Overall
Diff -2.3 RPP
Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands vs Nashville-Davidson--Murfreesboro--Franklin
Cost of living comparison based on BEA Regional Price Parities. Nashville-Davidson--Murfreesboro--Franklin is 2.3% less expensive than Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands.
2.3% less expensive
Nashville-Davidson--Murfreesboro--Franklin, TN is 2.3% less expensive than Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands, TX on BEA Regional Price Parities (overall RPP 96.3 vs 98.6). A $100,000 salary in Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands buys about the same as $97,677 in Nashville-Davidson--Murfreesboro--Franklin; the largest component gap is services.
- Overall RPP 98.6 (Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands) vs 96.3 (Nashville-Davidson--Murfreesboro--Franklin)
- $100k in Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands ≈ $97,677 purchasing power in Nashville-Davidson--Murfreesboro--Franklin
- Services drives the gap (-23.3 RPP points)
RPP parity plate
Pair TX:TN 98.6→96.3
TIER-NEAR · CROSS-STATE · SPLIT-BUDGET · BOTH-BELOW · PP-PAR
- TIER-NEAR Near tier
- CROSS-STATE TX × TN
- 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.
Category Breakdown
Goods
Diff -4.4 RPP
Services
Diff -23.3 RPP
Rents
Diff +0.1 RPP
| Category | Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands | Nashville-Davidson--Murfreesboro--Franklin | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Overall | 98.6 | 96.3 | -2.3 |
| Goods | 100.6 | 96.2 | -4.4 |
| Services | 95.3 | 72.0 | -23.3 |
| Rents | 104.5 | 104.6 | +0.1 |
Visual Comparison
Overall
Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands 98.6
Nashville-Davidson--Murfreesboro--Franklin 96.3
Goods
Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands 100.6
Nashville-Davidson--Murfreesboro--Franklin 96.2
Services
Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands 95.3
Nashville-Davidson--Murfreesboro--Franklin 72.0
Rents
Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands 104.5
Nashville-Davidson--Murfreesboro--Franklin 104.6
Vertical line = national average (100)
What This Comparison Actually Tells You
Services creates the largest separation: Nashville-Davidson--Murfreesboro--Franklin is 23.3 points lower. But rents move against the overall direction, so this is a split budget rather than a clean across-the-board winner.
Nashville-Davidson--Murfreesboro--Franklin, TN is 2.3% less expensive than Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands, TX, a meaningful but not extreme shift. The move decision turns on which budget category creates the 2.3-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 $97,677 in Nashville-Davidson--Murfreesboro--Franklin, but it is not a personal spending weight.
Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands
98.6
Cost Index
Nashville-Davidson--Murfreesboro--Franklin
96.3
Cost Index
Salary Equivalents
What a salary in Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands would need to be in Nashville-Davidson--Murfreesboro--Franklin for the same purchasing power:
| In Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands | In Nashville-Davidson--Murfreesboro--Franklin | Difference |
|---|---|---|
| $50,000 | $48,839 | $-1,161 |
| $75,000 | $73,258 | $-1,742 |
| $100,000 | $97,677 | $-2,323 |
| $150,000 | $146,516 | $-3,484 |
$ in Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands = in Nashville-Davidson--Murfreesboro--Franklin
Same BEA Regional Price Parity ratio as the table above (98.6 → 96.3), computed live from your number, nothing is sent anywhere.
How the Price Gap Changed
Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands and Nashville-Davidson--Murfreesboro--Franklin share 17 published annual releases from 2008 through 2024. Their overall gap narrowed, moving from 3.8 to 2.3 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 10.6 points between the first and latest shared releases (10.5 to 0.1 points). This describes a relative price-index history, not a forecast or a household budget.
| Release Year | Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands RPP | Nashville-Davidson--Murfreesboro--Franklin RPP | Relative Gap |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2008 | 99.4 | 95.7 | 3.8 points Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands higher |
| 2012 | 100.0 | 97.4 | 2.7 points Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands higher |
| 2016 | 102.4 | 99.3 | 3.0 points Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands higher |
| 2020 | 100.0 | 95.9 | 4.0 points Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands higher |
| 2024 | 98.6 | 96.3 | 2.3 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 Nashville-Davidson--Murfreesboro--Franklin more expensive than Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands?
Nashville-Davidson--Murfreesboro--Franklin is 2.3% less expensive than Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands. The overall cost index is 96.3 vs 98.6 (national average = 100).
What salary in Nashville-Davidson--Murfreesboro--Franklin equals $100K in Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands?
A $100,000 salary in Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands has the same purchasing power as $97,677 in Nashville-Davidson--Murfreesboro--Franklin. This is based on the BEA Regional Price Parity indexes.
How do rents compare between Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands and Nashville-Davidson--Murfreesboro--Franklin?
Rents in Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands are indexed at 104.5 while Nashville-Davidson--Murfreesboro--Franklin is at 104.6 (national average = 100). Nashville-Davidson--Murfreesboro--Franklin 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.