Overall
- Walla Walla
- 98.5
Diff -4.6 RPP
Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington vs Walla Walla
Cost of living comparison based on BEA Regional Price Parities. Walla Walla is 4.4% less expensive than Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington.
4.4% less expensive
Walla Walla, WA is 4.4% less expensive than Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington, TX on BEA Regional Price Parities (overall RPP 98.5 vs 103.1). A $100,000 salary in Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington buys about the same as $95,566 in Walla Walla; the largest component gap is rents.
- Overall RPP 103.1 (Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington) vs 98.5 (Walla Walla)
- $100k in Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington ≈ $95,566 purchasing power in Walla Walla
- Rents drives the gap (-31.3 RPP points)
RPP parity plate
Pair TX:WA 103.1→98.5
TIER-NEAR · CROSS-STATE · SPLIT-BUDGET · BENCH-CROSS · PP-SHIFT
- TIER-NEAR Near tier
- CROSS-STATE TX × WA
- 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
- Walla Walla
- 105.0
Diff +2.2 RPP
Services
- Walla Walla
- 94.3
Diff +3.6 RPP
Rents
- Walla Walla
- 86.6
Diff -31.3 RPP
| Category | Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington | Walla Walla | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Overall | 103.1 | 98.5 | -4.6 |
| Goods | 102.8 | 105.0 | +2.2 |
| Services | 90.7 | 94.3 | +3.6 |
| Rents | 117.9 | 86.6 | -31.3 |
Visual Comparison
Overall
Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington 103.1
Walla Walla 98.5
Goods
Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington 102.8
Walla Walla 105.0
Services
Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington 90.7
Walla Walla 94.3
Rents
Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington 117.9
Walla Walla 86.6
Vertical line = national average (100)
What This Comparison Actually Tells You
Rents creates the largest separation: Walla Walla is 31.3 points lower. But services and goods move against the overall direction, so this is a split budget rather than a clean across-the-board winner.
Walla Walla, WA is 4.4% less expensive than Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington, TX, a meaningful but not extreme shift. The move decision turns on which budget category creates the 4.6-point overall gap.
This route crosses the national benchmark: Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington is above 100 while Walla Walla 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 $95,566 in Walla Walla.
Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington
103.1
Cost Index
Walla Walla
98.5
Cost Index
Salary Equivalents
What a salary in Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington would need to be in Walla Walla for the same purchasing power:
| In Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington | In Walla Walla | Difference |
|---|---|---|
| $50,000 | $47,783 | $-2,217 |
| $75,000 | $71,675 | $-3,325 |
| $100,000 | $95,566 | $-4,434 |
| $150,000 | $143,349 | $-6,651 |
$ in Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington = in Walla Walla
Same BEA Regional Price Parity ratio as the table above (103.1 → 98.5), computed live from your number, nothing is sent anywhere.
How the Price Gap Changed
Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington and Walla Walla share 17 published annual releases from 2008 through 2024. Their overall gap narrowed, moving from 5.7 to 4.6 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 45.0 points between the first and latest shared releases (41.4 to 3.6 points). This describes a relative price-index history, not a forecast or a household budget.
| Release Year | Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington RPP | Walla Walla RPP | Relative Gap |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2008 | 101.4 | 95.6 | 5.7 points Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington higher |
| 2012 | 100.8 | 95.1 | 5.6 points Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington higher |
| 2016 | 98.0 | 96.3 | 1.7 points Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington higher |
| 2020 | 104.5 | 95.2 | 9.3 points Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington higher |
| 2024 | 103.1 | 98.5 | 4.6 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 Walla Walla more expensive than Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington?
Walla Walla is 4.4% less expensive than Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington. The overall cost index is 98.5 vs 103.1 (national average = 100).
What salary in Walla Walla equals $100K in Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington?
A $100,000 salary in Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington has the same purchasing power as $95,566 in Walla Walla. This is based on the BEA Regional Price Parity indexes.
How do rents compare between Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington and Walla Walla?
Rents in Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington are indexed at 117.9 while Walla Walla is at 86.6 (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.