Overall
Diff +3.9 RPP
San Antonio-New Braunfels vs Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands
Cost of living comparison based on BEA Regional Price Parities. Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands is 4.1% more expensive than San Antonio-New Braunfels.
4.1% more expensive
Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands, TX is 4.1% more expensive than San Antonio-New Braunfels, TX on BEA Regional Price Parities (overall RPP 98.6 vs 94.7). A $100,000 salary in San Antonio-New Braunfels buys about the same as $104,131 in Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands; the largest component gap is services.
- Overall RPP 94.7 (San Antonio-New Braunfels) vs 98.6 (Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands)
- $100k in San Antonio-New Braunfels ≈ $104,131 purchasing power in Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands
- Services drives the gap (+13.1 RPP points)
RPP parity plate
Pair TX:TX 94.7→98.6
TIER-NEAR · SAME-STATE · SERVICES-LED · BOTH-BELOW · PP-SHIFT
- TIER-NEAR Near tier
- SAME-STATE Same state · TX
- SERVICES-LED Services-led gap
- BOTH-BELOW Both below 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 remain below the U.S. benchmark of 100. This comparison chooses between two below-average price levels; “more expensive” here does not mean nationally expensive.
Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands, TX is 4.1% more expensive than San Antonio-New Braunfels, TX, a meaningful but not extreme shift. The move decision turns on which budget category creates the 3.9-point overall gap.
Services leads the difference, with Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands 13.1 points higher than San Antonio-New Braunfels. 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 San Antonio-New Braunfels to $104,131 in Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands, but it is not a personal spending weight.
How the Price Gap Changed
San Antonio-New Braunfels and Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands share 17 published annual releases from 2008 through 2024. Their overall gap held broadly steady, moving from 3.3 to 3.9 RPP points. Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands remained the higher-index metro in the latest release.
Services changed the most within this pair: its gap moved 11.9 points between the first and latest shared releases (1.2 to 13.1 points). This describes a relative price-index history, not a forecast or a household budget.
| Release Year | San Antonio-New Braunfels RPP | Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands RPP | Relative Gap |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2008 | 96.1 | 99.4 | 3.3 points Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands higher |
| 2012 | 97.4 | 100.0 | 2.6 points Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands higher |
| 2016 | 98.3 | 102.4 | 4.1 points Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands higher |
| 2020 | 96.8 | 100.0 | 3.2 points Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands higher |
| 2024 | 94.7 | 98.6 | 3.9 points Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands 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 +6.9 RPP
Services
Diff +13.1 RPP
Rents
Diff +9.9 RPP
| Category | San Antonio-New Braunfels | Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Overall | 94.7 | 98.6 | +3.9 |
| Goods | 93.8 | 100.6 | +6.9 |
| Services | 82.2 | 95.3 | +13.1 |
| Rents | 94.6 | 104.5 | +9.9 |
Visual Comparison
Overall
San Antonio-New Braunfels 94.7
Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands 98.6
Goods
San Antonio-New Braunfels 93.8
Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands 100.6
Services
San Antonio-New Braunfels 82.2
Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands 95.3
Rents
San Antonio-New Braunfels 94.6
Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands 104.5
Vertical line = national average (100)
Salary Equivalents
What a salary in San Antonio-New Braunfels would need to be in Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands for the same purchasing power:
| In San Antonio-New Braunfels | In Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands | Difference |
|---|---|---|
| $50,000 | $52,066 | +$2,066 |
| $75,000 | $78,098 | +$3,098 |
| $100,000 | $104,131 | +$4,131 |
| $150,000 | $156,197 | +$6,197 |
$ in San Antonio-New Braunfels = in Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands
Same BEA Regional Price Parity ratio as the table above (94.7 → 98.6), computed live from your number, nothing is sent anywhere.
San Antonio-New Braunfels
94.7
Cost Index
Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands
98.6
Cost Index
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands more expensive than San Antonio-New Braunfels?
Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands is 4.1% more expensive than San Antonio-New Braunfels. The overall cost index is 98.6 vs 94.7 (national average = 100).
What salary in Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands equals $100K in San Antonio-New Braunfels?
A $100,000 salary in San Antonio-New Braunfels has the same purchasing power as $104,131 in Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands. This is based on the BEA Regional Price Parity indexes.
How do rents compare between San Antonio-New Braunfels and Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands?
Rents in San Antonio-New Braunfels are indexed at 94.6 while Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands is at 104.5 (national average = 100). Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands 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.