Overall
- Fresno
- 102.2
Diff -3.5 RPP
Fresno vs Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands
Cost of living comparison based on BEA Regional Price Parities. Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands is 3.5% less expensive than Fresno.
3.5% less expensive
Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands, TX is 3.5% less expensive than Fresno, CA on BEA Regional Price Parities (overall RPP 98.6 vs 102.2). A $100,000 salary in Fresno buys about the same as $96,546 in Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands; the largest component gap is services.
- Overall RPP 102.2 (Fresno) vs 98.6 (Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands)
- $100k in Fresno ≈ $96,546 purchasing power in Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands
- Services drives the gap (-65.7 RPP points)
RPP parity plate
Pair CA:TX 102.2→98.6
TIER-NEAR · CROSS-STATE · SPLIT-BUDGET · BENCH-CROSS · PP-SHIFT
- TIER-NEAR Near tier
- CROSS-STATE CA × 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
- Fresno
- 105.2
Diff -4.5 RPP
Services
- Fresno
- 161.0
Diff -65.7 RPP
Rents
- Fresno
- 95.7
Diff +8.8 RPP
| Category | Fresno | Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Overall | 102.2 | 98.6 | -3.5 |
| Goods | 105.2 | 100.6 | -4.5 |
| Services | 161.0 | 95.3 | -65.7 |
| Rents | 95.7 | 104.5 | +8.8 |
Visual Comparison
Overall
Fresno 102.2
Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands 98.6
Goods
Fresno 105.2
Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands 100.6
Services
Fresno 161.0
Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands 95.3
Rents
Fresno 95.7
Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands 104.5
Vertical line = national average (100)
What This Comparison Actually Tells You
Services creates the largest separation: Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands is 65.7 points lower. But rents 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 3.5% less expensive than Fresno, CA, a meaningful but not extreme shift. The move decision turns on which budget category creates the 3.5-point overall gap.
This route crosses the national benchmark: Fresno 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 service-heavy household, test childcare, health, and other locally supplied costs before relying on rent alone. The BEA ratio converts $100,000 in Fresno to $96,546 in Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands, but it is not a personal spending weight.
Fresno
102.2
Cost Index
Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands
98.6
Cost Index
Salary Equivalents
What a salary in Fresno would need to be in Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands for the same purchasing power:
| In Fresno | In Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands | Difference |
|---|---|---|
| $50,000 | $48,273 | $-1,727 |
| $75,000 | $72,409 | $-2,591 |
| $100,000 | $96,546 | $-3,454 |
| $150,000 | $144,818 | $-5,182 |
$ in Fresno = in Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands
Same BEA Regional Price Parity ratio as the table above (102.2 → 98.6), computed live from your number, nothing is sent anywhere.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands more expensive than Fresno?
Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands is 3.5% less expensive than Fresno. The overall cost index is 98.6 vs 102.2 (national average = 100).
What salary in Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands equals $100K in Fresno?
A $100,000 salary in Fresno has the same purchasing power as $96,546 in Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands. This is based on the BEA Regional Price Parity indexes.
How do rents compare between Fresno and Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands?
Rents in Fresno are indexed at 95.7 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.