Overall
Diff -3.8 RPP
North Port-Bradenton-Sarasota 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 North Port-Bradenton-Sarasota.
3.7% less expensive
Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands, TX is 3.7% less expensive than North Port-Bradenton-Sarasota, FL on BEA Regional Price Parities (overall RPP 98.6 vs 102.4). A $100,000 salary in North Port-Bradenton-Sarasota buys about the same as $96,301 in Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands; the largest component gap is rents.
- Overall RPP 102.4 (North Port-Bradenton-Sarasota) vs 98.6 (Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands)
- $100k in North Port-Bradenton-Sarasota ≈ $96,301 purchasing power in Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands
- Rents drives the gap (-23.4 RPP points)
RPP parity plate
Pair FL:TX 102.4→98.6
TIER-NEAR · CROSS-STATE · SPLIT-BUDGET · BENCH-CROSS · PP-SHIFT
- TIER-NEAR Near tier
- CROSS-STATE FL × TX
- SPLIT-BUDGET Split budget
- 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.
Category Breakdown
Goods
Diff +4.4 RPP
Services
Diff +7.1 RPP
Rents
Diff -23.4 RPP
| Category | North Port-Bradenton-Sarasota | Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Overall | 102.4 | 98.6 | -3.8 |
| Goods | 96.2 | 100.6 | +4.4 |
| Services | 88.2 | 95.3 | +7.1 |
| Rents | 128.0 | 104.5 | -23.4 |
Visual Comparison
Overall
North Port-Bradenton-Sarasota 102.4
Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands 98.6
Goods
North Port-Bradenton-Sarasota 96.2
Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands 100.6
Services
North Port-Bradenton-Sarasota 88.2
Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands 95.3
Rents
North Port-Bradenton-Sarasota 128.0
Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands 104.5
Vertical line = national average (100)
What This Comparison Actually Tells You
Rents creates the largest separation: Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands is 23.4 points lower. But services and goods move against the overall direction, so this is a split budget rather than a clean across-the-board winner.
Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands, TX is 3.7% less expensive than North Port-Bradenton-Sarasota, FL, 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: North Port-Bradenton-Sarasota 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.
Comparable population context is incomplete for this pair, so no market-scale explanation is inferred from the price indexes.
For a housing-sensitive move, validate the rent gap first: HUD Fair Market Rent and the actual unit size can overturn what the blended index implies. On the BEA ratio alone, $100,000 in North Port-Bradenton-Sarasota corresponds to $96,301 in Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands.
North Port-Bradenton-Sarasota
102.4
Cost Index
Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands
98.6
Cost Index
Salary Equivalents
What a salary in North Port-Bradenton-Sarasota would need to be in Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands for the same purchasing power:
| In North Port-Bradenton-Sarasota | In Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands | Difference |
|---|---|---|
| $50,000 | $48,151 | $-1,849 |
| $75,000 | $72,226 | $-2,774 |
| $100,000 | $96,301 | $-3,699 |
| $150,000 | $144,452 | $-5,548 |
$ in North Port-Bradenton-Sarasota = 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.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands more expensive than North Port-Bradenton-Sarasota?
Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands is 3.7% less expensive than North Port-Bradenton-Sarasota. The overall cost index is 98.6 vs 102.4 (national average = 100).
What salary in Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands equals $100K in North Port-Bradenton-Sarasota?
A $100,000 salary in North Port-Bradenton-Sarasota has the same purchasing power as $96,301 in Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands. This is based on the BEA Regional Price Parity indexes.
How do rents compare between North Port-Bradenton-Sarasota and Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands?
Rents in North Port-Bradenton-Sarasota are indexed at 128.0 while Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands is at 104.5 (national average = 100). North Port-Bradenton-Sarasota 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.