Overall
- Lewiston-Auburn
- 94.7
Diff -3.9 RPP
Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands vs Lewiston-Auburn
Cost of living comparison based on BEA Regional Price Parities. Lewiston-Auburn is 3.9% less expensive than Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands.
3.9% less expensive
Lewiston-Auburn, ME is 3.9% less expensive than Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands, TX on BEA Regional Price Parities (overall RPP 94.7 vs 98.6). A $100,000 salary in Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands buys about the same as $96,053 in Lewiston-Auburn; the largest component gap is services.
- Overall RPP 98.6 (Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands) vs 94.7 (Lewiston-Auburn)
- $100k in Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands ≈ $96,053 purchasing power in Lewiston-Auburn
- Services drives the gap (+39.1 RPP points)
RPP parity plate
Pair TX:ME 98.6→94.7
TIER-NEAR · CROSS-STATE · SPLIT-BUDGET · BOTH-BELOW · PP-SHIFT
- TIER-NEAR Near tier
- CROSS-STATE TX × ME
- SPLIT-BUDGET Split budget
- BOTH-BELOW Both below 100
- 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
- Lewiston-Auburn
- 97.2
Diff -3.5 RPP
Services
- Lewiston-Auburn
- 134.4
Diff +39.1 RPP
Rents
- Lewiston-Auburn
- 69.0
Diff -35.5 RPP
| Category | Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands | Lewiston-Auburn | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Overall | 98.6 | 94.7 | -3.9 |
| Goods | 100.6 | 97.2 | -3.5 |
| Services | 95.3 | 134.4 | +39.1 |
| Rents | 104.5 | 69.0 | -35.5 |
Visual Comparison
Overall
Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands 98.6
Lewiston-Auburn 94.7
Goods
Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands 100.6
Lewiston-Auburn 97.2
Services
Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands 95.3
Lewiston-Auburn 134.4
Rents
Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands 104.5
Lewiston-Auburn 69.0
Vertical line = national average (100)
What This Comparison Actually Tells You
Services creates the largest separation: Lewiston-Auburn is 39.1 points higher. But services move against the overall direction, so this is a split budget rather than a clean across-the-board winner.
Lewiston-Auburn, ME is 3.9% less expensive than Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands, TX, a meaningful but not extreme shift. The move decision turns on which budget category creates the 3.9-point overall gap.
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.
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 $96,053 in Lewiston-Auburn, but it is not a personal spending weight.
Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands
98.6
Cost Index
Lewiston-Auburn
94.7
Cost Index
Salary Equivalents
What a salary in Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands would need to be in Lewiston-Auburn for the same purchasing power:
| In Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands | In Lewiston-Auburn | Difference |
|---|---|---|
| $50,000 | $48,026 | $-1,974 |
| $75,000 | $72,040 | $-2,960 |
| $100,000 | $96,053 | $-3,947 |
| $150,000 | $144,079 | $-5,921 |
$ in Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands = in Lewiston-Auburn
Same BEA Regional Price Parity ratio as the table above (98.6 → 94.7), computed live from your number, nothing is sent anywhere.
How the Price Gap Changed
Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands and Lewiston-Auburn share 17 published annual releases from 2008 through 2024. Their overall gap widened, moving from 1.7 to 3.9 RPP points. Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands remained the higher-index metro in the latest release.
Rents changed the most within this pair: its gap moved 14.3 points between the first and latest shared releases (21.2 to 35.5 points). This describes a relative price-index history, not a forecast or a household budget.
| Release Year | Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands RPP | Lewiston-Auburn RPP | Relative Gap |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2008 | 99.4 | 97.7 | 1.7 points Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands higher |
| 2012 | 100.0 | 98.8 | 1.3 points Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands higher |
| 2016 | 102.4 | 96.6 | 5.8 points Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands higher |
| 2020 | 100.0 | 99.7 | 0.3 points Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands higher |
| 2024 | 98.6 | 94.7 | 3.9 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.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Lewiston-Auburn more expensive than Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands?
Lewiston-Auburn is 3.9% less expensive than Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands. The overall cost index is 94.7 vs 98.6 (national average = 100).
What salary in Lewiston-Auburn equals $100K in Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands?
A $100,000 salary in Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands has the same purchasing power as $96,053 in Lewiston-Auburn. This is based on the BEA Regional Price Parity indexes.
How do rents compare between Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands and Lewiston-Auburn?
Rents in Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands are indexed at 104.5 while Lewiston-Auburn is at 69.0 (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.