Overall
- Hanford-Corcoran
- 101.6
Diff +3.0 RPP
Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands vs Hanford-Corcoran
Cost of living comparison based on BEA Regional Price Parities. Hanford-Corcoran is 3% more expensive than Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands.
3% more expensive
Hanford-Corcoran, CA is 3% more expensive than Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands, TX on BEA Regional Price Parities (overall RPP 101.6 vs 98.6). A $100,000 salary in Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands buys about the same as $103,024 in Hanford-Corcoran; the largest component gap is services.
- Overall RPP 98.6 (Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands) vs 101.6 (Hanford-Corcoran)
- $100k in Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands ≈ $103,024 purchasing power in Hanford-Corcoran
- Services drives the gap (+62.1 RPP points)
RPP parity plate
Pair TX:CA 98.6→101.6
TIER-NEAR · CROSS-STATE · SPLIT-BUDGET · BENCH-CROSS · PP-SHIFT
- TIER-NEAR Near tier
- CROSS-STATE TX × CA
- 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
- Hanford-Corcoran
- 105.2
Diff +4.5 RPP
Services
- Hanford-Corcoran
- 157.4
Diff +62.1 RPP
Rents
- Hanford-Corcoran
- 93.5
Diff -11.0 RPP
| Category | Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands | Hanford-Corcoran | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Overall | 98.6 | 101.6 | +3.0 |
| Goods | 100.6 | 105.2 | +4.5 |
| Services | 95.3 | 157.4 | +62.1 |
| Rents | 104.5 | 93.5 | -11.0 |
Visual Comparison
Overall
Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands 98.6
Hanford-Corcoran 101.6
Goods
Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands 100.6
Hanford-Corcoran 105.2
Services
Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands 95.3
Hanford-Corcoran 157.4
Rents
Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands 104.5
Hanford-Corcoran 93.5
Vertical line = national average (100)
What This Comparison Actually Tells You
Services creates the largest separation: Hanford-Corcoran is 62.1 points higher. But rents move against the overall direction, so this is a split budget rather than a clean across-the-board winner.
Hanford-Corcoran, CA is 3% more expensive than Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands, TX, a meaningful but not extreme shift. The move decision turns on which budget category creates the 3.0-point overall gap.
This route crosses the national benchmark: Hanford-Corcoran 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 $103,024 in Hanford-Corcoran, but it is not a personal spending weight.
Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands
98.6
Cost Index
Hanford-Corcoran
101.6
Cost Index
Salary Equivalents
What a salary in Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands would need to be in Hanford-Corcoran for the same purchasing power:
| In Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands | In Hanford-Corcoran | Difference |
|---|---|---|
| $50,000 | $51,512 | +$1,512 |
| $75,000 | $77,268 | +$2,268 |
| $100,000 | $103,024 | +$3,024 |
| $150,000 | $154,537 | +$4,537 |
$ in Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands = in Hanford-Corcoran
Same BEA Regional Price Parity ratio as the table above (98.6 → 101.6), computed live from your number, nothing is sent anywhere.
How the Price Gap Changed
Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands and Hanford-Corcoran share 17 published annual releases from 2008 through 2024. Their overall gap widened, moving from 1.3 to 3.0 RPP points. Hanford-Corcoran remained the higher-index metro in the latest release.
Services changed the most within this pair: its gap moved 74.8 points between the first and latest shared releases (12.7 to 62.1 points). This describes a relative price-index history, not a forecast or a household budget.
| Release Year | Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands RPP | Hanford-Corcoran RPP | Relative Gap |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2008 | 99.4 | 100.7 | 1.3 points Hanford-Corcoran higher |
| 2012 | 100.0 | 96.0 | 4.0 points Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands higher |
| 2016 | 102.4 | 97.1 | 5.3 points Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands higher |
| 2020 | 100.0 | 99.8 | 0.2 points Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands higher |
| 2024 | 98.6 | 101.6 | 3.0 points Hanford-Corcoran 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 Hanford-Corcoran more expensive than Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands?
Hanford-Corcoran is 3% more expensive than Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands. The overall cost index is 101.6 vs 98.6 (national average = 100).
What salary in Hanford-Corcoran equals $100K in Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands?
A $100,000 salary in Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands has the same purchasing power as $103,024 in Hanford-Corcoran. This is based on the BEA Regional Price Parity indexes.
How do rents compare between Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands and Hanford-Corcoran?
Rents in Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands are indexed at 104.5 while Hanford-Corcoran is at 93.5 (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.