Overall
- Charlottesville
- 99.1
Diff +0.5 RPP
Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands vs Charlottesville
Cost of living comparison based on BEA Regional Price Parities. Charlottesville is 0.5% more expensive than Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands.
0.5% more expensive
Charlottesville, VA is 0.5% more expensive than Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands, TX on BEA Regional Price Parities (overall RPP 99.1 vs 98.6). A $100,000 salary in Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands buys about the same as $100,524 in Charlottesville; the largest component gap is services.
- Overall RPP 98.6 (Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands) vs 99.1 (Charlottesville)
- $100k in Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands ≈ $100,524 purchasing power in Charlottesville
- Services drives the gap (-6.3 RPP points)
RPP parity plate
Pair TX:VA 98.6→99.1
PHOTO-FINISH · CROSS-STATE · SPLIT-BUDGET · BOTH-BELOW · PP-PAR
- PHOTO-FINISH Photo finish
- CROSS-STATE TX × VA
- 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
Charlottesville
99.1
Cost Index
What This Comparison Actually Tells You
Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands, TX and Charlottesville, VA are a photo finish on overall price level, only 0.5 RPP points apart. A salary conversion is therefore a fine adjustment, not evidence of a fundamentally different cost regime.
Services creates the largest separation: Charlottesville is 6.3 points lower. But services and 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.
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 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 $100,524 in Charlottesville, but it is not a personal spending weight.
Category Breakdown
Goods
- Charlottesville
- 96.8
Diff -3.9 RPP
Services
- Charlottesville
- 89.0
Diff -6.3 RPP
Rents
- Charlottesville
- 107.0
Diff +2.5 RPP
| Category | Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands | Charlottesville | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Overall | 98.6 | 99.1 | +0.5 |
| Goods | 100.6 | 96.8 | -3.9 |
| Services | 95.3 | 89.0 | -6.3 |
| Rents | 104.5 | 107.0 | +2.5 |
Visual Comparison
Overall
Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands 98.6
Charlottesville 99.1
Goods
Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands 100.6
Charlottesville 96.8
Services
Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands 95.3
Charlottesville 89.0
Rents
Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands 104.5
Charlottesville 107.0
Vertical line = national average (100)
How the Price Gap Changed
Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands and Charlottesville share 17 published annual releases from 2008 through 2024. Their overall gap held broadly steady, moving from 0.3 to 0.5 RPP points. Charlottesville remained the higher-index metro in the latest release.
Services changed the most within this pair: its gap moved 8.4 points between the first and latest shared releases (14.7 to 6.3 points). This describes a relative price-index history, not a forecast or a household budget.
| Release Year | Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands RPP | Charlottesville RPP | Relative Gap |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2008 | 99.4 | 99.7 | 0.3 points Charlottesville higher |
| 2012 | 100.0 | 98.9 | 1.2 points Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands higher |
| 2016 | 102.4 | 100.3 | 2.1 points Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands higher |
| 2020 | 100.0 | 98.3 | 1.7 points Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands higher |
| 2024 | 98.6 | 99.1 | 0.5 points Charlottesville 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 Charlottesville for the same purchasing power:
| In Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands | In Charlottesville | Difference |
|---|---|---|
| $50,000 | $50,262 | +$262 |
| $75,000 | $75,393 | +$393 |
| $100,000 | $100,524 | +$524 |
| $150,000 | $150,786 | +$786 |
$ in Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands = in Charlottesville
Same BEA Regional Price Parity ratio as the table above (98.6 → 99.1), computed live from your number, nothing is sent anywhere.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Charlottesville more expensive than Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands?
Charlottesville is 0.5% more expensive than Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands. The overall cost index is 99.1 vs 98.6 (national average = 100).
What salary in Charlottesville equals $100K in Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands?
A $100,000 salary in Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands has the same purchasing power as $100,524 in Charlottesville. This is based on the BEA Regional Price Parity indexes.
How do rents compare between Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands and Charlottesville?
Rents in Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands are indexed at 104.5 while Charlottesville is at 107.0 (national average = 100). Charlottesville 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.