Overall
- Lancaster
- 98.3
Diff -0.4 RPP
Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands vs Lancaster
Cost of living comparison based on BEA Regional Price Parities. Lancaster is 0.4% less expensive than Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands.
0.4% less expensive
Lancaster, PA is 0.4% less expensive than Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands, TX on BEA Regional Price Parities (overall RPP 98.3 vs 98.6). A $100,000 salary in Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands buys about the same as $99,623 in Lancaster; the largest component gap is services.
- Overall RPP 98.6 (Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands) vs 98.3 (Lancaster)
- $100k in Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands ≈ $99,623 purchasing power in Lancaster
- Services drives the gap (+12.0 RPP points)
RPP parity plate
Pair TX:PA 98.6→98.3
PHOTO-FINISH · CROSS-STATE · SPLIT-BUDGET · BOTH-BELOW · PP-PAR
- PHOTO-FINISH Photo finish
- CROSS-STATE TX × PA
- 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
Lancaster
98.3
Cost Index
What This Comparison Actually Tells You
Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands, TX and Lancaster, PA are a photo finish on overall price level, only 0.4 RPP points apart. A salary conversion is therefore a fine adjustment, not evidence of a fundamentally different cost regime.
Services creates the largest separation: Lancaster is 12.0 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.
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 $99,623 in Lancaster, but it is not a personal spending weight.
Category Breakdown
Goods
- Lancaster
- 100.7
Diff +0.0 RPP
Services
- Lancaster
- 107.3
Diff +12.0 RPP
Rents
- Lancaster
- 93.8
Diff -10.7 RPP
| Category | Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands | Lancaster | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Overall | 98.6 | 98.3 | -0.4 |
| Goods | 100.6 | 100.7 | +0.0 |
| Services | 95.3 | 107.3 | +12.0 |
| Rents | 104.5 | 93.8 | -10.7 |
Visual Comparison
Overall
Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands 98.6
Lancaster 98.3
Goods
Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands 100.6
Lancaster 100.7
Services
Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands 95.3
Lancaster 107.3
Rents
Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands 104.5
Lancaster 93.8
Vertical line = national average (100)
How the Price Gap Changed
Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands and Lancaster share 17 published annual releases from 2008 through 2024. Their overall gap narrowed, moving from 0.7 to 0.4 RPP points. Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands remained the higher-index metro in the latest release.
Goods changed the most within this pair: its gap moved 5.0 points between the first and latest shared releases (5.1 to 0.0 points). This describes a relative price-index history, not a forecast or a household budget.
| Release Year | Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands RPP | Lancaster RPP | Relative Gap |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2008 | 99.4 | 100.2 | 0.7 points Lancaster higher |
| 2012 | 100.0 | 97.8 | 2.3 points Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands higher |
| 2016 | 102.4 | 99.4 | 3.0 points Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands higher |
| 2020 | 100.0 | 97.9 | 2.1 points Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands higher |
| 2024 | 98.6 | 98.3 | 0.4 points Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands 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 Lancaster for the same purchasing power:
| In Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands | In Lancaster | Difference |
|---|---|---|
| $50,000 | $49,811 | $-189 |
| $75,000 | $74,717 | $-283 |
| $100,000 | $99,623 | $-377 |
| $150,000 | $149,434 | $-566 |
$ in Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands = in Lancaster
Same BEA Regional Price Parity ratio as the table above (98.6 → 98.3), computed live from your number, nothing is sent anywhere.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Lancaster more expensive than Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands?
Lancaster is 0.4% less expensive than Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands. The overall cost index is 98.3 vs 98.6 (national average = 100).
What salary in Lancaster equals $100K in Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands?
A $100,000 salary in Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands has the same purchasing power as $99,623 in Lancaster. This is based on the BEA Regional Price Parity indexes.
How do rents compare between Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands and Lancaster?
Rents in Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands are indexed at 104.5 while Lancaster is at 93.8 (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.