Overall
- Salem
- 103.6
Diff -0.6 RPP
Salem vs Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington
Cost of living comparison based on BEA Regional Price Parities. Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington is 0.5% less expensive than Salem.
0.5% less expensive
Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington, TX is 0.5% less expensive than Salem, OR on BEA Regional Price Parities (overall RPP 103.1 vs 103.6). A $100,000 salary in Salem buys about the same as $99,461 in Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington; the largest component gap is services.
- Overall RPP 103.6 (Salem) vs 103.1 (Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington)
- $100k in Salem ≈ $99,461 purchasing power in Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington
- Services drives the gap (-14.0 RPP points)
RPP parity plate
Pair OR:TX 103.6→103.1
PHOTO-FINISH · CROSS-STATE · SPLIT-BUDGET · BOTH-ABOVE · PP-PAR
- PHOTO-FINISH Photo finish
- CROSS-STATE OR × TX
- SPLIT-BUDGET Split budget
- BOTH-ABOVE Both above 100
- PP-PAR PP near-par
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.
Salem
103.6
Cost Index
Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington
103.1
Cost Index
What This Comparison Actually Tells You
Salem, OR and Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington, TX are a photo finish on overall price level, only 0.6 RPP points apart. A salary conversion is therefore a fine adjustment, not evidence of a fundamentally different cost regime.
Services creates the largest separation: Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington is 14.0 points lower. But rents move against the overall direction, so this is a split budget rather than a clean across-the-board winner.
Comparable population context is incomplete for this pair, so no market-scale explanation is inferred from the price indexes.
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.
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 Salem to $99,461 in Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington, but it is not a personal spending weight.
Category Breakdown
Goods
- Salem
- 105.3
Diff -2.4 RPP
Services
- Salem
- 104.7
Diff -14.0 RPP
Rents
- Salem
- 110.3
Diff +7.5 RPP
| Category | Salem | Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Overall | 103.6 | 103.1 | -0.6 |
| Goods | 105.3 | 102.8 | -2.4 |
| Services | 104.7 | 90.7 | -14.0 |
| Rents | 110.3 | 117.9 | +7.5 |
Visual Comparison
Overall
Salem 103.6
Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington 103.1
Goods
Salem 105.3
Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington 102.8
Services
Salem 104.7
Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington 90.7
Rents
Salem 110.3
Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington 117.9
Vertical line = national average (100)
How the Price Gap Changed
Salem and Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington share 17 published annual releases from 2008 through 2024. Their overall gap narrowed, moving from 7.2 to 0.6 RPP points. Salem remained the higher-index metro in the latest release.
Services changed the most within this pair: its gap moved 32.5 points between the first and latest shared releases (18.5 to 14.0 points). This describes a relative price-index history, not a forecast or a household budget.
| Release Year | Salem RPP | Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington RPP | Relative Gap |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2008 | 94.1 | 101.4 | 7.2 points Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington higher |
| 2012 | 101.1 | 100.8 | 0.3 points Salem higher |
| 2016 | 97.1 | 98.0 | 0.9 points Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington higher |
| 2020 | 100.9 | 104.5 | 3.6 points Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington higher |
| 2024 | 103.6 | 103.1 | 0.6 points Salem 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.
Salary Equivalents
What a salary in Salem would need to be in Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington for the same purchasing power:
| In Salem | In Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington | Difference |
|---|---|---|
| $50,000 | $49,730 | $-270 |
| $75,000 | $74,596 | $-404 |
| $100,000 | $99,461 | $-539 |
| $150,000 | $149,191 | $-809 |
$ in Salem = in Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington
Same BEA Regional Price Parity ratio as the table above (103.6 → 103.1), computed live from your number, nothing is sent anywhere.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington more expensive than Salem?
Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington is 0.5% less expensive than Salem. The overall cost index is 103.1 vs 103.6 (national average = 100).
What salary in Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington equals $100K in Salem?
A $100,000 salary in Salem has the same purchasing power as $99,461 in Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington. This is based on the BEA Regional Price Parity indexes.
How do rents compare between Salem and Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington?
Rents in Salem are indexed at 110.3 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.