Overall
Diff +13.8 RPP
Florence-Muscle Shoals vs Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands
Cost of living comparison based on BEA Regional Price Parities. Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands is 16.3% more expensive than Florence-Muscle Shoals.
16.3% more expensive
Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands, TX is 16.3% more expensive than Florence-Muscle Shoals, AL on BEA Regional Price Parities (overall RPP 98.6 vs 84.8). A $100,000 salary in Florence-Muscle Shoals buys about the same as $116,284 in Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands; the largest component gap is rents.
- Overall RPP 84.8 (Florence-Muscle Shoals) vs 98.6 (Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands)
- $100k in Florence-Muscle Shoals ≈ $116,284 purchasing power in Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands
- Rents drives the gap (+56.8 RPP points)
RPP parity plate
Pair AL:TX 84.8→98.6
TIER-GAP · CROSS-STATE · RENT-LED · BOTH-BELOW · PP-STEEP
- TIER-GAP Clear tier gap
- CROSS-STATE AL × TX
- RENT-LED Rent-led gap
- BOTH-BELOW Both below 100
- PP-STEEP Steep PP convert
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.
Salary Equivalents
What a salary in Florence-Muscle Shoals would need to be in Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands for the same purchasing power:
| In Florence-Muscle Shoals | In Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands | Difference |
|---|---|---|
| $50,000 | $58,142 | +$8,142 |
| $75,000 | $87,213 | +$12,213 |
| $100,000 | $116,284 | +$16,284 |
| $150,000 | $174,427 | +$24,427 |
$ in Florence-Muscle Shoals = in Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands
Same BEA Regional Price Parity ratio as the table above (84.8 → 98.6), computed live from your number, nothing is sent anywhere.
What This Comparison Actually Tells You
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.
Florence-Muscle Shoals, AL and Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands, TX sit in clearly different price tiers, separated by 13.8 RPP points. At this distance, treating the same nominal salary as equivalent would materially change purchasing power.
Rents leads the difference, with Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands 56.8 points higher than Florence-Muscle Shoals. 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.
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 Florence-Muscle Shoals corresponds to $116,284 in Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands.
Category Breakdown
Goods
Diff +4.2 RPP
Services
Diff +9.5 RPP
Rents
Diff +56.8 RPP
| Category | Florence-Muscle Shoals | Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Overall | 84.8 | 98.6 | +13.8 |
| Goods | 96.4 | 100.6 | +4.2 |
| Services | 85.8 | 95.3 | +9.5 |
| Rents | 47.7 | 104.5 | +56.8 |
Visual Comparison
Overall
Florence-Muscle Shoals 84.8
Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands 98.6
Goods
Florence-Muscle Shoals 96.4
Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands 100.6
Services
Florence-Muscle Shoals 85.8
Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands 95.3
Rents
Florence-Muscle Shoals 47.7
Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands 104.5
Vertical line = national average (100)
Florence-Muscle Shoals
84.8
Cost Index
Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands
98.6
Cost Index
How the Price Gap Changed
Florence-Muscle Shoals and Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands share 17 published annual releases from 2008 through 2024. Their overall gap narrowed, moving from 16.2 to 13.8 RPP points. Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands remained the higher-index metro in the latest release.
Goods changed the most within this pair: its gap moved 5.0 points between the first and latest shared releases (0.8 to 4.2 points). This describes a relative price-index history, not a forecast or a household budget.
| Release Year | Florence-Muscle Shoals RPP | Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands RPP | Relative Gap |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2008 | 83.3 | 99.4 | 16.2 points Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands higher |
| 2012 | 88.6 | 100.0 | 11.4 points Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands higher |
| 2016 | 85.9 | 102.4 | 16.5 points Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands higher |
| 2020 | 82.8 | 100.0 | 17.1 points Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands higher |
| 2024 | 84.8 | 98.6 | 13.8 points Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands 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 Florence-Muscle Shoals?
Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands is 16.3% more expensive than Florence-Muscle Shoals. The overall cost index is 98.6 vs 84.8 (national average = 100).
What salary in Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands equals $100K in Florence-Muscle Shoals?
A $100,000 salary in Florence-Muscle Shoals has the same purchasing power as $116,284 in Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands. This is based on the BEA Regional Price Parity indexes.
How do rents compare between Florence-Muscle Shoals and Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands?
Rents in Florence-Muscle Shoals are indexed at 47.7 while Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands is at 104.5 (national average = 100). Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands 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.