Overall
- Waterbury-Shelton
- 99.8
Diff -3.3 RPP
Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington vs Waterbury-Shelton
Cost of living comparison based on BEA Regional Price Parities. Waterbury-Shelton is 3.2% less expensive than Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington.
3.2% less expensive
Waterbury-Shelton, CT is 3.2% less expensive than Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington, TX on BEA Regional Price Parities (overall RPP 99.8 vs 103.1). A $100,000 salary in Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington buys about the same as $96,787 in Waterbury-Shelton; the largest component gap is services.
- Overall RPP 103.1 (Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington) vs 99.8 (Waterbury-Shelton)
- $100k in Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington ≈ $96,787 purchasing power in Waterbury-Shelton
- Services drives the gap (+56.9 RPP points)
RPP parity plate
Pair TX:CT 103.1→99.8
TIER-NEAR · CROSS-STATE · SPLIT-BUDGET · BENCH-CROSS · PP-SHIFT
- TIER-NEAR Near tier
- CROSS-STATE TX × CT
- 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
- Waterbury-Shelton
- 97.3
Diff -5.5 RPP
Services
- Waterbury-Shelton
- 147.6
Diff +56.9 RPP
Rents
- Waterbury-Shelton
- 89.1
Diff -28.8 RPP
| Category | Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington | Waterbury-Shelton | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Overall | 103.1 | 99.8 | -3.3 |
| Goods | 102.8 | 97.3 | -5.5 |
| Services | 90.7 | 147.6 | +56.9 |
| Rents | 117.9 | 89.1 | -28.8 |
Visual Comparison
Overall
Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington 103.1
Waterbury-Shelton 99.8
Goods
Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington 102.8
Waterbury-Shelton 97.3
Services
Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington 90.7
Waterbury-Shelton 147.6
Rents
Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington 117.9
Waterbury-Shelton 89.1
Vertical line = national average (100)
What This Comparison Actually Tells You
Services creates the largest separation: Waterbury-Shelton is 56.9 points higher. But services move against the overall direction, so this is a split budget rather than a clean across-the-board winner.
Waterbury-Shelton, CT is 3.2% less expensive than Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington, TX, a meaningful but not extreme shift. The move decision turns on which budget category creates the 3.3-point overall gap.
This route crosses the national benchmark: Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington is above 100 while Waterbury-Shelton 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 $96,787 in Waterbury-Shelton, but it is not a personal spending weight.
Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington
103.1
Cost Index
Waterbury-Shelton
99.8
Cost Index
Salary Equivalents
What a salary in Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington would need to be in Waterbury-Shelton for the same purchasing power:
| In Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington | In Waterbury-Shelton | Difference |
|---|---|---|
| $50,000 | $48,394 | $-1,606 |
| $75,000 | $72,590 | $-2,410 |
| $100,000 | $96,787 | $-3,213 |
| $150,000 | $145,181 | $-4,819 |
$ in Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington = in Waterbury-Shelton
Same BEA Regional Price Parity ratio as the table above (103.1 → 99.8), computed live from your number, nothing is sent anywhere.
How the Price Gap Changed
Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington and Waterbury-Shelton share 17 published annual releases from 2008 through 2024. Their overall gap narrowed, moving from 9.5 to 3.3 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 43.7 points between the first and latest shared releases (14.9 to 28.8 points). This describes a relative price-index history, not a forecast or a household budget.
| Release Year | Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington RPP | Waterbury-Shelton RPP | Relative Gap |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2008 | 101.4 | 110.8 | 9.5 points Waterbury-Shelton higher |
| 2012 | 100.8 | 106.9 | 6.1 points Waterbury-Shelton higher |
| 2016 | 98.0 | 106.5 | 8.4 points Waterbury-Shelton higher |
| 2020 | 104.5 | 103.4 | 1.1 points Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington higher |
| 2024 | 103.1 | 99.8 | 3.3 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.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Waterbury-Shelton more expensive than Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington?
Waterbury-Shelton is 3.2% less expensive than Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington. The overall cost index is 99.8 vs 103.1 (national average = 100).
What salary in Waterbury-Shelton equals $100K in Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington?
A $100,000 salary in Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington has the same purchasing power as $96,787 in Waterbury-Shelton. This is based on the BEA Regional Price Parity indexes.
How do rents compare between Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington and Waterbury-Shelton?
Rents in Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington are indexed at 117.9 while Waterbury-Shelton is at 89.1 (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.