Overall
Diff +0.3 RPP
El Paso vs Manhattan
Cost of living comparison based on BEA Regional Price Parities. Manhattan is 0.3% more expensive than El Paso.
0.3% more expensive
Manhattan, KS is 0.3% more expensive than El Paso, TX on BEA Regional Price Parities (overall RPP 90.2 vs 89.9). A $100,000 salary in El Paso buys about the same as $100,278 in Manhattan; the largest component gap is services.
- Overall RPP 89.9 (El Paso) vs 90.2 (Manhattan)
- $100k in El Paso ≈ $100,278 purchasing power in Manhattan
- Services drives the gap (+5.8 RPP points)
RPP parity plate
Pair TX:KS 89.9→90.2
PHOTO-FINISH · CROSS-STATE · SERVICES-LED · BOTH-BELOW · PP-PAR
- PHOTO-FINISH Photo finish
- CROSS-STATE TX × KS
- SERVICES-LED Services-led gap
- BOTH-BELOW Both below 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.
El Paso
89.9
Cost Index
Manhattan
90.2
Cost Index
What This Comparison Actually Tells You
El Paso, TX and Manhattan, KS are a photo finish on overall price level, only 0.3 RPP points apart. A salary conversion is therefore a fine adjustment, not evidence of a fundamentally different cost regime.
Services leads the difference, with Manhattan 5.8 points higher than El Paso. 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.
Both metros remain below the U.S. benchmark of 100. This comparison chooses between two below-average price levels; “more expensive” here does not mean nationally expensive.
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 El Paso to $100,278 in Manhattan, but it is not a personal spending weight.
Category Breakdown
Goods
Diff +0.3 RPP
Services
Diff +5.8 RPP
Rents
Diff +0.7 RPP
| Category | El Paso | Manhattan | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Overall | 89.9 | 90.2 | +0.3 |
| Goods | 93.8 | 94.0 | +0.3 |
| Services | 82.6 | 88.4 | +5.8 |
| Rents | 71.2 | 72.0 | +0.7 |
Visual Comparison
Overall
El Paso 89.9
Manhattan 90.2
Goods
El Paso 93.8
Manhattan 94.0
Services
El Paso 82.6
Manhattan 88.4
Rents
El Paso 71.2
Manhattan 72.0
Vertical line = national average (100)
How the Price Gap Changed
El Paso and Manhattan share 17 published annual releases from 2008 through 2024. Their overall gap narrowed, moving from 6.7 to 0.3 RPP points. Manhattan remained the higher-index metro in the latest release.
Services changed the most within this pair: its gap moved 21.1 points between the first and latest shared releases (15.3 to 5.8 points). This describes a relative price-index history, not a forecast or a household budget.
| Release Year | El Paso RPP | Manhattan RPP | Relative Gap |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2008 | 92.5 | 85.8 | 6.7 points El Paso higher |
| 2012 | 95.6 | 94.5 | 1.1 points El Paso higher |
| 2016 | 95.2 | 89.5 | 5.7 points El Paso higher |
| 2020 | 92.7 | 91.7 | 1.0 points El Paso higher |
| 2024 | 89.9 | 90.2 | 0.3 points Manhattan 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.
Salary Equivalents
What a salary in El Paso would need to be in Manhattan for the same purchasing power:
| In El Paso | In Manhattan | Difference |
|---|---|---|
| $50,000 | $50,139 | +$139 |
| $75,000 | $75,209 | +$209 |
| $100,000 | $100,278 | +$278 |
| $150,000 | $150,417 | +$417 |
$ in El Paso = in Manhattan
Same BEA Regional Price Parity ratio as the table above (89.9 → 90.2), computed live from your number, nothing is sent anywhere.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Manhattan more expensive than El Paso?
Manhattan is 0.3% more expensive than El Paso. The overall cost index is 90.2 vs 89.9 (national average = 100).
What salary in Manhattan equals $100K in El Paso?
A $100,000 salary in El Paso has the same purchasing power as $100,278 in Manhattan. This is based on the BEA Regional Price Parity indexes.
How do rents compare between El Paso and Manhattan?
Rents in El Paso are indexed at 71.2 while Manhattan is at 72.0 (national average = 100). Manhattan 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.