Overall
- Punta Gorda
- 100.5
Diff +1.9 RPP
Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands vs Punta Gorda
Cost of living comparison based on BEA Regional Price Parities. Punta Gorda is 1.9% more expensive than Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands.
1.9% more expensive
Punta Gorda, FL is 1.9% more expensive than Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands, TX on BEA Regional Price Parities (overall RPP 100.5 vs 98.6). A $100,000 salary in Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands buys about the same as $101,922 in Punta Gorda; the largest component gap is rents.
- Overall RPP 98.6 (Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands) vs 100.5 (Punta Gorda)
- $100k in Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands ≈ $101,922 purchasing power in Punta Gorda
- Rents drives the gap (+8.8 RPP points)
RPP parity plate
Pair TX:FL 98.6→100.5
PHOTO-FINISH · CROSS-STATE · SPLIT-BUDGET · BENCH-CROSS · PP-PAR
- PHOTO-FINISH Photo finish
- CROSS-STATE TX × FL
- SPLIT-BUDGET Split budget
- BENCH-CROSS Benchmark cross
- 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
Punta Gorda
100.5
Cost Index
What This Comparison Actually Tells You
Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands, TX and Punta Gorda, FL are a photo finish on overall price level, only 1.9 RPP points apart. A salary conversion is therefore a fine adjustment, not evidence of a fundamentally different cost regime.
Rents creates the largest separation: Punta Gorda is 8.8 points higher. But services and goods move against the overall direction, so this is a split budget rather than a clean across-the-board winner.
Comparable population context is incomplete for this pair, so no market-scale explanation is inferred from the price indexes.
This route crosses the national benchmark: Punta Gorda 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.
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 $101,922 in Punta Gorda.
Category Breakdown
Goods
- Punta Gorda
- 96.2
Diff -4.4 RPP
Services
- Punta Gorda
- 87.3
Diff -7.9 RPP
Rents
- Punta Gorda
- 113.3
Diff +8.8 RPP
| Category | Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands | Punta Gorda | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Overall | 98.6 | 100.5 | +1.9 |
| Goods | 100.6 | 96.2 | -4.4 |
| Services | 95.3 | 87.3 | -7.9 |
| Rents | 104.5 | 113.3 | +8.8 |
Visual Comparison
Overall
Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands 98.6
Punta Gorda 100.5
Goods
Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands 100.6
Punta Gorda 96.2
Services
Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands 95.3
Punta Gorda 87.3
Rents
Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands 104.5
Punta Gorda 113.3
Vertical line = national average (100)
How the Price Gap Changed
Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands and Punta Gorda share 17 published annual releases from 2008 through 2024. Their overall gap narrowed, moving from 1.9 to 1.9 RPP points. Punta Gorda remained the higher-index metro in the latest release.
Rents changed the most within this pair: its gap moved 14.6 points between the first and latest shared releases (5.9 to 8.8 points). This describes a relative price-index history, not a forecast or a household budget.
| Release Year | Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands RPP | Punta Gorda RPP | Relative Gap |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2008 | 99.4 | 97.5 | 1.9 points Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands higher |
| 2012 | 100.0 | 97.9 | 2.2 points Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands higher |
| 2016 | 102.4 | 98.7 | 3.6 points Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands higher |
| 2020 | 100.0 | 98.9 | 1.1 points Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands higher |
| 2024 | 98.6 | 100.5 | 1.9 points Punta Gorda 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 Punta Gorda for the same purchasing power:
| In Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands | In Punta Gorda | Difference |
|---|---|---|
| $50,000 | $50,961 | +$961 |
| $75,000 | $76,442 | +$1,442 |
| $100,000 | $101,922 | +$1,922 |
| $150,000 | $152,884 | +$2,884 |
$ in Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands = in Punta Gorda
Same BEA Regional Price Parity ratio as the table above (98.6 → 100.5), computed live from your number, nothing is sent anywhere.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Punta Gorda more expensive than Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands?
Punta Gorda is 1.9% more expensive than Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands. The overall cost index is 100.5 vs 98.6 (national average = 100).
What salary in Punta Gorda equals $100K in Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands?
A $100,000 salary in Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands has the same purchasing power as $101,922 in Punta Gorda. This is based on the BEA Regional Price Parity indexes.
How do rents compare between Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands and Punta Gorda?
Rents in Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands are indexed at 104.5 while Punta Gorda is at 113.3 (national average = 100). Punta Gorda 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.