Overall
Diff +5.9 RPP
Slidell-Mandeville-Covington vs Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands
Cost of living comparison based on BEA Regional Price Parities. Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands is 6.4% more expensive than Slidell-Mandeville-Covington.
6.4% more expensive
Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands, TX is 6.4% more expensive than Slidell-Mandeville-Covington, LA on BEA Regional Price Parities (overall RPP 98.6 vs 92.7). A $100,000 salary in Slidell-Mandeville-Covington buys about the same as $106,366 in Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands; the largest component gap is services.
- Overall RPP 92.7 (Slidell-Mandeville-Covington) vs 98.6 (Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands)
- $100k in Slidell-Mandeville-Covington ≈ $106,366 purchasing power in Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands
- Services drives the gap (+23.6 RPP points)
RPP parity plate
Pair LA:TX 92.7→98.6
TIER-NEAR · CROSS-STATE · SERVICES-LED · BOTH-BELOW · PP-SHIFT
- TIER-NEAR Near tier
- CROSS-STATE LA × 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 6.4% more expensive than Slidell-Mandeville-Covington, LA, a meaningful but not extreme shift. The move decision turns on which budget category creates the 5.9-point overall gap.
Services leads the difference, with Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands 23.6 points higher than Slidell-Mandeville-Covington. 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 Slidell-Mandeville-Covington to $106,366 in Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands, but it is not a personal spending weight.
How the Price Gap Changed
Slidell-Mandeville-Covington and Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands share 17 published annual releases from 2008 through 2024. Their overall gap widened, moving from 2.7 to 5.9 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 11.8 points between the first and latest shared releases (11.9 to 23.6 points). This describes a relative price-index history, not a forecast or a household budget.
| Release Year | Slidell-Mandeville-Covington RPP | Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands RPP | Relative Gap |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2008 | 96.7 | 99.4 | 2.7 points Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands higher |
| 2012 | 97.6 | 100.0 | 2.4 points Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands higher |
| 2016 | 98.7 | 102.4 | 3.7 points Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands higher |
| 2020 | 95.7 | 100.0 | 4.3 points Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands higher |
| 2024 | 92.7 | 98.6 | 5.9 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 +23.6 RPP
Rents
Diff +19.1 RPP
| Category | Slidell-Mandeville-Covington | Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Overall | 92.7 | 98.6 | +5.9 |
| Goods | 93.7 | 100.6 | +6.9 |
| Services | 71.7 | 95.3 | +23.6 |
| Rents | 85.4 | 104.5 | +19.1 |
Visual Comparison
Overall
Slidell-Mandeville-Covington 92.7
Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands 98.6
Goods
Slidell-Mandeville-Covington 93.7
Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands 100.6
Services
Slidell-Mandeville-Covington 71.7
Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands 95.3
Rents
Slidell-Mandeville-Covington 85.4
Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands 104.5
Vertical line = national average (100)
Salary Equivalents
What a salary in Slidell-Mandeville-Covington would need to be in Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands for the same purchasing power:
| In Slidell-Mandeville-Covington | In Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands | Difference |
|---|---|---|
| $50,000 | $53,183 | +$3,183 |
| $75,000 | $79,775 | +$4,775 |
| $100,000 | $106,366 | +$6,366 |
| $150,000 | $159,549 | +$9,549 |
$ in Slidell-Mandeville-Covington = in Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands
Same BEA Regional Price Parity ratio as the table above (92.7 → 98.6), computed live from your number, nothing is sent anywhere.
Slidell-Mandeville-Covington
92.7
Cost Index
Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands
98.6
Cost Index
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands more expensive than Slidell-Mandeville-Covington?
Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands is 6.4% more expensive than Slidell-Mandeville-Covington. The overall cost index is 98.6 vs 92.7 (national average = 100).
What salary in Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands equals $100K in Slidell-Mandeville-Covington?
A $100,000 salary in Slidell-Mandeville-Covington has the same purchasing power as $106,366 in Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands. This is based on the BEA Regional Price Parity indexes.
How do rents compare between Slidell-Mandeville-Covington and Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands?
Rents in Slidell-Mandeville-Covington are indexed at 85.4 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.