Overall
Diff +3.9 RPP
Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands vs Philadelphia-Camden-Wilmington
Cost of living comparison based on BEA Regional Price Parities. Philadelphia-Camden-Wilmington is 4% more expensive than Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands.
4% more expensive
Philadelphia-Camden-Wilmington, PA-NJ-DE-MD is 4% more expensive than Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands, TX on BEA Regional Price Parities (overall RPP 102.6 vs 98.6). A $100,000 salary in Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands buys about the same as $103,980 in Philadelphia-Camden-Wilmington; the largest component gap is services.
- Overall RPP 98.6 (Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands) vs 102.6 (Philadelphia-Camden-Wilmington)
- $100k in Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands ≈ $103,980 purchasing power in Philadelphia-Camden-Wilmington
- Services drives the gap (+19.1 RPP points)
RPP parity plate
Pair TX:PA 98.6→102.6
TIER-NEAR · CROSS-STATE · SPLIT-BUDGET · BENCH-CROSS · PP-SHIFT
- TIER-NEAR Near tier
- CROSS-STATE TX × PA
- SPLIT-BUDGET Split budget
- 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.
Category Breakdown
Goods
Diff -3.8 RPP
Services
Diff +19.1 RPP
Rents
Diff +8.6 RPP
| Category | Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands | Philadelphia-Camden-Wilmington | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Overall | 98.6 | 102.6 | +3.9 |
| Goods | 100.6 | 96.8 | -3.8 |
| Services | 95.3 | 114.4 | +19.1 |
| Rents | 104.5 | 113.1 | +8.6 |
Visual Comparison
Overall
Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands 98.6
Philadelphia-Camden-Wilmington 102.6
Goods
Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands 100.6
Philadelphia-Camden-Wilmington 96.8
Services
Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands 95.3
Philadelphia-Camden-Wilmington 114.4
Rents
Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands 104.5
Philadelphia-Camden-Wilmington 113.1
Vertical line = national average (100)
What This Comparison Actually Tells You
Services creates the largest separation: Philadelphia-Camden-Wilmington is 19.1 points higher. But goods move against the overall direction, so this is a split budget rather than a clean across-the-board winner.
Philadelphia-Camden-Wilmington, PA-NJ-DE-MD is 4% more expensive than Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands, TX, a meaningful but not extreme shift. The move decision turns on which budget category creates the 3.9-point overall gap.
This route crosses the national benchmark: Philadelphia-Camden-Wilmington 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.
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 $103,980 in Philadelphia-Camden-Wilmington, but it is not a personal spending weight.
Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands
98.6
Cost Index
Philadelphia-Camden-Wilmington
102.6
Cost Index
Salary Equivalents
What a salary in Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands would need to be in Philadelphia-Camden-Wilmington for the same purchasing power:
| In Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands | In Philadelphia-Camden-Wilmington | Difference |
|---|---|---|
| $50,000 | $51,990 | +$1,990 |
| $75,000 | $77,985 | +$2,985 |
| $100,000 | $103,980 | +$3,980 |
| $150,000 | $155,969 | +$5,969 |
$ in Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands = in Philadelphia-Camden-Wilmington
Same BEA Regional Price Parity ratio as the table above (98.6 → 102.6), computed live from your number, nothing is sent anywhere.
How the Price Gap Changed
Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands and Philadelphia-Camden-Wilmington share 17 published annual releases from 2008 through 2024. Their overall gap narrowed, moving from 7.0 to 3.9 RPP points. Philadelphia-Camden-Wilmington remained the higher-index metro in the latest release.
Goods changed the most within this pair: its gap moved 16.4 points between the first and latest shared releases (12.6 to 3.8 points). This describes a relative price-index history, not a forecast or a household budget.
| Release Year | Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands RPP | Philadelphia-Camden-Wilmington RPP | Relative Gap |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2008 | 99.4 | 106.4 | 7.0 points Philadelphia-Camden-Wilmington higher |
| 2012 | 100.0 | 103.9 | 3.8 points Philadelphia-Camden-Wilmington higher |
| 2016 | 102.4 | 102.5 | 0.2 points Philadelphia-Camden-Wilmington higher |
| 2020 | 100.0 | 102.3 | 2.4 points Philadelphia-Camden-Wilmington higher |
| 2024 | 98.6 | 102.6 | 3.9 points Philadelphia-Camden-Wilmington 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 Philadelphia-Camden-Wilmington more expensive than Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands?
Philadelphia-Camden-Wilmington is 4% more expensive than Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands. The overall cost index is 102.6 vs 98.6 (national average = 100).
What salary in Philadelphia-Camden-Wilmington equals $100K in Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands?
A $100,000 salary in Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands has the same purchasing power as $103,980 in Philadelphia-Camden-Wilmington. This is based on the BEA Regional Price Parity indexes.
How do rents compare between Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands and Philadelphia-Camden-Wilmington?
Rents in Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands are indexed at 104.5 while Philadelphia-Camden-Wilmington is at 113.1 (national average = 100). Philadelphia-Camden-Wilmington 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.