Overall
- Wenatchee-East Wenatchee
- 103.9
Diff +5.2 RPP
Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands vs Wenatchee-East Wenatchee
Cost of living comparison based on BEA Regional Price Parities. Wenatchee-East Wenatchee is 5.3% more expensive than Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands.
5.3% more expensive
Wenatchee-East Wenatchee, WA is 5.3% more expensive than Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands, TX on BEA Regional Price Parities (overall RPP 103.9 vs 98.6). A $100,000 salary in Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands buys about the same as $105,299 in Wenatchee-East Wenatchee; the largest component gap is rents.
- Overall RPP 98.6 (Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands) vs 103.9 (Wenatchee-East Wenatchee)
- $100k in Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands ≈ $105,299 purchasing power in Wenatchee-East Wenatchee
- Rents drives the gap (+10.4 RPP points)
RPP parity plate
Pair TX:WA 98.6→103.9
TIER-NEAR · CROSS-STATE · RENT-LED · BENCH-CROSS · PP-SHIFT
- TIER-NEAR Near tier
- CROSS-STATE TX × WA
- RENT-LED Rent-led gap
- 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.
Salary Equivalents
What a salary in Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands would need to be in Wenatchee-East Wenatchee for the same purchasing power:
| In Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands | In Wenatchee-East Wenatchee | Difference |
|---|---|---|
| $50,000 | $52,649 | +$2,649 |
| $75,000 | $78,974 | +$3,974 |
| $100,000 | $105,299 | +$5,299 |
| $150,000 | $157,948 | +$7,948 |
$ in Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands = in Wenatchee-East Wenatchee
Same BEA Regional Price Parity ratio as the table above (98.6 → 103.9), computed live from your number, nothing is sent anywhere.
What This Comparison Actually Tells You
Wenatchee-East Wenatchee, WA is 5.3% more expensive than Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands, TX, a meaningful but not extreme shift. The move decision turns on which budget category creates the 5.2-point overall gap.
This route crosses the national benchmark: Wenatchee-East Wenatchee 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.
Rents leads the difference, with Wenatchee-East Wenatchee 10.4 points higher 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.
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 $105,299 in Wenatchee-East Wenatchee.
Category Breakdown
Goods
- Wenatchee-East Wenatchee
- 105.0
Diff +4.4 RPP
Services
- Wenatchee-East Wenatchee
- 100.6
Diff +5.3 RPP
Rents
- Wenatchee-East Wenatchee
- 115.0
Diff +10.4 RPP
| Category | Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands | Wenatchee-East Wenatchee | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Overall | 98.6 | 103.9 | +5.2 |
| Goods | 100.6 | 105.0 | +4.4 |
| Services | 95.3 | 100.6 | +5.3 |
| Rents | 104.5 | 115.0 | +10.4 |
Visual Comparison
Overall
Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands 98.6
Wenatchee-East Wenatchee 103.9
Goods
Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands 100.6
Wenatchee-East Wenatchee 105.0
Services
Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands 95.3
Wenatchee-East Wenatchee 100.6
Rents
Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands 104.5
Wenatchee-East Wenatchee 115.0
Vertical line = national average (100)
Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands
98.6
Cost Index
Wenatchee-East Wenatchee
103.9
Cost Index
How the Price Gap Changed
Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands and Wenatchee-East Wenatchee share 17 published annual releases from 2008 through 2024. Their overall gap widened, moving from 1.6 to 5.2 RPP points. Wenatchee-East Wenatchee remained the higher-index metro in the latest release.
Services changed the most within this pair: its gap moved 40.6 points between the first and latest shared releases (35.3 to 5.3 points). This describes a relative price-index history, not a forecast or a household budget.
| Release Year | Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands RPP | Wenatchee-East Wenatchee RPP | Relative Gap |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2008 | 99.4 | 97.8 | 1.6 points Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands higher |
| 2012 | 100.0 | 97.0 | 3.1 points Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands higher |
| 2016 | 102.4 | 97.6 | 4.7 points Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands higher |
| 2020 | 100.0 | 102.4 | 2.4 points Wenatchee-East Wenatchee higher |
| 2024 | 98.6 | 103.9 | 5.2 points Wenatchee-East Wenatchee 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 Wenatchee-East Wenatchee more expensive than Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands?
Wenatchee-East Wenatchee is 5.3% more expensive than Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands. The overall cost index is 103.9 vs 98.6 (national average = 100).
What salary in Wenatchee-East Wenatchee equals $100K in Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands?
A $100,000 salary in Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands has the same purchasing power as $105,299 in Wenatchee-East Wenatchee. This is based on the BEA Regional Price Parity indexes.
How do rents compare between Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands and Wenatchee-East Wenatchee?
Rents in Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands are indexed at 104.5 while Wenatchee-East Wenatchee is at 115.0 (national average = 100). Wenatchee-East Wenatchee 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.