Overall
Diff -0.6 RPP
Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands vs Austin-Round Rock-San Marcos
Cost of living comparison based on BEA Regional Price Parities. Austin-Round Rock-San Marcos is 0.6% less expensive than Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands.
0.6% less expensive
Austin-Round Rock-San Marcos, TX is 0.6% less expensive than Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands, TX on BEA Regional Price Parities (overall RPP 98.1 vs 98.6). A $100,000 salary in Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands buys about the same as $99,429 in Austin-Round Rock-San Marcos; the largest component gap is rents.
- Overall RPP 98.6 (Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands) vs 98.1 (Austin-Round Rock-San Marcos)
- $100k in Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands ≈ $99,429 purchasing power in Austin-Round Rock-San Marcos
- Rents drives the gap (+15.9 RPP points)
RPP parity plate
Pair TX:TX 98.6→98.1
PHOTO-FINISH · SAME-STATE · SPLIT-BUDGET · BOTH-BELOW · PP-PAR
- PHOTO-FINISH Photo finish
- SAME-STATE Same state · TX
- SPLIT-BUDGET Split budget
- 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.
Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands
98.6
Cost Index
Austin-Round Rock-San Marcos
98.1
Cost Index
What This Comparison Actually Tells You
Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands, TX and Austin-Round Rock-San Marcos, TX are a photo finish on overall price level, only 0.6 RPP points apart. A salary conversion is therefore a fine adjustment, not evidence of a fundamentally different cost regime.
Rents creates the largest separation: Austin-Round Rock-San Marcos is 15.9 points higher. But rents 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.
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 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 $99,429 in Austin-Round Rock-San Marcos.
Category Breakdown
Goods
Diff -6.9 RPP
Services
Diff -13.2 RPP
Rents
Diff +15.9 RPP
| Category | Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands | Austin-Round Rock-San Marcos | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Overall | 98.6 | 98.1 | -0.6 |
| Goods | 100.6 | 93.8 | -6.9 |
| Services | 95.3 | 82.0 | -13.2 |
| Rents | 104.5 | 120.4 | +15.9 |
Visual Comparison
Overall
Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands 98.6
Austin-Round Rock-San Marcos 98.1
Goods
Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands 100.6
Austin-Round Rock-San Marcos 93.8
Services
Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands 95.3
Austin-Round Rock-San Marcos 82.0
Rents
Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands 104.5
Austin-Round Rock-San Marcos 120.4
Vertical line = national average (100)
How the Price Gap Changed
Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands and Austin-Round Rock-San Marcos share 17 published annual releases from 2008 through 2024. Their overall gap held broadly steady, moving from 0.1 to 0.6 RPP points. Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands remained the higher-index metro in the latest release.
Services changed the most within this pair: its gap moved 11.5 points between the first and latest shared releases (1.7 to 13.2 points). This describes a relative price-index history, not a forecast or a household budget.
| Release Year | Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands RPP | Austin-Round Rock-San Marcos RPP | Relative Gap |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2008 | 99.4 | 99.6 | 0.1 points Austin-Round Rock-San Marcos higher |
| 2012 | 100.0 | 100.9 | 0.9 points Austin-Round Rock-San Marcos higher |
| 2016 | 102.4 | 102.6 | 0.2 points Austin-Round Rock-San Marcos higher |
| 2020 | 100.0 | 101.1 | 1.1 points Austin-Round Rock-San Marcos higher |
| 2024 | 98.6 | 98.1 | 0.6 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.
Salary Equivalents
What a salary in Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands would need to be in Austin-Round Rock-San Marcos for the same purchasing power:
| In Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands | In Austin-Round Rock-San Marcos | Difference |
|---|---|---|
| $50,000 | $49,715 | $-285 |
| $75,000 | $74,572 | $-428 |
| $100,000 | $99,429 | $-571 |
| $150,000 | $149,144 | $-856 |
$ in Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands = in Austin-Round Rock-San Marcos
Same BEA Regional Price Parity ratio as the table above (98.6 → 98.1), computed live from your number, nothing is sent anywhere.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Austin-Round Rock-San Marcos more expensive than Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands?
Austin-Round Rock-San Marcos is 0.6% less expensive than Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands. The overall cost index is 98.1 vs 98.6 (national average = 100).
What salary in Austin-Round Rock-San Marcos equals $100K in Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands?
A $100,000 salary in Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands has the same purchasing power as $99,429 in Austin-Round Rock-San Marcos. This is based on the BEA Regional Price Parity indexes.
How do rents compare between Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands and Austin-Round Rock-San Marcos?
Rents in Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands are indexed at 104.5 while Austin-Round Rock-San Marcos is at 120.4 (national average = 100). Austin-Round Rock-San Marcos 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.