Overall
- Chicago-Naperville-Elgin
- 103.6
Diff +5.0 RPP
Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands vs Chicago-Naperville-Elgin
Cost of living comparison based on BEA Regional Price Parities. Chicago-Naperville-Elgin is 5% more expensive than Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands.
5% more expensive
Chicago-Naperville-Elgin, IL-IN 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 $105,035 in Chicago-Naperville-Elgin; the largest component gap is services.
- Overall RPP 98.6 (Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands) vs 103.6 (Chicago-Naperville-Elgin)
- $100k in Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands ≈ $105,035 purchasing power in Chicago-Naperville-Elgin
- Services drives the gap (-11.7 RPP points)
RPP parity plate
Pair TX:IL 98.6→103.6
TIER-NEAR · CROSS-STATE · SPLIT-BUDGET · BENCH-CROSS · PP-SHIFT
- TIER-NEAR Near tier
- CROSS-STATE TX × IL
- 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
- Chicago-Naperville-Elgin
- 107.3
Diff +6.6 RPP
Services
Diff -11.7 RPP
Rents
- Chicago-Naperville-Elgin
- 112.0
Diff +7.5 RPP
| Category | Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands | Chicago-Naperville-Elgin | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Overall | 98.6 | 103.6 | +5.0 |
| Goods | 100.6 | 107.3 | +6.6 |
| Services | 95.3 | 83.6 | -11.7 |
| Rents | 104.5 | 112.0 | +7.5 |
Visual Comparison
Overall
Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands 98.6
Chicago-Naperville-Elgin 103.6
Goods
Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands 100.6
Chicago-Naperville-Elgin 107.3
Services
Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands 95.3
Chicago-Naperville-Elgin 83.6
Rents
Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands 104.5
Chicago-Naperville-Elgin 112.0
Vertical line = national average (100)
What This Comparison Actually Tells You
Services creates the largest separation: Chicago-Naperville-Elgin is 11.7 points lower. But services move against the overall direction, so this is a split budget rather than a clean across-the-board winner.
Chicago-Naperville-Elgin, IL-IN 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: Chicago-Naperville-Elgin 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 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 $105,035 in Chicago-Naperville-Elgin, but it is not a personal spending weight.
Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands
98.6
Cost Index
Chicago-Naperville-Elgin
103.6
Cost Index
Salary Equivalents
What a salary in Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands would need to be in Chicago-Naperville-Elgin for the same purchasing power:
| In Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands | In Chicago-Naperville-Elgin | Difference |
|---|---|---|
| $50,000 | $52,518 | +$2,518 |
| $75,000 | $78,776 | +$3,776 |
| $100,000 | $105,035 | +$5,035 |
| $150,000 | $157,553 | +$7,553 |
$ in Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands = in Chicago-Naperville-Elgin
Same BEA Regional Price Parity ratio as the table above (98.6 → 103.6), computed live from your number, nothing is sent anywhere.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Chicago-Naperville-Elgin more expensive than Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands?
Chicago-Naperville-Elgin 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 Chicago-Naperville-Elgin equals $100K in Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands?
A $100,000 salary in Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands has the same purchasing power as $105,035 in Chicago-Naperville-Elgin. This is based on the BEA Regional Price Parity indexes.
How do rents compare between Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands and Chicago-Naperville-Elgin?
Rents in Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands are indexed at 104.5 while Chicago-Naperville-Elgin is at 112.0 (national average = 100). Chicago-Naperville-Elgin 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.