Overall
- Worcester
- 102.5
Diff +3.9 RPP
Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands vs Worcester
Cost of living comparison based on BEA Regional Price Parities. Worcester is 3.9% more expensive than Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands.
3.9% more expensive
Worcester, MA is 3.9% more expensive than Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands, TX on BEA Regional Price Parities (overall RPP 102.5 vs 98.6). A $100,000 salary in Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands buys about the same as $103,948 in Worcester; the largest component gap is services.
- Overall RPP 98.6 (Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands) vs 102.5 (Worcester)
- $100k in Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands ≈ $103,948 purchasing power in Worcester
- Services drives the gap (+59.9 RPP points)
RPP parity plate
Pair TX:MA 98.6→102.5
TIER-NEAR · CROSS-STATE · SPLIT-BUDGET · BENCH-CROSS · PP-SHIFT
- TIER-NEAR Near tier
- CROSS-STATE TX × MA
- 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
- Worcester
- 97.0
Diff -3.6 RPP
Services
- Worcester
- 155.2
Diff +59.9 RPP
Rents
- Worcester
- 113.0
Diff +8.5 RPP
| Category | Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands | Worcester | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Overall | 98.6 | 102.5 | +3.9 |
| Goods | 100.6 | 97.0 | -3.6 |
| Services | 95.3 | 155.2 | +59.9 |
| Rents | 104.5 | 113.0 | +8.5 |
Visual Comparison
Overall
Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands 98.6
Worcester 102.5
Goods
Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands 100.6
Worcester 97.0
Services
Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands 95.3
Worcester 155.2
Rents
Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands 104.5
Worcester 113.0
Vertical line = national average (100)
What This Comparison Actually Tells You
Services creates the largest separation: Worcester is 59.9 points higher. But goods move against the overall direction, so this is a split budget rather than a clean across-the-board winner.
Worcester, MA is 3.9% 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: Worcester 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 $103,948 in Worcester, but it is not a personal spending weight.
Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands
98.6
Cost Index
Worcester
102.5
Cost Index
Salary Equivalents
What a salary in Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands would need to be in Worcester for the same purchasing power:
| In Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands | In Worcester | Difference |
|---|---|---|
| $50,000 | $51,974 | +$1,974 |
| $75,000 | $77,961 | +$2,961 |
| $100,000 | $103,948 | +$3,948 |
| $150,000 | $155,922 | +$5,922 |
$ in Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands = in Worcester
Same BEA Regional Price Parity ratio as the table above (98.6 → 102.5), computed live from your number, nothing is sent anywhere.
How the Price Gap Changed
Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands and Worcester share 17 published annual releases from 2008 through 2024. Their overall gap narrowed, moving from 5.2 to 3.9 RPP points. Worcester remained the higher-index metro in the latest release.
Services changed the most within this pair: its gap moved 9.2 points between the first and latest shared releases (50.8 to 59.9 points). This describes a relative price-index history, not a forecast or a household budget.
| Release Year | Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands RPP | Worcester RPP | Relative Gap |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2008 | 99.4 | 104.7 | 5.2 points Worcester higher |
| 2012 | 100.0 | 103.0 | 3.0 points Worcester higher |
| 2016 | 102.4 | 106.3 | 3.9 points Worcester higher |
| 2020 | 100.0 | 101.8 | 1.8 points Worcester higher |
| 2024 | 98.6 | 102.5 | 3.9 points Worcester 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 Worcester more expensive than Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands?
Worcester is 3.9% more expensive than Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands. The overall cost index is 102.5 vs 98.6 (national average = 100).
What salary in Worcester equals $100K in Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands?
A $100,000 salary in Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands has the same purchasing power as $103,948 in Worcester. This is based on the BEA Regional Price Parity indexes.
How do rents compare between Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands and Worcester?
Rents in Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands are indexed at 104.5 while Worcester is at 113.0 (national average = 100). Worcester 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.