You
Rents creates the largest separation: Salisbury is 30.7 points lower. But services move against the overall direction, so this is a split budget rather than a clean across-the-board winner.
Salisbury, MD is 7.2% less expensive than Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington, TX, a meaningful but not extreme shift. The move decision turns on which budget category creates the 7.5-point overall gap.
This route crosses the national benchmark: Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington is above 100 while Salisbury 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 $92,751 in Salisbury.
Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington
103.1
Cost Index
Salisbury
95.6
Cost Index
Salary Equivalents
What a salary in Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington would need to be in Salisbury for the same purchasing power:
| In Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington | In Salisbury | Difference |
|---|---|---|
| $50,000 | $46,375 | $-3,625 |
| $75,000 | $69,563 | $-5,437 |
| $100,000 | $92,751 | $-7,249 |
| $150,000 | $139,126 | $-10,874 |
$ in Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington = in Salisbury
Same BEA Regional Price Parity ratio as the table above (103.1 → 95.6), computed live from your number, nothing is sent anywhere.
How the Price Gap Changed
Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington and Salisbury share 17 published annual releases from 2008 through 2024. Their overall gap held broadly steady, moving from 7.5 to 7.5 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 18.8 points between the first and latest shared releases (6.7 to 12.1 points). This describes a relative price-index history, not a forecast or a household budget.
| Release Year | Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington RPP | Salisbury RPP | Relative Gap |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2008 | 101.4 | 93.8 | 7.5 points Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington higher |
| 2012 | 100.8 | 92.8 | 8.0 points Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington higher |
| 2016 | 98.0 | 91.4 | 6.7 points Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington higher |
| 2020 | 104.5 | 91.0 | 13.6 points Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington higher |
| 2024 | 103.1 | 95.6 | 7.5 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 Salisbury more expensive than Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington?
Salisbury is 7.2% less expensive than Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington. The overall cost index is 95.6 vs 103.1 (national average = 100).
What salary in Salisbury equals $100K in Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington?
A $100,000 salary in Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington has the same purchasing power as $92,751 in Salisbury. This is based on the BEA Regional Price Parity indexes.
How do rents compare between Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington and Salisbury?
Rents in Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington are indexed at 117.9 while Salisbury is at 87.2 (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.