Overall
Diff -11.9 RPP
Oxnard-Thousand Oaks-Ventura vs Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands
Cost of living comparison based on BEA Regional Price Parities. Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands is 10.8% less expensive than Oxnard-Thousand Oaks-Ventura.
10.8% less expensive
Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands, TX is 10.8% less expensive than Oxnard-Thousand Oaks-Ventura, CA on BEA Regional Price Parities (overall RPP 98.6 vs 110.5). A $100,000 salary in Oxnard-Thousand Oaks-Ventura buys about the same as $89,230 in Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands; the largest component gap is rents.
- Overall RPP 110.5 (Oxnard-Thousand Oaks-Ventura) vs 98.6 (Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands)
- $100k in Oxnard-Thousand Oaks-Ventura ≈ $89,230 purchasing power in Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands
- Rents drives the gap (-66.6 RPP points)
RPP parity plate
Pair CA:TX 110.5→98.6
TIER-GAP · CROSS-STATE · RENT-LED · BENCH-CROSS · PP-SHIFT
- TIER-GAP Clear tier gap
- CROSS-STATE CA × TX
- RENT-LED Rent-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.
Salary Equivalents
What a salary in Oxnard-Thousand Oaks-Ventura would need to be in Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands for the same purchasing power:
| In Oxnard-Thousand Oaks-Ventura | In Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands | Difference |
|---|---|---|
| $50,000 | $44,615 | $-5,385 |
| $75,000 | $66,922 | $-8,078 |
| $100,000 | $89,230 | $-10,770 |
| $150,000 | $133,844 | $-16,156 |
$ in Oxnard-Thousand Oaks-Ventura = in Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands
Same BEA Regional Price Parity ratio as the table above (110.5 → 98.6), computed live from your number, nothing is sent anywhere.
What This Comparison Actually Tells You
Oxnard-Thousand Oaks-Ventura, CA and Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands, TX sit in clearly different price tiers, separated by 11.9 RPP points. At this distance, treating the same nominal salary as equivalent would materially change purchasing power.
This route crosses the national benchmark: Oxnard-Thousand Oaks-Ventura 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.
Rents leads the difference, with Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands 66.6 points lower than Oxnard-Thousand Oaks-Ventura. 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 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 Oxnard-Thousand Oaks-Ventura corresponds to $89,230 in Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands.
Category Breakdown
Goods
Diff -4.5 RPP
Services
Diff -57.6 RPP
Rents
Diff -66.6 RPP
| Category | Oxnard-Thousand Oaks-Ventura | Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Overall | 110.5 | 98.6 | -11.9 |
| Goods | 105.2 | 100.6 | -4.5 |
| Services | 152.9 | 95.3 | -57.6 |
| Rents | 171.1 | 104.5 | -66.6 |
Visual Comparison
Overall
Oxnard-Thousand Oaks-Ventura 110.5
Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands 98.6
Goods
Oxnard-Thousand Oaks-Ventura 105.2
Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands 100.6
Services
Oxnard-Thousand Oaks-Ventura 152.9
Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands 95.3
Rents
Oxnard-Thousand Oaks-Ventura 171.1
Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands 104.5
Vertical line = national average (100)
Oxnard-Thousand Oaks-Ventura
110.5
Cost Index
Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands
98.6
Cost Index
How the Price Gap Changed
Oxnard-Thousand Oaks-Ventura and Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands share 17 published annual releases from 2008 through 2024. Their overall gap widened, moving from 10.1 to 11.9 RPP points. Oxnard-Thousand Oaks-Ventura remained the higher-index metro in the latest release.
Services changed the most within this pair: its gap moved 45.4 points between the first and latest shared releases (12.3 to 57.6 points). This describes a relative price-index history, not a forecast or a household budget.
| Release Year | Oxnard-Thousand Oaks-Ventura RPP | Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands RPP | Relative Gap |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2008 | 109.5 | 99.4 | 10.1 points Oxnard-Thousand Oaks-Ventura higher |
| 2012 | 110.4 | 100.0 | 10.4 points Oxnard-Thousand Oaks-Ventura higher |
| 2016 | 111.2 | 102.4 | 8.8 points Oxnard-Thousand Oaks-Ventura higher |
| 2020 | 111.3 | 100.0 | 11.4 points Oxnard-Thousand Oaks-Ventura higher |
| 2024 | 110.5 | 98.6 | 11.9 points Oxnard-Thousand Oaks-Ventura 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.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands more expensive than Oxnard-Thousand Oaks-Ventura?
Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands is 10.8% less expensive than Oxnard-Thousand Oaks-Ventura. The overall cost index is 98.6 vs 110.5 (national average = 100).
What salary in Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands equals $100K in Oxnard-Thousand Oaks-Ventura?
A $100,000 salary in Oxnard-Thousand Oaks-Ventura has the same purchasing power as $89,230 in Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands. This is based on the BEA Regional Price Parity indexes.
How do rents compare between Oxnard-Thousand Oaks-Ventura and Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands?
Rents in Oxnard-Thousand Oaks-Ventura are indexed at 171.1 while Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands is at 104.5 (national average = 100). Oxnard-Thousand Oaks-Ventura 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.