Overall
- Mount Vernon-Anacortes
- 102.4
Diff -3.8 RPP
Mount Vernon-Anacortes vs Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands
Cost of living comparison based on BEA Regional Price Parities. Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands is 3.7% less expensive than Mount Vernon-Anacortes.
3.7% less expensive
Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands, TX is 3.7% less expensive than Mount Vernon-Anacortes, WA on BEA Regional Price Parities (overall RPP 98.6 vs 102.4). A $100,000 salary in Mount Vernon-Anacortes buys about the same as $96,277 in Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands; the largest component gap is goods.
- Overall RPP 102.4 (Mount Vernon-Anacortes) vs 98.6 (Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands)
- $100k in Mount Vernon-Anacortes ≈ $96,277 purchasing power in Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands
- Goods drives the gap (-4.4 RPP points)
RPP parity plate
Pair WA:TX 102.4→98.6
TIER-NEAR · CROSS-STATE · GOODS-LED · BENCH-CROSS · PP-SHIFT
- TIER-NEAR Near tier
- CROSS-STATE WA × TX
- GOODS-LED Goods-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.
How the Price Gap Changed
Mount Vernon-Anacortes and Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands share 17 published annual releases from 2008 through 2024. Their overall gap held broadly steady, moving from 3.5 to 3.8 RPP points. Mount Vernon-Anacortes remained the higher-index metro in the latest release.
Services changed the most within this pair: its gap moved 32.6 points between the first and latest shared releases (31.9 to 0.7 points). This describes a relative price-index history, not a forecast or a household budget.
| Release Year | Mount Vernon-Anacortes RPP | Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands RPP | Relative Gap |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2008 | 102.9 | 99.4 | 3.5 points Mount Vernon-Anacortes higher |
| 2012 | 98.7 | 100.0 | 1.4 points Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands higher |
| 2016 | 101.4 | 102.4 | 0.9 points Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands higher |
| 2020 | 102.1 | 100.0 | 2.2 points Mount Vernon-Anacortes higher |
| 2024 | 102.4 | 98.6 | 3.8 points Mount Vernon-Anacortes 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.
What This Comparison Actually Tells You
Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands, TX is 3.7% less expensive than Mount Vernon-Anacortes, WA, a meaningful but not extreme shift. The move decision turns on which budget category creates the 3.8-point overall gap.
This route crosses the national benchmark: Mount Vernon-Anacortes 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.
Goods leads the difference, with Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands 4.4 points lower than Mount Vernon-Anacortes. 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 goods-led difference, remember that many tradable prices vary less by address than housing or labor-priced services. Use $96,277 in Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands as the BEA equivalent of $100,000 in Mount Vernon-Anacortes, then replace the national basket with your own.
Salary Equivalents
What a salary in Mount Vernon-Anacortes would need to be in Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands for the same purchasing power:
| In Mount Vernon-Anacortes | In Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands | Difference |
|---|---|---|
| $50,000 | $48,138 | $-1,862 |
| $75,000 | $72,208 | $-2,792 |
| $100,000 | $96,277 | $-3,723 |
| $150,000 | $144,415 | $-5,585 |
$ in Mount Vernon-Anacortes = in Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands
Same BEA Regional Price Parity ratio as the table above (102.4 → 98.6), computed live from your number, nothing is sent anywhere.
Category Breakdown
Goods
- Mount Vernon-Anacortes
- 105.0
Diff -4.4 RPP
Services
Diff -0.7 RPP
Rents
- Mount Vernon-Anacortes
- 108.2
Diff -3.7 RPP
| Category | Mount Vernon-Anacortes | Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Overall | 102.4 | 98.6 | -3.8 |
| Goods | 105.0 | 100.6 | -4.4 |
| Services | 96.0 | 95.3 | -0.7 |
| Rents | 108.2 | 104.5 | -3.7 |
Visual Comparison
Overall
Mount Vernon-Anacortes 102.4
Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands 98.6
Goods
Mount Vernon-Anacortes 105.0
Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands 100.6
Services
Mount Vernon-Anacortes 96.0
Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands 95.3
Rents
Mount Vernon-Anacortes 108.2
Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands 104.5
Vertical line = national average (100)
Mount Vernon-Anacortes
102.4
Cost Index
Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands
98.6
Cost Index
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands more expensive than Mount Vernon-Anacortes?
Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands is 3.7% less expensive than Mount Vernon-Anacortes. The overall cost index is 98.6 vs 102.4 (national average = 100).
What salary in Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands equals $100K in Mount Vernon-Anacortes?
A $100,000 salary in Mount Vernon-Anacortes has the same purchasing power as $96,277 in Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands. This is based on the BEA Regional Price Parity indexes.
How do rents compare between Mount Vernon-Anacortes and Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands?
Rents in Mount Vernon-Anacortes are indexed at 108.2 while Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands is at 104.5 (national average = 100). Mount Vernon-Anacortes 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.