Overall
- Denver-Aurora-Centennial
- 105.8
Diff -7.2 RPP
Denver-Aurora-Centennial vs Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands
Cost of living comparison based on BEA Regional Price Parities. Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands is 6.8% less expensive than Denver-Aurora-Centennial.
6.8% less expensive
Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands, TX is 6.8% less expensive than Denver-Aurora-Centennial, CO on BEA Regional Price Parities (overall RPP 98.6 vs 105.8). A $100,000 salary in Denver-Aurora-Centennial buys about the same as $93,238 in Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands; the largest component gap is rents.
- Overall RPP 105.8 (Denver-Aurora-Centennial) vs 98.6 (Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands)
- $100k in Denver-Aurora-Centennial ≈ $93,238 purchasing power in Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands
- Rents drives the gap (-42.4 RPP points)
RPP parity plate
Pair CO:TX 105.8→98.6
TIER-NEAR · CROSS-STATE · SPLIT-BUDGET · BENCH-CROSS · PP-SHIFT
- TIER-NEAR Near tier
- CROSS-STATE CO × TX
- 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
- Denver-Aurora-Centennial
- 101.0
Diff -0.3 RPP
Services
Diff +7.4 RPP
Rents
- Denver-Aurora-Centennial
- 146.9
Diff -42.4 RPP
| Category | Denver-Aurora-Centennial | Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Overall | 105.8 | 98.6 | -7.2 |
| Goods | 101.0 | 100.6 | -0.3 |
| Services | 87.9 | 95.3 | +7.4 |
| Rents | 146.9 | 104.5 | -42.4 |
Visual Comparison
Overall
Denver-Aurora-Centennial 105.8
Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands 98.6
Goods
Denver-Aurora-Centennial 101.0
Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands 100.6
Services
Denver-Aurora-Centennial 87.9
Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands 95.3
Rents
Denver-Aurora-Centennial 146.9
Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands 104.5
Vertical line = national average (100)
What This Comparison Actually Tells You
Rents creates the largest separation: Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands is 42.4 points lower. But services move against the overall direction, so this is a split budget rather than a clean across-the-board winner.
Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands, TX is 6.8% less expensive than Denver-Aurora-Centennial, CO, a meaningful but not extreme shift. The move decision turns on which budget category creates the 7.2-point overall gap.
This route crosses the national benchmark: Denver-Aurora-Centennial is above 100 while Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands 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 Denver-Aurora-Centennial corresponds to $93,238 in Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands.
Denver-Aurora-Centennial
105.8
Cost Index
Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands
98.6
Cost Index
Salary Equivalents
What a salary in Denver-Aurora-Centennial would need to be in Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands for the same purchasing power:
| In Denver-Aurora-Centennial | In Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands | Difference |
|---|---|---|
| $50,000 | $46,619 | $-3,381 |
| $75,000 | $69,928 | $-5,072 |
| $100,000 | $93,238 | $-6,762 |
| $150,000 | $139,857 | $-10,143 |
$ in Denver-Aurora-Centennial = in Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands
Same BEA Regional Price Parity ratio as the table above (105.8 → 98.6), computed live from your number, nothing is sent anywhere.
How the Price Gap Changed
Denver-Aurora-Centennial and Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands share 17 published annual releases from 2008 through 2024. Their overall gap held broadly steady, moving from 6.3 to 7.2 RPP points. Denver-Aurora-Centennial remained the higher-index metro in the latest release.
Rents changed the most within this pair: its gap moved 19.5 points between the first and latest shared releases (22.9 to 42.4 points). This describes a relative price-index history, not a forecast or a household budget.
| Release Year | Denver-Aurora-Centennial RPP | Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands RPP | Relative Gap |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2008 | 105.8 | 99.4 | 6.3 points Denver-Aurora-Centennial higher |
| 2012 | 105.1 | 100.0 | 5.1 points Denver-Aurora-Centennial higher |
| 2016 | 105.2 | 102.4 | 2.8 points Denver-Aurora-Centennial higher |
| 2020 | 109.4 | 100.0 | 9.4 points Denver-Aurora-Centennial higher |
| 2024 | 105.8 | 98.6 | 7.2 points Denver-Aurora-Centennial 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 Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands more expensive than Denver-Aurora-Centennial?
Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands is 6.8% less expensive than Denver-Aurora-Centennial. The overall cost index is 98.6 vs 105.8 (national average = 100).
What salary in Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands equals $100K in Denver-Aurora-Centennial?
A $100,000 salary in Denver-Aurora-Centennial has the same purchasing power as $93,238 in Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands. This is based on the BEA Regional Price Parity indexes.
How do rents compare between Denver-Aurora-Centennial and Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands?
Rents in Denver-Aurora-Centennial are indexed at 146.9 while Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands is at 104.5 (national average = 100). Denver-Aurora-Centennial 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.