Overall
- Portland-South Portland
- 101.9
Diff +3.2 RPP
Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands vs Portland-South Portland
Cost of living comparison based on BEA Regional Price Parities. Portland-South Portland is 3.3% more expensive than Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands.
3.3% more expensive
Portland-South Portland, ME is 3.3% more expensive than Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands, TX on BEA Regional Price Parities (overall RPP 101.9 vs 98.6). A $100,000 salary in Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands buys about the same as $103,274 in Portland-South Portland; the largest component gap is services.
- Overall RPP 98.6 (Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands) vs 101.9 (Portland-South Portland)
- $100k in Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands ≈ $103,274 purchasing power in Portland-South Portland
- Services drives the gap (+39.3 RPP points)
RPP parity plate
Pair TX:ME 98.6→101.9
TIER-NEAR · CROSS-STATE · SPLIT-BUDGET · BENCH-CROSS · PP-SHIFT
- TIER-NEAR Near tier
- CROSS-STATE TX × ME
- 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 -3.5 RPP
Services
- Portland-South Portland
- 134.6
Diff +39.3 RPP
Rents
- Portland-South Portland
- 105.2
Diff +0.7 RPP
| Category | Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands | Portland-South Portland | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Overall | 98.6 | 101.9 | +3.2 |
| Goods | 100.6 | 97.2 | -3.5 |
| Services | 95.3 | 134.6 | +39.3 |
| Rents | 104.5 | 105.2 | +0.7 |
Visual Comparison
Overall
Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands 98.6
Portland-South Portland 101.9
Goods
Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands 100.6
Portland-South Portland 97.2
Services
Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands 95.3
Portland-South Portland 134.6
Rents
Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands 104.5
Portland-South Portland 105.2
Vertical line = national average (100)
What This Comparison Actually Tells You
Services creates the largest separation: Portland-South Portland is 39.3 points higher. But goods move against the overall direction, so this is a split budget rather than a clean across-the-board winner.
Portland-South Portland, ME is 3.3% more expensive than Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands, TX, a meaningful but not extreme shift. The move decision turns on which budget category creates the 3.2-point overall gap.
This route crosses the national benchmark: Portland-South Portland 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 $103,274 in Portland-South Portland, but it is not a personal spending weight.
Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands
98.6
Cost Index
Portland-South Portland
101.9
Cost Index
Salary Equivalents
What a salary in Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands would need to be in Portland-South Portland for the same purchasing power:
| In Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands | In Portland-South Portland | Difference |
|---|---|---|
| $50,000 | $51,637 | +$1,637 |
| $75,000 | $77,455 | +$2,455 |
| $100,000 | $103,274 | +$3,274 |
| $150,000 | $154,911 | +$4,911 |
$ in Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands = in Portland-South Portland
Same BEA Regional Price Parity ratio as the table above (98.6 → 101.9), computed live from your number, nothing is sent anywhere.
How the Price Gap Changed
Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands and Portland-South Portland share 17 published annual releases from 2008 through 2024. Their overall gap held broadly steady, moving from 3.0 to 3.2 RPP points. Portland-South Portland remained the higher-index metro in the latest release.
Goods changed the most within this pair: its gap moved 7.9 points between the first and latest shared releases (4.4 to 3.5 points). This describes a relative price-index history, not a forecast or a household budget.
| Release Year | Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands RPP | Portland-South Portland RPP | Relative Gap |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2008 | 99.4 | 102.5 | 3.0 points Portland-South Portland higher |
| 2012 | 100.0 | 101.3 | 1.2 points Portland-South Portland higher |
| 2016 | 102.4 | 102.3 | 0.1 points Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands higher |
| 2020 | 100.0 | 102.6 | 2.6 points Portland-South Portland higher |
| 2024 | 98.6 | 101.9 | 3.2 points Portland-South Portland 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 Portland-South Portland more expensive than Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands?
Portland-South Portland is 3.3% more expensive than Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands. The overall cost index is 101.9 vs 98.6 (national average = 100).
What salary in Portland-South Portland equals $100K in Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands?
A $100,000 salary in Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands has the same purchasing power as $103,274 in Portland-South Portland. This is based on the BEA Regional Price Parity indexes.
How do rents compare between Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands and Portland-South Portland?
Rents in Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands are indexed at 104.5 while Portland-South Portland is at 105.2 (national average = 100). Portland-South Portland 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.