Overall
- Santa Fe
- 98.8
Diff -4.3 RPP
Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington vs Santa Fe
Cost of living comparison based on BEA Regional Price Parities. Santa Fe is 4.2% less expensive than Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington.
4.2% less expensive
Santa Fe, NM is 4.2% less expensive than Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington, TX on BEA Regional Price Parities (overall RPP 98.8 vs 103.1). A $100,000 salary in Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington buys about the same as $95,807 in Santa Fe; the largest component gap is services.
- Overall RPP 103.1 (Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington) vs 98.8 (Santa Fe)
- $100k in Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington ≈ $95,807 purchasing power in Santa Fe
- Services drives the gap (-14.0 RPP points)
RPP parity plate
Pair TX:NM 103.1→98.8
TIER-NEAR · CROSS-STATE · SERVICES-LED · BENCH-CROSS · PP-SHIFT
- TIER-NEAR Near tier
- CROSS-STATE TX × NM
- SERVICES-LED Services-led gap
- 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.
What This Comparison Actually Tells You
Santa Fe, NM is 4.2% less expensive than Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington, TX, a meaningful but not extreme shift. The move decision turns on which budget category creates the 4.3-point overall gap.
This route crosses the national benchmark: Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington is above 100 while Santa Fe is below it. That makes the move a change of price regime, not merely a rank swap.
Services leads the difference, with Santa Fe 14.0 points lower than Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington. Goods, services, and rents all point in the same broad direction, making the headline comparison more transferable across household types.
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 $95,807 in Santa Fe, but it is not a personal spending weight.
How the Price Gap Changed
Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington and Santa Fe share 17 published annual releases from 2008 through 2024. Their overall gap held broadly steady, moving from 3.4 to 4.3 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 9.7 points between the first and latest shared releases (0.2 to 9.9 points). This describes a relative price-index history, not a forecast or a household budget.
| Release Year | Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington RPP | Santa Fe RPP | Relative Gap |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2008 | 101.4 | 98.0 | 3.4 points Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington higher |
| 2012 | 100.8 | 102.1 | 1.3 points Santa Fe higher |
| 2016 | 98.0 | 98.4 | 0.4 points Santa Fe higher |
| 2020 | 104.5 | 96.6 | 7.9 points Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington higher |
| 2024 | 103.1 | 98.8 | 4.3 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.
Category Breakdown
Goods
- Santa Fe
- 96.1
Diff -6.7 RPP
Services
- Santa Fe
- 76.7
Diff -14.0 RPP
Rents
- Santa Fe
- 108.0
Diff -9.9 RPP
| Category | Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington | Santa Fe | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Overall | 103.1 | 98.8 | -4.3 |
| Goods | 102.8 | 96.1 | -6.7 |
| Services | 90.7 | 76.7 | -14.0 |
| Rents | 117.9 | 108.0 | -9.9 |
Visual Comparison
Overall
Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington 103.1
Santa Fe 98.8
Goods
Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington 102.8
Santa Fe 96.1
Services
Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington 90.7
Santa Fe 76.7
Rents
Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington 117.9
Santa Fe 108.0
Vertical line = national average (100)
Salary Equivalents
What a salary in Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington would need to be in Santa Fe for the same purchasing power:
| In Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington | In Santa Fe | Difference |
|---|---|---|
| $50,000 | $47,903 | $-2,097 |
| $75,000 | $71,855 | $-3,145 |
| $100,000 | $95,807 | $-4,193 |
| $150,000 | $143,710 | $-6,290 |
$ in Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington = in Santa Fe
Same BEA Regional Price Parity ratio as the table above (103.1 → 98.8), computed live from your number, nothing is sent anywhere.
Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington
103.1
Cost Index
Santa Fe
98.8
Cost Index
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Santa Fe more expensive than Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington?
Santa Fe is 4.2% less expensive than Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington. The overall cost index is 98.8 vs 103.1 (national average = 100).
What salary in Santa Fe equals $100K in Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington?
A $100,000 salary in Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington has the same purchasing power as $95,807 in Santa Fe. This is based on the BEA Regional Price Parity indexes.
How do rents compare between Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington and Santa Fe?
Rents in Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington are indexed at 117.9 while Santa Fe is at 108.0 (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.