Overall
- Binghamton
- 92.9
Diff -5.8 RPP
Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands vs Binghamton
Cost of living comparison based on BEA Regional Price Parities. Binghamton is 5.8% less expensive than Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands.
5.8% less expensive
Binghamton, NY is 5.8% less expensive than Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands, TX on BEA Regional Price Parities (overall RPP 92.9 vs 98.6). A $100,000 salary in Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands buys about the same as $94,154 in Binghamton; the largest component gap is services.
- Overall RPP 98.6 (Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands) vs 92.9 (Binghamton)
- $100k in Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands ≈ $94,154 purchasing power in Binghamton
- Services drives the gap (+36.3 RPP points)
RPP parity plate
Pair TX:NY 98.6→92.9
TIER-NEAR · CROSS-STATE · SPLIT-BUDGET · BOTH-BELOW · PP-SHIFT
- TIER-NEAR Near tier
- CROSS-STATE TX × NY
- SPLIT-BUDGET Split budget
- BOTH-BELOW Both below 100
- 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
- Binghamton
- 99.7
Diff -0.9 RPP
Services
- Binghamton
- 131.6
Diff +36.3 RPP
Rents
- Binghamton
- 69.7
Diff -34.8 RPP
| Category | Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands | Binghamton | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Overall | 98.6 | 92.9 | -5.8 |
| Goods | 100.6 | 99.7 | -0.9 |
| Services | 95.3 | 131.6 | +36.3 |
| Rents | 104.5 | 69.7 | -34.8 |
Visual Comparison
Overall
Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands 98.6
Binghamton 92.9
Goods
Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands 100.6
Binghamton 99.7
Services
Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands 95.3
Binghamton 131.6
Rents
Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands 104.5
Binghamton 69.7
Vertical line = national average (100)
What This Comparison Actually Tells You
Services creates the largest separation: Binghamton is 36.3 points higher. But services move against the overall direction, so this is a split budget rather than a clean across-the-board winner.
Binghamton, NY is 5.8% less expensive than Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands, TX, a meaningful but not extreme shift. The move decision turns on which budget category creates the 5.8-point overall gap.
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.
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 $94,154 in Binghamton, but it is not a personal spending weight.
Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands
98.6
Cost Index
Binghamton
92.9
Cost Index
Salary Equivalents
What a salary in Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands would need to be in Binghamton for the same purchasing power:
| In Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands | In Binghamton | Difference |
|---|---|---|
| $50,000 | $47,077 | $-2,923 |
| $75,000 | $70,615 | $-4,385 |
| $100,000 | $94,154 | $-5,846 |
| $150,000 | $141,231 | $-8,769 |
$ in Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands = in Binghamton
Same BEA Regional Price Parity ratio as the table above (98.6 → 92.9), computed live from your number, nothing is sent anywhere.
How the Price Gap Changed
Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands and Binghamton share 17 published annual releases from 2008 through 2024. Their overall gap widened, moving from 2.4 to 5.8 RPP points. Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands remained the higher-index metro in the latest release.
Rents changed the most within this pair: its gap moved 9.5 points between the first and latest shared releases (25.4 to 34.8 points). This describes a relative price-index history, not a forecast or a household budget.
| Release Year | Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands RPP | Binghamton RPP | Relative Gap |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2008 | 99.4 | 97.0 | 2.4 points Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands higher |
| 2012 | 100.0 | 94.9 | 5.1 points Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands higher |
| 2016 | 102.4 | 96.1 | 6.3 points Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands higher |
| 2020 | 100.0 | 96.9 | 3.0 points Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands higher |
| 2024 | 98.6 | 92.9 | 5.8 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 Binghamton more expensive than Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands?
Binghamton is 5.8% less expensive than Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands. The overall cost index is 92.9 vs 98.6 (national average = 100).
What salary in Binghamton equals $100K in Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands?
A $100,000 salary in Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands has the same purchasing power as $94,154 in Binghamton. This is based on the BEA Regional Price Parity indexes.
How do rents compare between Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands and Binghamton?
Rents in Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands are indexed at 104.5 while Binghamton is at 69.7 (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.