Overall
Diff +1.4 RPP
Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands vs Atlanta-Sandy Springs-Roswell
Cost of living comparison based on BEA Regional Price Parities. Atlanta-Sandy Springs-Roswell is 1.4% more expensive than Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands.
1.4% more expensive
Atlanta-Sandy Springs-Roswell, GA is 1.4% more expensive than Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands, TX on BEA Regional Price Parities (overall RPP 100.1 vs 98.6). A $100,000 salary in Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands buys about the same as $101,449 in Atlanta-Sandy Springs-Roswell; the largest component gap is rents.
- Overall RPP 98.6 (Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands) vs 100.1 (Atlanta-Sandy Springs-Roswell)
- $100k in Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands ≈ $101,449 purchasing power in Atlanta-Sandy Springs-Roswell
- Rents drives the gap (+6.5 RPP points)
RPP parity plate
Pair TX:GA 98.6→100.1
PHOTO-FINISH · CROSS-STATE · SPLIT-BUDGET · BENCH-CROSS · PP-PAR
- PHOTO-FINISH Photo finish
- CROSS-STATE TX × GA
- SPLIT-BUDGET Split budget
- BENCH-CROSS Benchmark cross
- 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.
Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands
98.6
Cost Index
Atlanta-Sandy Springs-Roswell
100.1
Cost Index
What This Comparison Actually Tells You
Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands, TX and Atlanta-Sandy Springs-Roswell, GA are a photo finish on overall price level, only 1.4 RPP points apart. A salary conversion is therefore a fine adjustment, not evidence of a fundamentally different cost regime.
Rents creates the largest separation: Atlanta-Sandy Springs-Roswell is 6.5 points higher. But goods move against the overall direction, so this is a split budget rather than a clean across-the-board winner.
Comparable population context is incomplete for this pair, so no market-scale explanation is inferred from the price indexes.
This route crosses the national benchmark: Atlanta-Sandy Springs-Roswell 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.
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 Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands corresponds to $101,449 in Atlanta-Sandy Springs-Roswell.
Category Breakdown
Goods
Diff -0.2 RPP
Services
Diff +1.0 RPP
Rents
Diff +6.5 RPP
| Category | Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands | Atlanta-Sandy Springs-Roswell | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Overall | 98.6 | 100.1 | +1.4 |
| Goods | 100.6 | 100.4 | -0.2 |
| Services | 95.3 | 96.2 | +1.0 |
| Rents | 104.5 | 111.0 | +6.5 |
Visual Comparison
Overall
Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands 98.6
Atlanta-Sandy Springs-Roswell 100.1
Goods
Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands 100.6
Atlanta-Sandy Springs-Roswell 100.4
Services
Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands 95.3
Atlanta-Sandy Springs-Roswell 96.2
Rents
Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands 104.5
Atlanta-Sandy Springs-Roswell 111.0
Vertical line = national average (100)
Salary Equivalents
What a salary in Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands would need to be in Atlanta-Sandy Springs-Roswell for the same purchasing power:
| In Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands | In Atlanta-Sandy Springs-Roswell | Difference |
|---|---|---|
| $50,000 | $50,724 | +$724 |
| $75,000 | $76,087 | +$1,087 |
| $100,000 | $101,449 | +$1,449 |
| $150,000 | $152,173 | +$2,173 |
$ in Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands = in Atlanta-Sandy Springs-Roswell
Same BEA Regional Price Parity ratio as the table above (98.6 → 100.1), computed live from your number, nothing is sent anywhere.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Atlanta-Sandy Springs-Roswell more expensive than Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands?
Atlanta-Sandy Springs-Roswell is 1.4% more expensive than Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands. The overall cost index is 100.1 vs 98.6 (national average = 100).
What salary in Atlanta-Sandy Springs-Roswell equals $100K in Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands?
A $100,000 salary in Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands has the same purchasing power as $101,449 in Atlanta-Sandy Springs-Roswell. This is based on the BEA Regional Price Parity indexes.
How do rents compare between Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands and Atlanta-Sandy Springs-Roswell?
Rents in Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands are indexed at 104.5 while Atlanta-Sandy Springs-Roswell is at 111.0 (national average = 100). Atlanta-Sandy Springs-Roswell 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.