Overall
Diff -13.3 RPP
San Diego-Chula Vista-Carlsbad vs Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands
Cost of living comparison based on BEA Regional Price Parities. Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands is 11.8% less expensive than San Diego-Chula Vista-Carlsbad.
11.8% less expensive
Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands, TX is 11.8% less expensive than San Diego-Chula Vista-Carlsbad, CA on BEA Regional Price Parities (overall RPP 98.6 vs 111.9). A $100,000 salary in San Diego-Chula Vista-Carlsbad buys about the same as $88,151 in Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands; the largest component gap is services.
- Overall RPP 111.9 (San Diego-Chula Vista-Carlsbad) vs 98.6 (Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands)
- $100k in San Diego-Chula Vista-Carlsbad ≈ $88,151 purchasing power in Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands
- Services drives the gap (-79.0 RPP points)
RPP parity plate
Pair CA:TX 111.9→98.6
TIER-GAP · CROSS-STATE · SERVICES-LED · BENCH-CROSS · PP-SHIFT
- TIER-GAP Clear tier gap
- 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
San Diego-Chula Vista-Carlsbad, CA and Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands, TX sit in clearly different price tiers, separated by 13.3 RPP points. At this distance, treating the same nominal salary as equivalent would materially change purchasing power.
This route crosses the national benchmark: San Diego-Chula Vista-Carlsbad 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 79.0 points lower than San Diego-Chula Vista-Carlsbad. 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 Diego-Chula Vista-Carlsbad to $88,151 in Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands, but it is not a personal spending weight.
Category Breakdown
Goods
Diff -7.3 RPP
Services
Diff -79.0 RPP
Rents
Diff -74.8 RPP
| Category | San Diego-Chula Vista-Carlsbad | Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Overall | 111.9 | 98.6 | -13.3 |
| Goods | 108.0 | 100.6 | -7.3 |
| Services | 174.2 | 95.3 | -79.0 |
| Rents | 179.3 | 104.5 | -74.8 |
Visual Comparison
Overall
San Diego-Chula Vista-Carlsbad 111.9
Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands 98.6
Goods
San Diego-Chula Vista-Carlsbad 108.0
Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands 100.6
Services
San Diego-Chula Vista-Carlsbad 174.2
Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands 95.3
Rents
San Diego-Chula Vista-Carlsbad 179.3
Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands 104.5
Vertical line = national average (100)
Salary Equivalents
What a salary in San Diego-Chula Vista-Carlsbad would need to be in Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands for the same purchasing power:
| In San Diego-Chula Vista-Carlsbad | In Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands | Difference |
|---|---|---|
| $50,000 | $44,075 | $-5,925 |
| $75,000 | $66,113 | $-8,887 |
| $100,000 | $88,151 | $-11,849 |
| $150,000 | $132,226 | $-17,774 |
$ in San Diego-Chula Vista-Carlsbad = in Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands
Same BEA Regional Price Parity ratio as the table above (111.9 → 98.6), computed live from your number, nothing is sent anywhere.
San Diego-Chula Vista-Carlsbad
111.9
Cost Index
Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands
98.6
Cost Index
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands more expensive than San Diego-Chula Vista-Carlsbad?
Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands is 11.8% less expensive than San Diego-Chula Vista-Carlsbad. The overall cost index is 98.6 vs 111.9 (national average = 100).
What salary in Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands equals $100K in San Diego-Chula Vista-Carlsbad?
A $100,000 salary in San Diego-Chula Vista-Carlsbad has the same purchasing power as $88,151 in Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands. This is based on the BEA Regional Price Parity indexes.
How do rents compare between San Diego-Chula Vista-Carlsbad and Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands?
Rents in San Diego-Chula Vista-Carlsbad are indexed at 179.3 while Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands is at 104.5 (national average = 100). San Diego-Chula Vista-Carlsbad 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.