Overall
- Rochester
- 97.0
Diff +6.1 RPP
Rochester vs Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington
Cost of living comparison based on BEA Regional Price Parities. Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington is 6.2% more expensive than Rochester.
6.2% more expensive
Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington, TX is 6.2% more expensive than Rochester, NY on BEA Regional Price Parities (overall RPP 103.1 vs 97.0). A $100,000 salary in Rochester buys about the same as $106,240 in Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington; the largest component gap is services.
- Overall RPP 97.0 (Rochester) vs 103.1 (Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington)
- $100k in Rochester ≈ $106,240 purchasing power in Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington
- Services drives the gap (-42.5 RPP points)
RPP parity plate
Pair NY:TX 97.0→103.1
TIER-NEAR · CROSS-STATE · SPLIT-BUDGET · BENCH-CROSS · PP-SHIFT
- TIER-NEAR Near tier
- CROSS-STATE NY × 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
- Rochester
- 99.7
Diff +3.1 RPP
Services
- Rochester
- 133.2
Diff -42.5 RPP
Rents
- Rochester
- 87.5
Diff +30.4 RPP
| Category | Rochester | Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Overall | 97.0 | 103.1 | +6.1 |
| Goods | 99.7 | 102.8 | +3.1 |
| Services | 133.2 | 90.7 | -42.5 |
| Rents | 87.5 | 117.9 | +30.4 |
Visual Comparison
Overall
Rochester 97.0
Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington 103.1
Goods
Rochester 99.7
Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington 102.8
Services
Rochester 133.2
Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington 90.7
Rents
Rochester 87.5
Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington 117.9
Vertical line = national average (100)
What This Comparison Actually Tells You
Services creates the largest separation: Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington is 42.5 points lower. But services move against the overall direction, so this is a split budget rather than a clean across-the-board winner.
Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington, TX is 6.2% more expensive than Rochester, NY, a meaningful but not extreme shift. The move decision turns on which budget category creates the 6.1-point overall gap.
This route crosses the national benchmark: Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington is above 100 while Rochester 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 service-heavy household, test childcare, health, and other locally supplied costs before relying on rent alone. The BEA ratio converts $100,000 in Rochester to $106,240 in Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington, but it is not a personal spending weight.
Rochester
97.0
Cost Index
Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington
103.1
Cost Index
Salary Equivalents
What a salary in Rochester would need to be in Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington for the same purchasing power:
| In Rochester | In Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington | Difference |
|---|---|---|
| $50,000 | $53,120 | +$3,120 |
| $75,000 | $79,680 | +$4,680 |
| $100,000 | $106,240 | +$6,240 |
| $150,000 | $159,360 | +$9,360 |
$ in Rochester = in Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington
Same BEA Regional Price Parity ratio as the table above (97.0 → 103.1), computed live from your number, nothing is sent anywhere.
How the Price Gap Changed
Rochester and Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington share 17 published annual releases from 2008 through 2024. Their overall gap widened, moving from 0.5 to 6.1 RPP points. Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington remained the higher-index metro in the latest release.
Rents changed the most within this pair: its gap moved 21.9 points between the first and latest shared releases (8.5 to 30.4 points). This describes a relative price-index history, not a forecast or a household budget.
| Release Year | Rochester RPP | Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington RPP | Relative Gap |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2008 | 100.8 | 101.4 | 0.5 points Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington higher |
| 2012 | 98.5 | 100.8 | 2.3 points Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington higher |
| 2016 | 99.8 | 98.0 | 1.8 points Rochester higher |
| 2020 | 97.3 | 104.5 | 7.2 points Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington higher |
| 2024 | 97.0 | 103.1 | 6.1 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.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington more expensive than Rochester?
Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington is 6.2% more expensive than Rochester. The overall cost index is 103.1 vs 97.0 (national average = 100).
What salary in Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington equals $100K in Rochester?
A $100,000 salary in Rochester has the same purchasing power as $106,240 in Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington. This is based on the BEA Regional Price Parity indexes.
How do rents compare between Rochester and Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington?
Rents in Rochester are indexed at 87.5 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.