Overall
- Bend
- 103.6
Diff +5.0 RPP
Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands vs Bend
Cost of living comparison based on BEA Regional Price Parities. Bend is 5% more expensive than Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands.
5% more expensive
Bend, OR is 5% more expensive than Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands, TX on BEA Regional Price Parities (overall RPP 103.6 vs 98.6). A $100,000 salary in Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands buys about the same as $105,047 in Bend; the largest component gap is services.
- Overall RPP 98.6 (Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands) vs 103.6 (Bend)
- $100k in Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands ≈ $105,047 purchasing power in Bend
- Services drives the gap (+9.7 RPP points)
RPP parity plate
Pair TX:OR 98.6→103.6
TIER-NEAR · CROSS-STATE · SERVICES-LED · BENCH-CROSS · PP-SHIFT
- TIER-NEAR Near tier
- CROSS-STATE TX × OR
- SERVICES-LED Services-led gap
- 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.
What This Comparison Actually Tells You
Bend, OR is 5% more expensive than Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands, TX, a meaningful but not extreme shift. The move decision turns on which budget category creates the 5.0-point overall gap.
This route crosses the national benchmark: Bend 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.
Services leads the difference, with Bend 9.7 points higher than Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands. 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 service-heavy household, test childcare, health, and other locally supplied costs before relying on rent alone. The BEA ratio converts $100,000 in Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands to $105,047 in Bend, but it is not a personal spending weight.
Category Breakdown
Goods
- Bend
- 105.3
Diff +4.6 RPP
Services
- Bend
- 105.0
Diff +9.7 RPP
Rents
- Bend
- 110.0
Diff +5.4 RPP
| Category | Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands | Bend | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Overall | 98.6 | 103.6 | +5.0 |
| Goods | 100.6 | 105.3 | +4.6 |
| Services | 95.3 | 105.0 | +9.7 |
| Rents | 104.5 | 110.0 | +5.4 |
Visual Comparison
Overall
Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands 98.6
Bend 103.6
Goods
Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands 100.6
Bend 105.3
Services
Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands 95.3
Bend 105.0
Rents
Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands 104.5
Bend 110.0
Vertical line = national average (100)
Salary Equivalents
What a salary in Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands would need to be in Bend for the same purchasing power:
| In Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands | In Bend | Difference |
|---|---|---|
| $50,000 | $52,524 | +$2,524 |
| $75,000 | $78,785 | +$3,785 |
| $100,000 | $105,047 | +$5,047 |
| $150,000 | $157,571 | +$7,571 |
$ in Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands = in Bend
Same BEA Regional Price Parity ratio as the table above (98.6 → 103.6), computed live from your number, nothing is sent anywhere.
Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands
98.6
Cost Index
Bend
103.6
Cost Index
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Bend more expensive than Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands?
Bend is 5% more expensive than Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands. The overall cost index is 103.6 vs 98.6 (national average = 100).
What salary in Bend equals $100K in Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands?
A $100,000 salary in Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands has the same purchasing power as $105,047 in Bend. This is based on the BEA Regional Price Parity indexes.
How do rents compare between Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands and Bend?
Rents in Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands are indexed at 104.5 while Bend is at 110.0 (national average = 100). Bend 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.