Overall
Diff +10.8 RPP
Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands vs Kiryas Joel-Poughkeepsie-Newburgh
Cost of living comparison based on BEA Regional Price Parities. Kiryas Joel-Poughkeepsie-Newburgh is 10.9% more expensive than Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands.
10.9% more expensive
Kiryas Joel-Poughkeepsie-Newburgh, NY is 10.9% more expensive than Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands, TX on BEA Regional Price Parities (overall RPP 109.4 vs 98.6). A $100,000 salary in Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands buys about the same as $110,943 in Kiryas Joel-Poughkeepsie-Newburgh; the largest component gap is services.
- Overall RPP 98.6 (Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands) vs 109.4 (Kiryas Joel-Poughkeepsie-Newburgh)
- $100k in Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands ≈ $110,943 purchasing power in Kiryas Joel-Poughkeepsie-Newburgh
- Services drives the gap (+41.5 RPP points)
RPP parity plate
Pair TX:NY 98.6→109.4
TIER-GAP · CROSS-STATE · SERVICES-LED · BENCH-CROSS · PP-SHIFT
- TIER-GAP Clear tier gap
- CROSS-STATE TX × NY
- SERVICES-LED Services-led gap
- 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.
What This Comparison Actually Tells You
Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands, TX and Kiryas Joel-Poughkeepsie-Newburgh, NY sit in clearly different price tiers, separated by 10.8 RPP points. At this distance, treating the same nominal salary as equivalent would materially change purchasing power.
This route crosses the national benchmark: Kiryas Joel-Poughkeepsie-Newburgh 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.
Services leads the difference, with Kiryas Joel-Poughkeepsie-Newburgh 41.5 points higher than Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands. Goods, services, and rents all point in the same broad direction, making the headline comparison more transferable across household types.
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 $110,943 in Kiryas Joel-Poughkeepsie-Newburgh, but it is not a personal spending weight.
How the Price Gap Changed
Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands and Kiryas Joel-Poughkeepsie-Newburgh share 17 published annual releases from 2008 through 2024. Their overall gap narrowed, moving from 99.4 to 10.8 RPP points. Kiryas Joel-Poughkeepsie-Newburgh remained the higher-index metro in the latest release.
Services changed the most within this pair: its gap moved 142.9 points between the first and latest shared releases (101.4 to 41.5 points). This describes a relative price-index history, not a forecast or a household budget.
| Release Year | Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands RPP | Kiryas Joel-Poughkeepsie-Newburgh RPP | Relative Gap |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2008 | 99.4 | 0.0 | 99.4 points Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands higher |
| 2012 | 100.0 | 0.0 | 100.0 points Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands higher |
| 2016 | 102.4 | 109.8 | 7.4 points Kiryas Joel-Poughkeepsie-Newburgh higher |
| 2020 | 100.0 | 109.7 | 9.7 points Kiryas Joel-Poughkeepsie-Newburgh higher |
| 2024 | 98.6 | 109.4 | 10.8 points Kiryas Joel-Poughkeepsie-Newburgh 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.
Category Breakdown
Goods
Diff +9.6 RPP
Services
Diff +41.5 RPP
Rents
Diff +11.3 RPP
| Category | Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands | Kiryas Joel-Poughkeepsie-Newburgh | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Overall | 98.6 | 109.4 | +10.8 |
| Goods | 100.6 | 110.3 | +9.6 |
| Services | 95.3 | 136.8 | +41.5 |
| Rents | 104.5 | 115.8 | +11.3 |
Visual Comparison
Overall
Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands 98.6
Kiryas Joel-Poughkeepsie-Newburgh 109.4
Goods
Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands 100.6
Kiryas Joel-Poughkeepsie-Newburgh 110.3
Services
Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands 95.3
Kiryas Joel-Poughkeepsie-Newburgh 136.8
Rents
Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands 104.5
Kiryas Joel-Poughkeepsie-Newburgh 115.8
Vertical line = national average (100)
Salary Equivalents
What a salary in Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands would need to be in Kiryas Joel-Poughkeepsie-Newburgh for the same purchasing power:
| In Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands | In Kiryas Joel-Poughkeepsie-Newburgh | Difference |
|---|---|---|
| $50,000 | $55,472 | +$5,472 |
| $75,000 | $83,207 | +$8,207 |
| $100,000 | $110,943 | +$10,943 |
| $150,000 | $166,415 | +$16,415 |
$ in Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands = in Kiryas Joel-Poughkeepsie-Newburgh
Same BEA Regional Price Parity ratio as the table above (98.6 → 109.4), computed live from your number, nothing is sent anywhere.
Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands
98.6
Cost Index
Kiryas Joel-Poughkeepsie-Newburgh
109.4
Cost Index
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Kiryas Joel-Poughkeepsie-Newburgh more expensive than Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands?
Kiryas Joel-Poughkeepsie-Newburgh is 10.9% more expensive than Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands. The overall cost index is 109.4 vs 98.6 (national average = 100).
What salary in Kiryas Joel-Poughkeepsie-Newburgh equals $100K in Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands?
A $100,000 salary in Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands has the same purchasing power as $110,943 in Kiryas Joel-Poughkeepsie-Newburgh. This is based on the BEA Regional Price Parity indexes.
How do rents compare between Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands and Kiryas Joel-Poughkeepsie-Newburgh?
Rents in Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands are indexed at 104.5 while Kiryas Joel-Poughkeepsie-Newburgh is at 115.8 (national average = 100). Kiryas Joel-Poughkeepsie-Newburgh 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.