Overall
Diff -2.2 RPP
Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington vs Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater
Cost of living comparison based on BEA Regional Price Parities. Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater is 2.1% less expensive than Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington.
2.1% less expensive
Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater, FL is 2.1% less expensive than Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington, TX on BEA Regional Price Parities (overall RPP 100.9 vs 103.1). A $100,000 salary in Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington buys about the same as $97,866 in Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater; the largest component gap is rents.
- Overall RPP 103.1 (Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington) vs 100.9 (Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater)
- $100k in Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington ≈ $97,866 purchasing power in Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater
- Rents drives the gap (+8.0 RPP points)
RPP parity plate
Pair TX:FL 103.1→100.9
TIER-NEAR · CROSS-STATE · SPLIT-BUDGET · BOTH-ABOVE · PP-PAR
- TIER-NEAR Near tier
- CROSS-STATE TX × FL
- 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.
Category Breakdown
Goods
Diff -7.4 RPP
Services
Diff -2.2 RPP
Rents
Diff +8.0 RPP
| Category | Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington | Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Overall | 103.1 | 100.9 | -2.2 |
| Goods | 102.8 | 95.5 | -7.4 |
| Services | 90.7 | 88.5 | -2.2 |
| Rents | 117.9 | 125.8 | +8.0 |
Visual Comparison
Overall
Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington 103.1
Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater 100.9
Goods
Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington 102.8
Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater 95.5
Services
Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington 90.7
Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater 88.5
Rents
Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington 117.9
Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater 125.8
Vertical line = national average (100)
What This Comparison Actually Tells You
Rents creates the largest separation: Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater is 8.0 points higher. But rents move against the overall direction, so this is a split budget rather than a clean across-the-board winner.
Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater, FL is 2.1% less expensive than Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington, TX, a meaningful but not extreme shift. The move decision turns on which budget category creates the 2.2-point overall gap.
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.
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 $97,866 in Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater.
Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington
103.1
Cost Index
Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater
100.9
Cost Index
Salary Equivalents
What a salary in Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington would need to be in Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater for the same purchasing power:
| In Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington | In Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater | Difference |
|---|---|---|
| $50,000 | $48,933 | $-1,067 |
| $75,000 | $73,399 | $-1,601 |
| $100,000 | $97,866 | $-2,134 |
| $150,000 | $146,799 | $-3,201 |
$ in Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington = in Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater
Same BEA Regional Price Parity ratio as the table above (103.1 → 100.9), computed live from your number, nothing is sent anywhere.
How the Price Gap Changed
Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington and Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater share 17 published annual releases from 2008 through 2024. Their overall gap widened, moving from 1.9 to 2.2 RPP points. Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington remained the higher-index metro in the latest release.
Goods changed the most within this pair: its gap moved 10.4 points between the first and latest shared releases (3.0 to 7.4 points). This describes a relative price-index history, not a forecast or a household budget.
| Release Year | Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington RPP | Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater RPP | Relative Gap |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2008 | 101.4 | 103.3 | 1.9 points Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater higher |
| 2012 | 100.8 | 100.3 | 0.5 points Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington higher |
| 2016 | 98.0 | 97.1 | 1.0 points Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington higher |
| 2020 | 104.5 | 101.3 | 3.2 points Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington higher |
| 2024 | 103.1 | 100.9 | 2.2 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 Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater more expensive than Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington?
Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater is 2.1% less expensive than Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington. The overall cost index is 100.9 vs 103.1 (national average = 100).
What salary in Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater equals $100K in Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington?
A $100,000 salary in Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington has the same purchasing power as $97,866 in Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater. This is based on the BEA Regional Price Parity indexes.
How do rents compare between Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington and Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater?
Rents in Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington are indexed at 117.9 while Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater is at 125.8 (national average = 100). Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater 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.