Overall
- Kingsport-Bristol
- 86.4
Diff -0.5 RPP
Kingsport-Bristol vs Brownsville-Harlingen
Cost of living comparison based on BEA Regional Price Parities. Brownsville-Harlingen is 0.5% less expensive than Kingsport-Bristol.
0.5% less expensive
Brownsville-Harlingen, TX is 0.5% less expensive than Kingsport-Bristol, TN-VA on BEA Regional Price Parities (overall RPP 86.0 vs 86.4). A $100,000 salary in Kingsport-Bristol buys about the same as $99,454 in Brownsville-Harlingen; the largest component gap is services.
- Overall RPP 86.4 (Kingsport-Bristol) vs 86.0 (Brownsville-Harlingen)
- $100k in Kingsport-Bristol ≈ $99,454 purchasing power in Brownsville-Harlingen
- Services drives the gap (+5.2 RPP points)
RPP parity plate
Pair TN:TX 86.4→86.0
PHOTO-FINISH · CROSS-STATE · SPLIT-BUDGET · BOTH-BELOW · PP-PAR
- PHOTO-FINISH Photo finish
- CROSS-STATE TN × TX
- SPLIT-BUDGET Split budget
- BOTH-BELOW Both below 100
- 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.
Kingsport-Bristol
86.4
Cost Index
Brownsville-Harlingen
86.0
Cost Index
What This Comparison Actually Tells You
Kingsport-Bristol, TN-VA and Brownsville-Harlingen, TX are a photo finish on overall price level, only 0.5 RPP points apart. A salary conversion is therefore a fine adjustment, not evidence of a fundamentally different cost regime.
Services creates the largest separation: Brownsville-Harlingen is 5.2 points higher. But services and rents 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.
Both metros remain below the U.S. benchmark of 100. This comparison chooses between two below-average price levels; “more expensive” here does not mean nationally expensive.
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 Kingsport-Bristol to $99,454 in Brownsville-Harlingen, but it is not a personal spending weight.
Category Breakdown
Goods
- Kingsport-Bristol
- 96.2
Diff -2.5 RPP
Services
- Kingsport-Bristol
- 75.9
Diff +5.2 RPP
Rents
- Kingsport-Bristol
- 56.5
Diff +1.2 RPP
| Category | Kingsport-Bristol | Brownsville-Harlingen | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Overall | 86.4 | 86.0 | -0.5 |
| Goods | 96.2 | 93.8 | -2.5 |
| Services | 75.9 | 81.2 | +5.2 |
| Rents | 56.5 | 57.7 | +1.2 |
Visual Comparison
Overall
Kingsport-Bristol 86.4
Brownsville-Harlingen 86.0
Goods
Kingsport-Bristol 96.2
Brownsville-Harlingen 93.8
Services
Kingsport-Bristol 75.9
Brownsville-Harlingen 81.2
Rents
Kingsport-Bristol 56.5
Brownsville-Harlingen 57.7
Vertical line = national average (100)
Salary Equivalents
What a salary in Kingsport-Bristol would need to be in Brownsville-Harlingen for the same purchasing power:
| In Kingsport-Bristol | In Brownsville-Harlingen | Difference |
|---|---|---|
| $50,000 | $49,727 | $-273 |
| $75,000 | $74,591 | $-409 |
| $100,000 | $99,454 | $-546 |
| $150,000 | $149,181 | $-819 |
$ in Kingsport-Bristol = in Brownsville-Harlingen
Same BEA Regional Price Parity ratio as the table above (86.4 → 86.0), computed live from your number, nothing is sent anywhere.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Brownsville-Harlingen more expensive than Kingsport-Bristol?
Brownsville-Harlingen is 0.5% less expensive than Kingsport-Bristol. The overall cost index is 86.0 vs 86.4 (national average = 100).
What salary in Brownsville-Harlingen equals $100K in Kingsport-Bristol?
A $100,000 salary in Kingsport-Bristol has the same purchasing power as $99,454 in Brownsville-Harlingen. This is based on the BEA Regional Price Parity indexes.
How do rents compare between Kingsport-Bristol and Brownsville-Harlingen?
Rents in Kingsport-Bristol are indexed at 56.5 while Brownsville-Harlingen is at 57.7 (national average = 100). Brownsville-Harlingen 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.