Overall
Diff +3.1 RPP
Palm Bay-Melbourne-Titusville vs Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington
Cost of living comparison based on BEA Regional Price Parities. Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington is 3.1% more expensive than Palm Bay-Melbourne-Titusville.
3.1% more expensive
Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington, TX is 3.1% more expensive than Palm Bay-Melbourne-Titusville, FL on BEA Regional Price Parities (overall RPP 103.1 vs 100.0). A $100,000 salary in Palm Bay-Melbourne-Titusville buys about the same as $103,085 in Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington; the largest component gap is goods.
- Overall RPP 100.0 (Palm Bay-Melbourne-Titusville) vs 103.1 (Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington)
- $100k in Palm Bay-Melbourne-Titusville ≈ $103,085 purchasing power in Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington
- Goods drives the gap (+6.6 RPP points)
RPP parity plate
Pair FL:TX 100.0→103.1
TIER-NEAR · CROSS-STATE · GOODS-LED · BOTH-ABOVE · PP-SHIFT
- TIER-NEAR Near tier
- CROSS-STATE FL × TX
- GOODS-LED Goods-led gap
- BOTH-ABOVE Both above 100
- 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
Both metros exceed the U.S. benchmark of 100. The choice is between two national premiums, so local wages need to clear the higher baseline in either market.
Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington, TX is 3.1% more expensive than Palm Bay-Melbourne-Titusville, FL, a meaningful but not extreme shift. The move decision turns on which budget category creates the 3.1-point overall gap.
Goods leads the difference, with Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington 6.6 points higher than Palm Bay-Melbourne-Titusville. 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 $103,085 in Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington as the BEA equivalent of $100,000 in Palm Bay-Melbourne-Titusville, then replace the national basket with your own.
Palm Bay-Melbourne-Titusville
100.0
Cost Index
Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington
103.1
Cost Index
How the Price Gap Changed
Palm Bay-Melbourne-Titusville and Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington share 17 published annual releases from 2008 through 2024. Their overall gap widened, moving from 1.4 to 3.1 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 9.9 points between the first and latest shared releases (12.6 to 2.6 points). This describes a relative price-index history, not a forecast or a household budget.
| Release Year | Palm Bay-Melbourne-Titusville RPP | Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington RPP | Relative Gap |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2008 | 99.9 | 101.4 | 1.4 points Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington higher |
| 2012 | 98.0 | 100.8 | 2.8 points Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington higher |
| 2016 | 98.8 | 98.0 | 0.8 points Palm Bay-Melbourne-Titusville higher |
| 2020 | 96.8 | 104.5 | 7.7 points Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington higher |
| 2024 | 100.0 | 103.1 | 3.1 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 +2.6 RPP
Rents
Diff +6.1 RPP
| Category | Palm Bay-Melbourne-Titusville | Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Overall | 100.0 | 103.1 | +3.1 |
| Goods | 96.2 | 102.8 | +6.6 |
| Services | 88.1 | 90.7 | +2.6 |
| Rents | 111.7 | 117.9 | +6.1 |
Visual Comparison
Overall
Palm Bay-Melbourne-Titusville 100.0
Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington 103.1
Goods
Palm Bay-Melbourne-Titusville 96.2
Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington 102.8
Services
Palm Bay-Melbourne-Titusville 88.1
Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington 90.7
Rents
Palm Bay-Melbourne-Titusville 111.7
Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington 117.9
Vertical line = national average (100)
Salary Equivalents
What a salary in Palm Bay-Melbourne-Titusville would need to be in Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington for the same purchasing power:
| In Palm Bay-Melbourne-Titusville | In Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington | Difference |
|---|---|---|
| $50,000 | $51,542 | +$1,542 |
| $75,000 | $77,314 | +$2,314 |
| $100,000 | $103,085 | +$3,085 |
| $150,000 | $154,627 | +$4,627 |
$ in Palm Bay-Melbourne-Titusville = in Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington
Same BEA Regional Price Parity ratio as the table above (100.0 → 103.1), computed live from your number, nothing is sent anywhere.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington more expensive than Palm Bay-Melbourne-Titusville?
Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington is 3.1% more expensive than Palm Bay-Melbourne-Titusville. The overall cost index is 103.1 vs 100.0 (national average = 100).
What salary in Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington equals $100K in Palm Bay-Melbourne-Titusville?
A $100,000 salary in Palm Bay-Melbourne-Titusville has the same purchasing power as $103,085 in Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington. This is based on the BEA Regional Price Parity indexes.
How do rents compare between Palm Bay-Melbourne-Titusville and Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington?
Rents in Palm Bay-Melbourne-Titusville are indexed at 111.7 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.