Overall
- Modesto
- 104.1
Diff -5.5 RPP
Modesto vs Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands
Cost of living comparison based on BEA Regional Price Parities. Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands is 5.3% less expensive than Modesto.
5.3% less expensive
Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands, TX is 5.3% less expensive than Modesto, CA on BEA Regional Price Parities (overall RPP 98.6 vs 104.1). A $100,000 salary in Modesto buys about the same as $94,737 in Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands; the largest component gap is services.
- Overall RPP 104.1 (Modesto) vs 98.6 (Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands)
- $100k in Modesto ≈ $94,737 purchasing power in Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands
- Services drives the gap (-57.0 RPP points)
RPP parity plate
Pair CA:TX 104.1→98.6
TIER-NEAR · CROSS-STATE · SERVICES-LED · BENCH-CROSS · PP-SHIFT
- TIER-NEAR Near tier
- CROSS-STATE CA × TX
- SERVICES-LED Services-led gap
- 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.
What This Comparison Actually Tells You
Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands, TX is 5.3% less expensive than Modesto, CA, a meaningful but not extreme shift. The move decision turns on which budget category creates the 5.5-point overall gap.
This route crosses the national benchmark: Modesto 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.
Services leads the difference, with Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands 57.0 points lower than Modesto. 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 Modesto to $94,737 in Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands, but it is not a personal spending weight.
How the Price Gap Changed
Modesto and Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands share 17 published annual releases from 2008 through 2024. Their overall gap widened, moving from 0.7 to 5.5 RPP points. Modesto remained the higher-index metro in the latest release.
Services changed the most within this pair: its gap moved 59.5 points between the first and latest shared releases (2.6 to 57.0 points). This describes a relative price-index history, not a forecast or a household budget.
| Release Year | Modesto RPP | Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands RPP | Relative Gap |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2008 | 98.7 | 99.4 | 0.7 points Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands higher |
| 2012 | 102.1 | 100.0 | 2.0 points Modesto higher |
| 2016 | 97.8 | 102.4 | 4.6 points Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands higher |
| 2020 | 103.2 | 100.0 | 3.2 points Modesto higher |
| 2024 | 104.1 | 98.6 | 5.5 points Modesto 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
- Modesto
- 105.2
Diff -4.5 RPP
Services
- Modesto
- 152.3
Diff -57.0 RPP
Rents
- Modesto
- 108.5
Diff -4.0 RPP
| Category | Modesto | Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Overall | 104.1 | 98.6 | -5.5 |
| Goods | 105.2 | 100.6 | -4.5 |
| Services | 152.3 | 95.3 | -57.0 |
| Rents | 108.5 | 104.5 | -4.0 |
Visual Comparison
Overall
Modesto 104.1
Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands 98.6
Goods
Modesto 105.2
Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands 100.6
Services
Modesto 152.3
Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands 95.3
Rents
Modesto 108.5
Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands 104.5
Vertical line = national average (100)
Salary Equivalents
What a salary in Modesto would need to be in Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands for the same purchasing power:
| In Modesto | In Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands | Difference |
|---|---|---|
| $50,000 | $47,369 | $-2,631 |
| $75,000 | $71,053 | $-3,947 |
| $100,000 | $94,737 | $-5,263 |
| $150,000 | $142,106 | $-7,894 |
$ in Modesto = in Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands
Same BEA Regional Price Parity ratio as the table above (104.1 → 98.6), computed live from your number, nothing is sent anywhere.
Modesto
104.1
Cost Index
Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands
98.6
Cost Index
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands more expensive than Modesto?
Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands is 5.3% less expensive than Modesto. The overall cost index is 98.6 vs 104.1 (national average = 100).
What salary in Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands equals $100K in Modesto?
A $100,000 salary in Modesto has the same purchasing power as $94,737 in Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands. This is based on the BEA Regional Price Parity indexes.
How do rents compare between Modesto and Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands?
Rents in Modesto are indexed at 108.5 while Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands is at 104.5 (national average = 100). Modesto 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.