Overall
Diff -1.3 RPP
Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands vs Panama City-Panama City Beach
Cost of living comparison based on BEA Regional Price Parities. Panama City-Panama City Beach is 1.4% less expensive than Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands.
1.4% less expensive
Panama City-Panama City Beach, FL is 1.4% less expensive than Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands, TX on BEA Regional Price Parities (overall RPP 97.3 vs 98.6). A $100,000 salary in Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands buys about the same as $98,648 in Panama City-Panama City Beach; the largest component gap is rents.
- Overall RPP 98.6 (Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands) vs 97.3 (Panama City-Panama City Beach)
- $100k in Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands ≈ $98,648 purchasing power in Panama City-Panama City Beach
- Rents drives the gap (-8.1 RPP points)
RPP parity plate
Pair TX:FL 98.6→97.3
PHOTO-FINISH · CROSS-STATE · RENT-LED · BOTH-BELOW · PP-PAR
- PHOTO-FINISH Photo finish
- CROSS-STATE TX × FL
- RENT-LED Rent-led gap
- 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
Panama City-Panama City Beach
97.3
Cost Index
What This Comparison Actually Tells You
Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands, TX and Panama City-Panama City Beach, FL are a photo finish on overall price level, only 1.3 RPP points apart. A salary conversion is therefore a fine adjustment, not evidence of a fundamentally different cost regime.
Rents leads the difference, with Panama City-Panama City Beach 8.1 points lower 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.
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 housing-sensitive move, validate the rent gap first: HUD Fair Market Rent and the actual unit size can overturn what the blended index implies. On the BEA ratio alone, $100,000 in Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands corresponds to $98,648 in Panama City-Panama City Beach.
Category Breakdown
Goods
Diff -4.4 RPP
Services
Diff -7.2 RPP
Rents
Diff -8.1 RPP
| Category | Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands | Panama City-Panama City Beach | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Overall | 98.6 | 97.3 | -1.3 |
| Goods | 100.6 | 96.2 | -4.4 |
| Services | 95.3 | 88.1 | -7.2 |
| Rents | 104.5 | 96.4 | -8.1 |
Visual Comparison
Overall
Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands 98.6
Panama City-Panama City Beach 97.3
Goods
Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands 100.6
Panama City-Panama City Beach 96.2
Services
Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands 95.3
Panama City-Panama City Beach 88.1
Rents
Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands 104.5
Panama City-Panama City Beach 96.4
Vertical line = national average (100)
How the Price Gap Changed
Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands and Panama City-Panama City Beach share 17 published annual releases from 2008 through 2024. Their overall gap narrowed, moving from 2.7 to 1.3 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 5.8 points between the first and latest shared releases (1.4 to 4.4 points). This describes a relative price-index history, not a forecast or a household budget.
| Release Year | Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands RPP | Panama City-Panama City Beach RPP | Relative Gap |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2008 | 99.4 | 96.7 | 2.7 points Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands higher |
| 2012 | 100.0 | 96.8 | 3.2 points Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands higher |
| 2016 | 102.4 | 95.2 | 7.1 points Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands higher |
| 2020 | 100.0 | 94.6 | 5.4 points Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands higher |
| 2024 | 98.6 | 97.3 | 1.3 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.
Salary Equivalents
What a salary in Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands would need to be in Panama City-Panama City Beach for the same purchasing power:
| In Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands | In Panama City-Panama City Beach | Difference |
|---|---|---|
| $50,000 | $49,324 | $-676 |
| $75,000 | $73,986 | $-1,014 |
| $100,000 | $98,648 | $-1,352 |
| $150,000 | $147,973 | $-2,027 |
$ in Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands = in Panama City-Panama City Beach
Same BEA Regional Price Parity ratio as the table above (98.6 → 97.3), computed live from your number, nothing is sent anywhere.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Panama City-Panama City Beach more expensive than Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands?
Panama City-Panama City Beach is 1.4% less expensive than Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands. The overall cost index is 97.3 vs 98.6 (national average = 100).
What salary in Panama City-Panama City Beach equals $100K in Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands?
A $100,000 salary in Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands has the same purchasing power as $98,648 in Panama City-Panama City Beach. This is based on the BEA Regional Price Parity indexes.
How do rents compare between Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands and Panama City-Panama City Beach?
Rents in Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands are indexed at 104.5 while Panama City-Panama City Beach is at 96.4 (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.