Overall
Diff -0.2 RPP
Cost of living comparison based on BEA Regional Price Parities. Dothan is 0.2% less expensive than Texarkana.
Dothan, AL is 0.2% less expensive than Texarkana, TX-AR on BEA Regional Price Parities (overall RPP 83.8 vs 84.0). A $100,000 salary in Texarkana buys about the same as $99,787 in Dothan; the largest component gap is services.
RPP parity plate
Pair TX:AL 84.0→83.8
PHOTO-FINISH · CROSS-STATE · SPLIT-BUDGET · BOTH-BELOW · PP-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.
Texarkana, TX-AR and Dothan, AL are a photo finish on overall price level, only 0.2 RPP points apart. A salary conversion is therefore a fine adjustment, not evidence of a fundamentally different cost regime.
Services creates the largest separation: Dothan is 5.1 points higher. But services and goods 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 service-heavy household, test childcare, health, and other locally supplied costs before relying on rent alone. The BEA ratio converts $100,000 in Texarkana to $99,787 in Dothan, but it is not a personal spending weight.
Diff -0.2 RPP
Diff +2.7 RPP
Diff +5.1 RPP
Diff -3.0 RPP
| Category | Texarkana | Dothan | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Overall | 84.0 | 83.8 | -0.2 |
| Goods | 93.7 | 96.4 | +2.7 |
| Services | 79.3 | 84.3 | +5.1 |
| Rents | 49.9 | 46.9 | -3.0 |
Vertical line = national average (100)
What a salary in Texarkana would need to be in Dothan for the same purchasing power:
| In Texarkana | In Dothan | Difference |
|---|---|---|
| $50,000 | $49,893 | $-107 |
| $75,000 | $74,840 | $-160 |
| $100,000 | $99,787 | $-213 |
| $150,000 | $149,680 | $-320 |
Same BEA Regional Price Parity ratio as the table above (84.0 → 83.8), computed live from your number, nothing is sent anywhere.
Dothan is 0.2% less expensive than Texarkana. The overall cost index is 83.8 vs 84.0 (national average = 100).
A $100,000 salary in Texarkana has the same purchasing power as $99,787 in Dothan. This is based on the BEA Regional Price Parity indexes.
Rents in Texarkana are indexed at 49.9 while Dothan is at 46.9 (national average = 100). Texarkana has higher rents.
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.