Overall
- Texarkana
- 84.0
Diff +1.1 RPP
Texarkana vs Houma-Bayou Cane-Thibodaux
Cost of living comparison based on BEA Regional Price Parities. Houma-Bayou Cane-Thibodaux is 1.3% more expensive than Texarkana.
1.3% more expensive
Houma-Bayou Cane-Thibodaux, LA is 1.3% more expensive than Texarkana, TX-AR on BEA Regional Price Parities (overall RPP 85.1 vs 84.0). A $100,000 salary in Texarkana buys about the same as $101,299 in Houma-Bayou Cane-Thibodaux; the largest component gap is services.
- Overall RPP 84.0 (Texarkana) vs 85.1 (Houma-Bayou Cane-Thibodaux)
- $100k in Texarkana ≈ $101,299 purchasing power in Houma-Bayou Cane-Thibodaux
- Services drives the gap (-8.0 RPP points)
RPP parity plate
Pair TX:LA 84.0→85.1
PHOTO-FINISH · CROSS-STATE · SPLIT-BUDGET · BOTH-BELOW · PP-PAR
- PHOTO-FINISH Photo finish
- CROSS-STATE TX × LA
- 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.
Texarkana
84.0
Cost Index
Houma-Bayou Cane-Thibodaux
85.1
Cost Index
What This Comparison Actually Tells You
Texarkana, TX-AR and Houma-Bayou Cane-Thibodaux, LA are a photo finish on overall price level, only 1.1 RPP points apart. A salary conversion is therefore a fine adjustment, not evidence of a fundamentally different cost regime.
Services creates the largest separation: Houma-Bayou Cane-Thibodaux is 8.0 points lower. 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 $101,299 in Houma-Bayou Cane-Thibodaux, but it is not a personal spending weight.
Category Breakdown
Goods
- Texarkana
- 93.7
Diff -0.0 RPP
Services
- Texarkana
- 79.3
Diff -8.0 RPP
Rents
- Texarkana
- 49.9
Diff +1.4 RPP
| Category | Texarkana | Houma-Bayou Cane-Thibodaux | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Overall | 84.0 | 85.1 | +1.1 |
| Goods | 93.7 | 93.7 | -0.0 |
| Services | 79.3 | 71.3 | -8.0 |
| Rents | 49.9 | 51.3 | +1.4 |
Visual Comparison
Overall
Texarkana 84.0
Houma-Bayou Cane-Thibodaux 85.1
Goods
Texarkana 93.7
Houma-Bayou Cane-Thibodaux 93.7
Services
Texarkana 79.3
Houma-Bayou Cane-Thibodaux 71.3
Rents
Texarkana 49.9
Houma-Bayou Cane-Thibodaux 51.3
Vertical line = national average (100)
Salary Equivalents
What a salary in Texarkana would need to be in Houma-Bayou Cane-Thibodaux for the same purchasing power:
| In Texarkana | In Houma-Bayou Cane-Thibodaux | Difference |
|---|---|---|
| $50,000 | $50,649 | +$649 |
| $75,000 | $75,974 | +$974 |
| $100,000 | $101,299 | +$1,299 |
| $150,000 | $151,948 | +$1,948 |
$ in Texarkana = in Houma-Bayou Cane-Thibodaux
Same BEA Regional Price Parity ratio as the table above (84.0 → 85.1), computed live from your number, nothing is sent anywhere.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Houma-Bayou Cane-Thibodaux more expensive than Texarkana?
Houma-Bayou Cane-Thibodaux is 1.3% more expensive than Texarkana. The overall cost index is 85.1 vs 84.0 (national average = 100).
What salary in Houma-Bayou Cane-Thibodaux equals $100K in Texarkana?
A $100,000 salary in Texarkana has the same purchasing power as $101,299 in Houma-Bayou Cane-Thibodaux. This is based on the BEA Regional Price Parity indexes.
How do rents compare between Texarkana and Houma-Bayou Cane-Thibodaux?
Rents in Texarkana are indexed at 49.9 while Houma-Bayou Cane-Thibodaux is at 51.3 (national average = 100). Houma-Bayou Cane-Thibodaux 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.