Overall
Diff -0.4 RPP
Knoxville vs Tyler
Cost of living comparison based on BEA Regional Price Parities. Tyler is 0.4% less expensive than Knoxville.
0.4% less expensive
Tyler, TX is 0.4% less expensive than Knoxville, TN on BEA Regional Price Parities (overall RPP 92.2 vs 92.6). A $100,000 salary in Knoxville buys about the same as $99,554 in Tyler; the largest component gap is services.
- Overall RPP 92.6 (Knoxville) vs 92.2 (Tyler)
- $100k in Knoxville ≈ $99,554 purchasing power in Tyler
- Services drives the gap (+11.0 RPP points)
RPP parity plate
Pair TN:TX 92.6→92.2
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.
Knoxville
92.6
Cost Index
Tyler
92.2
Cost Index
What This Comparison Actually Tells You
Knoxville, TN and Tyler, TX are a photo finish on overall price level, only 0.4 RPP points apart. A salary conversion is therefore a fine adjustment, not evidence of a fundamentally different cost regime.
Services creates the largest separation: Tyler is 11.0 points higher. But services 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 Knoxville to $99,554 in Tyler, but it is not a personal spending weight.
Category Breakdown
Goods
Diff -2.5 RPP
Services
Diff +11.0 RPP
Rents
Diff -2.9 RPP
| Category | Knoxville | Tyler | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Overall | 92.6 | 92.2 | -0.4 |
| Goods | 96.2 | 93.8 | -2.5 |
| Services | 71.9 | 82.9 | +11.0 |
| Rents | 82.8 | 79.9 | -2.9 |
Visual Comparison
Overall
Knoxville 92.6
Tyler 92.2
Goods
Knoxville 96.2
Tyler 93.8
Services
Knoxville 71.9
Tyler 82.9
Rents
Knoxville 82.8
Tyler 79.9
Vertical line = national average (100)
How the Price Gap Changed
Knoxville and Tyler share 17 published annual releases from 2008 through 2024. Their overall gap narrowed, moving from 3.9 to 0.4 RPP points. Knoxville remained the higher-index metro in the latest release.
Rents changed the most within this pair: its gap moved 15.9 points between the first and latest shared releases (13.0 to 2.9 points). This describes a relative price-index history, not a forecast or a household budget.
| Release Year | Knoxville RPP | Tyler RPP | Relative Gap |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2008 | 92.0 | 95.9 | 3.9 points Tyler higher |
| 2012 | 94.7 | 95.9 | 1.1 points Tyler higher |
| 2016 | 93.7 | 97.0 | 3.3 points Tyler higher |
| 2020 | 89.3 | 95.4 | 6.1 points Tyler higher |
| 2024 | 92.6 | 92.2 | 0.4 points Knoxville 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 Knoxville would need to be in Tyler for the same purchasing power:
| In Knoxville | In Tyler | Difference |
|---|---|---|
| $50,000 | $49,777 | $-223 |
| $75,000 | $74,665 | $-335 |
| $100,000 | $99,554 | $-446 |
| $150,000 | $149,331 | $-669 |
$ in Knoxville = in Tyler
Same BEA Regional Price Parity ratio as the table above (92.6 → 92.2), computed live from your number, nothing is sent anywhere.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Tyler more expensive than Knoxville?
Tyler is 0.4% less expensive than Knoxville. The overall cost index is 92.2 vs 92.6 (national average = 100).
What salary in Tyler equals $100K in Knoxville?
A $100,000 salary in Knoxville has the same purchasing power as $99,554 in Tyler. This is based on the BEA Regional Price Parity indexes.
How do rents compare between Knoxville and Tyler?
Rents in Knoxville are indexed at 82.8 while Tyler is at 79.9 (national average = 100). Knoxville 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.