Overall
Diff -7.8 RPP
Riverside-San Bernardino-Ontario vs Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands
Cost of living comparison based on BEA Regional Price Parities. Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands is 7.3% less expensive than Riverside-San Bernardino-Ontario.
7.3% less expensive
Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands, TX is 7.3% less expensive than Riverside-San Bernardino-Ontario, CA on BEA Regional Price Parities (overall RPP 98.6 vs 106.4). A $100,000 salary in Riverside-San Bernardino-Ontario buys about the same as $92,660 in Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands; the largest component gap is services.
- Overall RPP 106.4 (Riverside-San Bernardino-Ontario) vs 98.6 (Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands)
- $100k in Riverside-San Bernardino-Ontario ≈ $92,660 purchasing power in Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands
- Services drives the gap (-53.4 RPP points)
RPP parity plate
Pair CA:TX 106.4→98.6
TIER-NEAR · CROSS-STATE · SERVICES-LED · BENCH-CROSS · PP-SHIFT
- TIER-NEAR Near tier
- CROSS-STATE CA × 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
Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands, TX is 7.3% less expensive than Riverside-San Bernardino-Ontario, CA, a meaningful but not extreme shift. The move decision turns on which budget category creates the 7.8-point overall gap.
This route crosses the national benchmark: Riverside-San Bernardino-Ontario 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.
Services leads the difference, with Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands 53.4 points lower than Riverside-San Bernardino-Ontario. 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 Riverside-San Bernardino-Ontario to $92,660 in Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands, but it is not a personal spending weight.
How the Price Gap Changed
Riverside-San Bernardino-Ontario and Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands share 17 published annual releases from 2008 through 2024. Their overall gap held broadly steady, moving from 6.9 to 7.8 RPP points. Riverside-San Bernardino-Ontario remained the higher-index metro in the latest release.
Services changed the most within this pair: its gap moved 41.1 points between the first and latest shared releases (12.3 to 53.4 points). This describes a relative price-index history, not a forecast or a household budget.
| Release Year | Riverside-San Bernardino-Ontario RPP | Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands RPP | Relative Gap |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2008 | 106.3 | 99.4 | 6.9 points Riverside-San Bernardino-Ontario higher |
| 2012 | 104.5 | 100.0 | 4.4 points Riverside-San Bernardino-Ontario higher |
| 2016 | 105.6 | 102.4 | 3.3 points Riverside-San Bernardino-Ontario higher |
| 2020 | 104.4 | 100.0 | 4.5 points Riverside-San Bernardino-Ontario higher |
| 2024 | 106.4 | 98.6 | 7.8 points Riverside-San Bernardino-Ontario 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 -0.8 RPP
Services
Diff -53.4 RPP
Rents
Diff -24.8 RPP
| Category | Riverside-San Bernardino-Ontario | Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Overall | 106.4 | 98.6 | -7.8 |
| Goods | 101.4 | 100.6 | -0.8 |
| Services | 148.6 | 95.3 | -53.4 |
| Rents | 129.3 | 104.5 | -24.8 |
Visual Comparison
Overall
Riverside-San Bernardino-Ontario 106.4
Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands 98.6
Goods
Riverside-San Bernardino-Ontario 101.4
Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands 100.6
Services
Riverside-San Bernardino-Ontario 148.6
Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands 95.3
Rents
Riverside-San Bernardino-Ontario 129.3
Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands 104.5
Vertical line = national average (100)
Salary Equivalents
What a salary in Riverside-San Bernardino-Ontario would need to be in Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands for the same purchasing power:
| In Riverside-San Bernardino-Ontario | In Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands | Difference |
|---|---|---|
| $50,000 | $46,330 | $-3,670 |
| $75,000 | $69,495 | $-5,505 |
| $100,000 | $92,660 | $-7,340 |
| $150,000 | $138,990 | $-11,010 |
$ in Riverside-San Bernardino-Ontario = in Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands
Same BEA Regional Price Parity ratio as the table above (106.4 → 98.6), computed live from your number, nothing is sent anywhere.
Riverside-San Bernardino-Ontario
106.4
Cost Index
Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands
98.6
Cost Index
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands more expensive than Riverside-San Bernardino-Ontario?
Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands is 7.3% less expensive than Riverside-San Bernardino-Ontario. The overall cost index is 98.6 vs 106.4 (national average = 100).
What salary in Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands equals $100K in Riverside-San Bernardino-Ontario?
A $100,000 salary in Riverside-San Bernardino-Ontario has the same purchasing power as $92,660 in Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands. This is based on the BEA Regional Price Parity indexes.
How do rents compare between Riverside-San Bernardino-Ontario and Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands?
Rents in Riverside-San Bernardino-Ontario are indexed at 129.3 while Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands is at 104.5 (national average = 100). Riverside-San Bernardino-Ontario 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.