Overall
- Salem
- 103.6
Diff -8.9 RPP
Salem vs San Antonio-New Braunfels
Cost of living comparison based on BEA Regional Price Parities. San Antonio-New Braunfels is 8.6% less expensive than Salem.
8.6% less expensive
San Antonio-New Braunfels, TX is 8.6% less expensive than Salem, OR on BEA Regional Price Parities (overall RPP 94.7 vs 103.6). A $100,000 salary in Salem buys about the same as $91,381 in San Antonio-New Braunfels; the largest component gap is services.
- Overall RPP 103.6 (Salem) vs 94.7 (San Antonio-New Braunfels)
- $100k in Salem ≈ $91,381 purchasing power in San Antonio-New Braunfels
- Services drives the gap (-22.5 RPP points)
RPP parity plate
Pair OR:TX 103.6→94.7
TIER-GAP · CROSS-STATE · SERVICES-LED · BENCH-CROSS · PP-SHIFT
- TIER-GAP Clear tier gap
- CROSS-STATE OR × 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
Salem, OR and San Antonio-New Braunfels, TX sit in clearly different price tiers, separated by 8.9 RPP points. At this distance, treating the same nominal salary as equivalent would materially change purchasing power.
This route crosses the national benchmark: Salem is above 100 while San Antonio-New Braunfels is below it. That makes the move a change of price regime, not merely a rank swap.
Services leads the difference, with San Antonio-New Braunfels 22.5 points lower than Salem. 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 Salem to $91,381 in San Antonio-New Braunfels, but it is not a personal spending weight.
How the Price Gap Changed
Salem and San Antonio-New Braunfels share 17 published annual releases from 2008 through 2024. Their overall gap widened, moving from 2.0 to 8.9 RPP points. Salem remained the higher-index metro in the latest release.
Services changed the most within this pair: its gap moved 32.6 points between the first and latest shared releases (10.1 to 22.5 points). This describes a relative price-index history, not a forecast or a household budget.
| Release Year | Salem RPP | San Antonio-New Braunfels RPP | Relative Gap |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2008 | 94.1 | 96.1 | 2.0 points San Antonio-New Braunfels higher |
| 2012 | 101.1 | 97.4 | 3.6 points Salem higher |
| 2016 | 97.1 | 98.3 | 1.2 points San Antonio-New Braunfels higher |
| 2020 | 100.9 | 96.8 | 4.2 points Salem higher |
| 2024 | 103.6 | 94.7 | 8.9 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.
Category Breakdown
Goods
- Salem
- 105.3
Diff -11.5 RPP
Services
- Salem
- 104.7
Diff -22.5 RPP
Rents
- Salem
- 110.3
Diff -15.8 RPP
| Category | Salem | San Antonio-New Braunfels | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Overall | 103.6 | 94.7 | -8.9 |
| Goods | 105.3 | 93.8 | -11.5 |
| Services | 104.7 | 82.2 | -22.5 |
| Rents | 110.3 | 94.6 | -15.8 |
Visual Comparison
Overall
Salem 103.6
San Antonio-New Braunfels 94.7
Goods
Salem 105.3
San Antonio-New Braunfels 93.8
Services
Salem 104.7
San Antonio-New Braunfels 82.2
Rents
Salem 110.3
San Antonio-New Braunfels 94.6
Vertical line = national average (100)
Salary Equivalents
What a salary in Salem would need to be in San Antonio-New Braunfels for the same purchasing power:
| In Salem | In San Antonio-New Braunfels | Difference |
|---|---|---|
| $50,000 | $45,691 | $-4,309 |
| $75,000 | $68,536 | $-6,464 |
| $100,000 | $91,381 | $-8,619 |
| $150,000 | $137,072 | $-12,928 |
$ in Salem = in San Antonio-New Braunfels
Same BEA Regional Price Parity ratio as the table above (103.6 → 94.7), computed live from your number, nothing is sent anywhere.
Salem
103.6
Cost Index
San Antonio-New Braunfels
94.7
Cost Index
Frequently Asked Questions
Is San Antonio-New Braunfels more expensive than Salem?
San Antonio-New Braunfels is 8.6% less expensive than Salem. The overall cost index is 94.7 vs 103.6 (national average = 100).
What salary in San Antonio-New Braunfels equals $100K in Salem?
A $100,000 salary in Salem has the same purchasing power as $91,381 in San Antonio-New Braunfels. This is based on the BEA Regional Price Parity indexes.
How do rents compare between Salem and San Antonio-New Braunfels?
Rents in Salem are indexed at 110.3 while San Antonio-New Braunfels is at 94.6 (national average = 100). Salem 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.