Overall
- Tallahassee
- 93.9
- Odessa
- 93.9
Diff -0.0 RPP
Tallahassee vs Odessa
Cost of living comparison based on BEA Regional Price Parities. Odessa is 0% less expensive than Tallahassee.
0% less expensive
Odessa, TX is 0% less expensive than Tallahassee, FL on BEA Regional Price Parities (overall RPP 93.9 vs 93.9). A $100,000 salary in Tallahassee buys about the same as $99,976 in Odessa; the largest component gap is rents.
- Overall RPP 93.9 (Tallahassee) vs 93.9 (Odessa)
- $100k in Tallahassee ≈ $99,976 purchasing power in Odessa
- Rents drives the gap (+11.2 RPP points)
RPP parity plate
Pair FL:TX 93.9→93.9
PHOTO-FINISH · CROSS-STATE · SPLIT-BUDGET · BOTH-BELOW · PP-PAR
- PHOTO-FINISH Photo finish
- CROSS-STATE FL × TX
- SPLIT-BUDGET Split budget
- BOTH-BELOW Both below 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.
Tallahassee
93.9
Cost Index
Odessa
93.9
Cost Index
What This Comparison Actually Tells You
Tallahassee, FL and Odessa, TX are a photo finish on overall price level, only 0.0 RPP points apart. A salary conversion is therefore a fine adjustment, not evidence of a fundamentally different cost regime.
Rents creates the largest separation: Odessa is 11.2 points higher. 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 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.
For a housing-sensitive move, validate the rent gap first: HUD Fair Market Rent and the actual unit size can overturn what the blended index implies. On the BEA ratio alone, $100,000 in Tallahassee corresponds to $99,976 in Odessa.
Category Breakdown
Goods
- Tallahassee
- 96.2
- Odessa
- 93.8
Diff -2.5 RPP
Services
- Tallahassee
- 87.5
- Odessa
- 82.9
Diff -4.6 RPP
Rents
- Tallahassee
- 78.5
- Odessa
- 89.7
Diff +11.2 RPP
| Category | Tallahassee | Odessa | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Overall | 93.9 | 93.9 | -0.0 |
| Goods | 96.2 | 93.8 | -2.5 |
| Services | 87.5 | 82.9 | -4.6 |
| Rents | 78.5 | 89.7 | +11.2 |
Visual Comparison
Overall
Tallahassee 93.9
Odessa 93.9
Goods
Tallahassee 96.2
Odessa 93.8
Services
Tallahassee 87.5
Odessa 82.9
Rents
Tallahassee 78.5
Odessa 89.7
Vertical line = national average (100)
How the Price Gap Changed
Tallahassee and Odessa share 17 published annual releases from 2008 through 2024. Their overall gap held broadly steady, moving from 0.4 to 0.0 RPP points. Tallahassee remained the higher-index metro in the latest release.
Rents changed the most within this pair: its gap moved 8.8 points between the first and latest shared releases (2.4 to 11.2 points). This describes a relative price-index history, not a forecast or a household budget.
| Release Year | Tallahassee RPP | Odessa RPP | Relative Gap |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2008 | 96.0 | 96.4 | 0.4 points Odessa higher |
| 2012 | 97.2 | 97.9 | 0.7 points Odessa higher |
| 2016 | 97.4 | 99.1 | 1.7 points Odessa higher |
| 2020 | 91.1 | 99.1 | 8.1 points Odessa higher |
| 2024 | 93.9 | 93.9 | 0.0 points Tallahassee 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 Tallahassee would need to be in Odessa for the same purchasing power:
| In Tallahassee | In Odessa | Difference |
|---|---|---|
| $50,000 | $49,988 | $-12 |
| $75,000 | $74,982 | $-18 |
| $100,000 | $99,976 | $-24 |
| $150,000 | $149,963 | $-37 |
$ in Tallahassee = in Odessa
Same BEA Regional Price Parity ratio as the table above (93.9 → 93.9), computed live from your number, nothing is sent anywhere.
Also Compare
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Odessa more expensive than Tallahassee?
Odessa is 0% less expensive than Tallahassee. The overall cost index is 93.9 vs 93.9 (national average = 100).
What salary in Odessa equals $100K in Tallahassee?
A $100,000 salary in Tallahassee has the same purchasing power as $99,976 in Odessa. This is based on the BEA Regional Price Parity indexes.
How do rents compare between Tallahassee and Odessa?
Rents in Tallahassee are indexed at 78.5 while Odessa is at 89.7 (national average = 100). Odessa 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.