Overall
- Cape Coral-Fort Myers
- 102.3
Diff +3.7 RPP
Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands vs Cape Coral-Fort Myers
Cost of living comparison based on BEA Regional Price Parities. Cape Coral-Fort Myers is 3.8% more expensive than Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands.
3.8% more expensive
Cape Coral-Fort Myers, FL is 3.8% more expensive than Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands, TX on BEA Regional Price Parities (overall RPP 102.3 vs 98.6). A $100,000 salary in Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands buys about the same as $103,772 in Cape Coral-Fort Myers; the largest component gap is rents.
- Overall RPP 98.6 (Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands) vs 102.3 (Cape Coral-Fort Myers)
- $100k in Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands ≈ $103,772 purchasing power in Cape Coral-Fort Myers
- Rents drives the gap (+20.6 RPP points)
RPP parity plate
Pair TX:FL 98.6→102.3
TIER-NEAR · CROSS-STATE · SPLIT-BUDGET · BENCH-CROSS · PP-SHIFT
- TIER-NEAR Near tier
- CROSS-STATE TX × FL
- 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
Diff -4.4 RPP
Services
Diff -8.4 RPP
Rents
- Cape Coral-Fort Myers
- 125.1
Diff +20.6 RPP
| Category | Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands | Cape Coral-Fort Myers | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Overall | 98.6 | 102.3 | +3.7 |
| Goods | 100.6 | 96.2 | -4.4 |
| Services | 95.3 | 86.9 | -8.4 |
| Rents | 104.5 | 125.1 | +20.6 |
Visual Comparison
Overall
Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands 98.6
Cape Coral-Fort Myers 102.3
Goods
Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands 100.6
Cape Coral-Fort Myers 96.2
Services
Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands 95.3
Cape Coral-Fort Myers 86.9
Rents
Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands 104.5
Cape Coral-Fort Myers 125.1
Vertical line = national average (100)
What This Comparison Actually Tells You
Rents creates the largest separation: Cape Coral-Fort Myers is 20.6 points higher. But services and goods move against the overall direction, so this is a split budget rather than a clean across-the-board winner.
Cape Coral-Fort Myers, FL is 3.8% more expensive than Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands, TX, a meaningful but not extreme shift. The move decision turns on which budget category creates the 3.7-point overall gap.
This route crosses the national benchmark: Cape Coral-Fort Myers 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 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 $103,772 in Cape Coral-Fort Myers.
Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands
98.6
Cost Index
Cape Coral-Fort Myers
102.3
Cost Index
Salary Equivalents
What a salary in Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands would need to be in Cape Coral-Fort Myers for the same purchasing power:
| In Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands | In Cape Coral-Fort Myers | Difference |
|---|---|---|
| $50,000 | $51,886 | +$1,886 |
| $75,000 | $77,829 | +$2,829 |
| $100,000 | $103,772 | +$3,772 |
| $150,000 | $155,658 | +$5,658 |
$ in Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands = in Cape Coral-Fort Myers
Same BEA Regional Price Parity ratio as the table above (98.6 → 102.3), computed live from your number, nothing is sent anywhere.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Cape Coral-Fort Myers more expensive than Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands?
Cape Coral-Fort Myers is 3.8% more expensive than Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands. The overall cost index is 102.3 vs 98.6 (national average = 100).
What salary in Cape Coral-Fort Myers equals $100K in Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands?
A $100,000 salary in Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands has the same purchasing power as $103,772 in Cape Coral-Fort Myers. This is based on the BEA Regional Price Parity indexes.
How do rents compare between Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands and Cape Coral-Fort Myers?
Rents in Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands are indexed at 104.5 while Cape Coral-Fort Myers is at 125.1 (national average = 100). Cape Coral-Fort Myers 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.