Overall
- Fort Collins-Loveland
- 101.1
Diff +2.5 RPP
Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands vs Fort Collins-Loveland
Cost of living comparison based on BEA Regional Price Parities. Fort Collins-Loveland is 2.5% more expensive than Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands.
2.5% more expensive
Fort Collins-Loveland, CO is 2.5% more expensive than Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands, TX on BEA Regional Price Parities (overall RPP 101.1 vs 98.6). A $100,000 salary in Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands buys about the same as $102,534 in Fort Collins-Loveland; the largest component gap is rents.
- Overall RPP 98.6 (Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands) vs 101.1 (Fort Collins-Loveland)
- $100k in Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands ≈ $102,534 purchasing power in Fort Collins-Loveland
- Rents drives the gap (+16.1 RPP points)
RPP parity plate
Pair TX:CO 98.6→101.1
TIER-NEAR · CROSS-STATE · SPLIT-BUDGET · BENCH-CROSS · PP-SHIFT
- TIER-NEAR Near tier
- CROSS-STATE TX × CO
- 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 -4.6 RPP
Services
Diff -13.1 RPP
Rents
- Fort Collins-Loveland
- 120.6
Diff +16.1 RPP
| Category | Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands | Fort Collins-Loveland | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Overall | 98.6 | 101.1 | +2.5 |
| Goods | 100.6 | 96.1 | -4.6 |
| Services | 95.3 | 82.2 | -13.1 |
| Rents | 104.5 | 120.6 | +16.1 |
Visual Comparison
Overall
Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands 98.6
Fort Collins-Loveland 101.1
Goods
Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands 100.6
Fort Collins-Loveland 96.1
Services
Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands 95.3
Fort Collins-Loveland 82.2
Rents
Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands 104.5
Fort Collins-Loveland 120.6
Vertical line = national average (100)
What This Comparison Actually Tells You
Rents creates the largest separation: Fort Collins-Loveland is 16.1 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.
Fort Collins-Loveland, CO is 2.5% more expensive than Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands, TX, a meaningful but not extreme shift. The move decision turns on which budget category creates the 2.5-point overall gap.
This route crosses the national benchmark: Fort Collins-Loveland 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 $102,534 in Fort Collins-Loveland.
Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands
98.6
Cost Index
Fort Collins-Loveland
101.1
Cost Index
Salary Equivalents
What a salary in Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands would need to be in Fort Collins-Loveland for the same purchasing power:
| In Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands | In Fort Collins-Loveland | Difference |
|---|---|---|
| $50,000 | $51,267 | +$1,267 |
| $75,000 | $76,900 | +$1,900 |
| $100,000 | $102,534 | +$2,534 |
| $150,000 | $153,801 | +$3,801 |
$ in Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands = in Fort Collins-Loveland
Same BEA Regional Price Parity ratio as the table above (98.6 → 101.1), computed live from your number, nothing is sent anywhere.
How the Price Gap Changed
Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands and Fort Collins-Loveland share 17 published annual releases from 2008 through 2024. Their overall gap widened, moving from 2.2 to 2.5 RPP points. Fort Collins-Loveland remained the higher-index metro in the latest release.
Rents changed the most within this pair: its gap moved 17.2 points between the first and latest shared releases (1.1 to 16.1 points). This describes a relative price-index history, not a forecast or a household budget.
| Release Year | Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands RPP | Fort Collins-Loveland RPP | Relative Gap |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2008 | 99.4 | 97.2 | 2.2 points Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands higher |
| 2012 | 100.0 | 104.7 | 4.7 points Fort Collins-Loveland higher |
| 2016 | 102.4 | 101.4 | 1.0 points Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands higher |
| 2020 | 100.0 | 98.5 | 1.5 points Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands higher |
| 2024 | 98.6 | 101.1 | 2.5 points Fort Collins-Loveland 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 Fort Collins-Loveland more expensive than Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands?
Fort Collins-Loveland is 2.5% more expensive than Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands. The overall cost index is 101.1 vs 98.6 (national average = 100).
What salary in Fort Collins-Loveland equals $100K in Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands?
A $100,000 salary in Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands has the same purchasing power as $102,534 in Fort Collins-Loveland. This is based on the BEA Regional Price Parity indexes.
How do rents compare between Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands and Fort Collins-Loveland?
Rents in Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands are indexed at 104.5 while Fort Collins-Loveland is at 120.6 (national average = 100). Fort Collins-Loveland 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.