Overall
Diff +6.8 RPP
Nashville-Davidson--Murfreesboro--Franklin vs Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington
Cost of living comparison based on BEA Regional Price Parities. Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington is 7% more expensive than Nashville-Davidson--Murfreesboro--Franklin.
7% more expensive
Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington, TX is 7% more expensive than Nashville-Davidson--Murfreesboro--Franklin, TN on BEA Regional Price Parities (overall RPP 103.1 vs 96.3). A $100,000 salary in Nashville-Davidson--Murfreesboro--Franklin buys about the same as $107,009 in Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington; the largest component gap is services.
- Overall RPP 96.3 (Nashville-Davidson--Murfreesboro--Franklin) vs 103.1 (Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington)
- $100k in Nashville-Davidson--Murfreesboro--Franklin ≈ $107,009 purchasing power in Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington
- Services drives the gap (+18.8 RPP points)
RPP parity plate
Pair TN:TX 96.3→103.1
TIER-NEAR · CROSS-STATE · SERVICES-LED · BENCH-CROSS · PP-SHIFT
- TIER-NEAR Near tier
- CROSS-STATE TN × 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
Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington, TX is 7% more expensive than Nashville-Davidson--Murfreesboro--Franklin, TN, a meaningful but not extreme shift. The move decision turns on which budget category creates the 6.8-point overall gap.
This route crosses the national benchmark: Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington is above 100 while Nashville-Davidson--Murfreesboro--Franklin is below it. That makes the move a change of price regime, not merely a rank swap.
Services leads the difference, with Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington 18.8 points higher than Nashville-Davidson--Murfreesboro--Franklin. 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 Nashville-Davidson--Murfreesboro--Franklin to $107,009 in Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington, but it is not a personal spending weight.
How the Price Gap Changed
Nashville-Davidson--Murfreesboro--Franklin and Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington share 17 published annual releases from 2008 through 2024. Their overall gap widened, moving from 5.7 to 6.8 RPP points. Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington remained the higher-index metro in the latest release.
Services changed the most within this pair: its gap moved 9.0 points between the first and latest shared releases (27.8 to 18.8 points). This describes a relative price-index history, not a forecast or a household budget.
| Release Year | Nashville-Davidson--Murfreesboro--Franklin RPP | Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington RPP | Relative Gap |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2008 | 95.7 | 101.4 | 5.7 points Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington higher |
| 2012 | 97.4 | 100.8 | 3.4 points Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington higher |
| 2016 | 99.3 | 98.0 | 1.3 points Nashville-Davidson--Murfreesboro--Franklin higher |
| 2020 | 95.9 | 104.5 | 8.6 points Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington higher |
| 2024 | 96.3 | 103.1 | 6.8 points Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington 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
Diff +6.6 RPP
Services
Diff +18.8 RPP
Rents
Diff +13.2 RPP
| Category | Nashville-Davidson--Murfreesboro--Franklin | Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Overall | 96.3 | 103.1 | +6.8 |
| Goods | 96.2 | 102.8 | +6.6 |
| Services | 72.0 | 90.7 | +18.8 |
| Rents | 104.6 | 117.9 | +13.2 |
Visual Comparison
Overall
Nashville-Davidson--Murfreesboro--Franklin 96.3
Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington 103.1
Goods
Nashville-Davidson--Murfreesboro--Franklin 96.2
Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington 102.8
Services
Nashville-Davidson--Murfreesboro--Franklin 72.0
Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington 90.7
Rents
Nashville-Davidson--Murfreesboro--Franklin 104.6
Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington 117.9
Vertical line = national average (100)
Salary Equivalents
What a salary in Nashville-Davidson--Murfreesboro--Franklin would need to be in Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington for the same purchasing power:
| In Nashville-Davidson--Murfreesboro--Franklin | In Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington | Difference |
|---|---|---|
| $50,000 | $53,504 | +$3,504 |
| $75,000 | $80,256 | +$5,256 |
| $100,000 | $107,009 | +$7,009 |
| $150,000 | $160,513 | +$10,513 |
$ in Nashville-Davidson--Murfreesboro--Franklin = in Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington
Same BEA Regional Price Parity ratio as the table above (96.3 → 103.1), computed live from your number, nothing is sent anywhere.
Nashville-Davidson--Murfreesboro--Franklin
96.3
Cost Index
Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington
103.1
Cost Index
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington more expensive than Nashville-Davidson--Murfreesboro--Franklin?
Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington is 7% more expensive than Nashville-Davidson--Murfreesboro--Franklin. The overall cost index is 103.1 vs 96.3 (national average = 100).
What salary in Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington equals $100K in Nashville-Davidson--Murfreesboro--Franklin?
A $100,000 salary in Nashville-Davidson--Murfreesboro--Franklin has the same purchasing power as $107,009 in Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington. This is based on the BEA Regional Price Parity indexes.
How do rents compare between Nashville-Davidson--Murfreesboro--Franklin and Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington?
Rents in Nashville-Davidson--Murfreesboro--Franklin are indexed at 104.6 while Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington is at 117.9 (national average = 100). Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington 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.