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Lawrence vs El Paso

Cost of living comparison based on BEA Regional Price Parities. El Paso is 0.4% less expensive than Lawrence.

0.4% less expensive

El Paso, TX is 0.4% less expensive than Lawrence, KS on BEA Regional Price Parities (overall RPP 89.9 vs 90.2). A $100,000 salary in Lawrence buys about the same as $99,633 in El Paso; the largest component gap is services.

  • Overall RPP 90.2 (Lawrence) vs 89.9 (El Paso)
  • $100k in Lawrence ≈ $99,633 purchasing power in El Paso
  • Services drives the gap (-6.7 RPP points)

RPP parity plate

Pair KS:TX 90.2→89.9

PHOTO-FINISH · CROSS-STATE · SERVICES-LED · BOTH-BELOW · PP-PAR

  • PHOTO-FINISH Photo finish
  • CROSS-STATE KS × TX
  • SERVICES-LED Services-led gap
  • 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.

Lawrence
90.2
Cost Index
El Paso
89.9
Cost Index

What This Comparison Actually Tells You

Lawrence, KS and El Paso, TX are a photo finish on overall price level, only 0.3 RPP points apart. A salary conversion is therefore a fine adjustment, not evidence of a fundamentally different cost regime.

Services leads the difference, with El Paso 6.7 points lower than Lawrence. 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.

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 Lawrence to $99,633 in El Paso, but it is not a personal spending weight.

Category Breakdown

Visual Comparison

Overall
Lawrence
90.2
El Paso
89.9
Goods
Lawrence
94.0
El Paso
93.8
Services
Lawrence
89.3
El Paso
82.6
Rents
Lawrence
71.6
El Paso
71.2

Vertical line = national average (100)

Salary Equivalents

What a salary in Lawrence would need to be in El Paso for the same purchasing power:

In Lawrence In El Paso Difference
$50,000 $49,817 $-183
$75,000 $74,725 $-275
$100,000 $99,633 $-367
$150,000 $149,450 $-550
$ in Lawrence = – in El Paso

Same BEA Regional Price Parity ratio as the table above (90.2 → 89.9), computed live from your number, nothing is sent anywhere.

Reverse: El Paso → Lawrence Lawrence Details El Paso Details

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Frequently Asked Questions

Is El Paso more expensive than Lawrence?

El Paso is 0.4% less expensive than Lawrence. The overall cost index is 89.9 vs 90.2 (national average = 100).

What salary in El Paso equals $100K in Lawrence?

A $100,000 salary in Lawrence has the same purchasing power as $99,633 in El Paso. This is based on the BEA Regional Price Parity indexes.

How do rents compare between Lawrence and El Paso?

Rents in Lawrence are indexed at 71.6 while El Paso is at 71.2 (national average = 100). Lawrence has higher rents.

Data sources

Data sourced from official public datasets, Regional Price Parities (2024), index where national average = 100. Retrieved and formatted by PlainCost. See our methodology for details.

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.