Overall
- Traverse City
- 93.4
Diff +9.7 RPP
Traverse City vs Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington
Cost of living comparison based on BEA Regional Price Parities. Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington is 10.4% more expensive than Traverse City.
10.4% more expensive
Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington, TX is 10.4% more expensive than Traverse City, MI on BEA Regional Price Parities (overall RPP 103.1 vs 93.4). A $100,000 salary in Traverse City buys about the same as $110,408 in Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington; the largest component gap is rents.
- Overall RPP 93.4 (Traverse City) vs 103.1 (Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington)
- $100k in Traverse City ≈ $110,408 purchasing power in Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington
- Rents drives the gap (+39.7 RPP points)
RPP parity plate
Pair MI:TX 93.4→103.1
TIER-GAP · CROSS-STATE · SPLIT-BUDGET · BENCH-CROSS · PP-SHIFT
- TIER-GAP Clear tier gap
- CROSS-STATE MI × TX
- SPLIT-BUDGET Split budget
- 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.
Category Breakdown
Goods
- Traverse City
- 93.7
Diff +9.1 RPP
Services
- Traverse City
- 92.4
Diff -1.6 RPP
Rents
- Traverse City
- 78.1
Diff +39.7 RPP
| Category | Traverse City | Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Overall | 93.4 | 103.1 | +9.7 |
| Goods | 93.7 | 102.8 | +9.1 |
| Services | 92.4 | 90.7 | -1.6 |
| Rents | 78.1 | 117.9 | +39.7 |
Visual Comparison
Overall
Traverse City 93.4
Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington 103.1
Goods
Traverse City 93.7
Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington 102.8
Services
Traverse City 92.4
Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington 90.7
Rents
Traverse City 78.1
Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington 117.9
Vertical line = national average (100)
What This Comparison Actually Tells You
Rents creates the largest separation: Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington is 39.7 points higher. But services move against the overall direction, so this is a split budget rather than a clean across-the-board winner.
Traverse City, MI and Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington, TX sit in clearly different price tiers, separated by 9.7 RPP points. At this distance, treating the same nominal salary as equivalent would materially change purchasing power.
This route crosses the national benchmark: Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington is above 100 while Traverse City is below it. That makes the move a change of price regime, not merely a rank swap.
Comparable population context is incomplete for this pair, so no market-scale explanation is inferred from the price indexes.
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 Traverse City corresponds to $110,408 in Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington.
Traverse City
93.4
Cost Index
Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington
103.1
Cost Index
Salary Equivalents
What a salary in Traverse City would need to be in Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington for the same purchasing power:
| In Traverse City | In Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington | Difference |
|---|---|---|
| $50,000 | $55,204 | +$5,204 |
| $75,000 | $82,806 | +$7,806 |
| $100,000 | $110,408 | +$10,408 |
| $150,000 | $165,612 | +$15,612 |
$ in Traverse City = in Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington
Same BEA Regional Price Parity ratio as the table above (93.4 → 103.1), computed live from your number, nothing is sent anywhere.
How the Price Gap Changed
Traverse City and Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington share 17 published annual releases from 2008 through 2024. Their overall gap narrowed, moving from 16.1 to 9.7 RPP points. Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington remained the higher-index metro in the latest release.
Services changed the most within this pair: its gap moved 23.9 points between the first and latest shared releases (22.3 to 1.6 points). This describes a relative price-index history, not a forecast or a household budget.
| Release Year | Traverse City RPP | Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington RPP | Relative Gap |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2008 | 85.3 | 101.4 | 16.1 points Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington higher |
| 2012 | 91.7 | 100.8 | 9.1 points Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington higher |
| 2016 | 89.7 | 98.0 | 8.3 points Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington higher |
| 2020 | 90.4 | 104.5 | 14.1 points Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington higher |
| 2024 | 93.4 | 103.1 | 9.7 points Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington 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.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington more expensive than Traverse City?
Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington is 10.4% more expensive than Traverse City. The overall cost index is 103.1 vs 93.4 (national average = 100).
What salary in Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington equals $100K in Traverse City?
A $100,000 salary in Traverse City has the same purchasing power as $110,408 in Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington. This is based on the BEA Regional Price Parity indexes.
How do rents compare between Traverse City and Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington?
Rents in Traverse City are indexed at 78.1 while Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington is at 117.9 (national average = 100). Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington 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.