Overall
- Mount Vernon-Anacortes
- 102.4
Diff +3.8 RPP
Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands vs Mount Vernon-Anacortes
Cost of living comparison based on BEA Regional Price Parities. Mount Vernon-Anacortes is 3.9% more expensive than Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands.
3.9% more expensive
Mount Vernon-Anacortes, WA is 3.9% more expensive than Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands, TX on BEA Regional Price Parities (overall RPP 102.4 vs 98.6). A $100,000 salary in Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands buys about the same as $103,867 in Mount Vernon-Anacortes; the largest component gap is goods.
- Overall RPP 98.6 (Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands) vs 102.4 (Mount Vernon-Anacortes)
- $100k in Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands ≈ $103,867 purchasing power in Mount Vernon-Anacortes
- Goods drives the gap (+4.4 RPP points)
RPP parity plate
Pair TX:WA 98.6→102.4
TIER-NEAR · CROSS-STATE · GOODS-LED · BENCH-CROSS · PP-SHIFT
- TIER-NEAR Near tier
- CROSS-STATE TX × WA
- GOODS-LED Goods-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
Mount Vernon-Anacortes, WA is 3.9% more expensive than Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands, TX, a meaningful but not extreme shift. The move decision turns on which budget category creates the 3.8-point overall gap.
This route crosses the national benchmark: Mount Vernon-Anacortes 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.
Goods leads the difference, with Mount Vernon-Anacortes 4.4 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 goods-led difference, remember that many tradable prices vary less by address than housing or labor-priced services. Use $103,867 in Mount Vernon-Anacortes as the BEA equivalent of $100,000 in Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands, then replace the national basket with your own.
Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands
98.6
Cost Index
Mount Vernon-Anacortes
102.4
Cost Index
Category Breakdown
Goods
- Mount Vernon-Anacortes
- 105.0
Diff +4.4 RPP
Services
Diff +0.7 RPP
Rents
- Mount Vernon-Anacortes
- 108.2
Diff +3.7 RPP
| Category | Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands | Mount Vernon-Anacortes | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Overall | 98.6 | 102.4 | +3.8 |
| Goods | 100.6 | 105.0 | +4.4 |
| Services | 95.3 | 96.0 | +0.7 |
| Rents | 104.5 | 108.2 | +3.7 |
Visual Comparison
Overall
Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands 98.6
Mount Vernon-Anacortes 102.4
Goods
Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands 100.6
Mount Vernon-Anacortes 105.0
Services
Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands 95.3
Mount Vernon-Anacortes 96.0
Rents
Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands 104.5
Mount Vernon-Anacortes 108.2
Vertical line = national average (100)
Salary Equivalents
What a salary in Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands would need to be in Mount Vernon-Anacortes for the same purchasing power:
| In Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands | In Mount Vernon-Anacortes | Difference |
|---|---|---|
| $50,000 | $51,934 | +$1,934 |
| $75,000 | $77,900 | +$2,900 |
| $100,000 | $103,867 | +$3,867 |
| $150,000 | $155,801 | +$5,801 |
$ in Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands = in Mount Vernon-Anacortes
Same BEA Regional Price Parity ratio as the table above (98.6 → 102.4), computed live from your number, nothing is sent anywhere.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Mount Vernon-Anacortes more expensive than Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands?
Mount Vernon-Anacortes is 3.9% more expensive than Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands. The overall cost index is 102.4 vs 98.6 (national average = 100).
What salary in Mount Vernon-Anacortes equals $100K in Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands?
A $100,000 salary in Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands has the same purchasing power as $103,867 in Mount Vernon-Anacortes. This is based on the BEA Regional Price Parity indexes.
How do rents compare between Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands and Mount Vernon-Anacortes?
Rents in Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands are indexed at 104.5 while Mount Vernon-Anacortes is at 108.2 (national average = 100). Mount Vernon-Anacortes 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.