Overall
- Missoula
- 96.4
Diff +2.2 RPP
Missoula vs Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands
Cost of living comparison based on BEA Regional Price Parities. Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands is 2.3% more expensive than Missoula.
2.3% more expensive
Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands, TX is 2.3% more expensive than Missoula, MT on BEA Regional Price Parities (overall RPP 98.6 vs 96.4). A $100,000 salary in Missoula buys about the same as $102,265 in Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands; the largest component gap is services.
- Overall RPP 96.4 (Missoula) vs 98.6 (Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands)
- $100k in Missoula ≈ $102,265 purchasing power in Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands
- Services drives the gap (+23.2 RPP points)
RPP parity plate
Pair MT:TX 96.4→98.6
TIER-NEAR · CROSS-STATE · SERVICES-LED · BOTH-BELOW · PP-PAR
- TIER-NEAR Near tier
- CROSS-STATE MT × 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.
What This Comparison Actually Tells You
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.
Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands, TX is 2.3% more expensive than Missoula, MT, a meaningful but not extreme shift. The move decision turns on which budget category creates the 2.2-point overall gap.
Services leads the difference, with Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands 23.2 points higher than Missoula. 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 service-heavy household, test childcare, health, and other locally supplied costs before relying on rent alone. The BEA ratio converts $100,000 in Missoula to $102,265 in Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands, but it is not a personal spending weight.
How the Price Gap Changed
Missoula and Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands share 17 published annual releases from 2008 through 2024. Their overall gap held broadly steady, moving from 1.5 to 2.2 RPP points. Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands remained the higher-index metro in the latest release.
Goods changed the most within this pair: its gap moved 10.3 points between the first and latest shared releases (5.7 to 4.6 points). This describes a relative price-index history, not a forecast or a household budget.
| Release Year | Missoula RPP | Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands RPP | Relative Gap |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2008 | 98.0 | 99.4 | 1.5 points Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands higher |
| 2012 | 93.9 | 100.0 | 6.2 points Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands higher |
| 2016 | 95.8 | 102.4 | 6.6 points Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands higher |
| 2020 | 93.9 | 100.0 | 6.1 points Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands higher |
| 2024 | 96.4 | 98.6 | 2.2 points Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands 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.
Category Breakdown
Goods
- Missoula
- 96.0
Diff +4.6 RPP
Services
- Missoula
- 72.1
Diff +23.2 RPP
Rents
- Missoula
- 94.9
Diff +9.6 RPP
| Category | Missoula | Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Overall | 96.4 | 98.6 | +2.2 |
| Goods | 96.0 | 100.6 | +4.6 |
| Services | 72.1 | 95.3 | +23.2 |
| Rents | 94.9 | 104.5 | +9.6 |
Visual Comparison
Overall
Missoula 96.4
Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands 98.6
Goods
Missoula 96.0
Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands 100.6
Services
Missoula 72.1
Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands 95.3
Rents
Missoula 94.9
Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands 104.5
Vertical line = national average (100)
Salary Equivalents
What a salary in Missoula would need to be in Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands for the same purchasing power:
| In Missoula | In Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands | Difference |
|---|---|---|
| $50,000 | $51,132 | +$1,132 |
| $75,000 | $76,698 | +$1,698 |
| $100,000 | $102,265 | +$2,265 |
| $150,000 | $153,397 | +$3,397 |
$ in Missoula = in Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands
Same BEA Regional Price Parity ratio as the table above (96.4 → 98.6), computed live from your number, nothing is sent anywhere.
Missoula
96.4
Cost Index
Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands
98.6
Cost Index
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands more expensive than Missoula?
Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands is 2.3% more expensive than Missoula. The overall cost index is 98.6 vs 96.4 (national average = 100).
What salary in Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands equals $100K in Missoula?
A $100,000 salary in Missoula has the same purchasing power as $102,265 in Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands. This is based on the BEA Regional Price Parity indexes.
How do rents compare between Missoula and Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands?
Rents in Missoula are indexed at 94.9 while Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands is at 104.5 (national average = 100). Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands 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.