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Winston-Salem vs Amarillo

Cost of living comparison based on BEA Regional Price Parities. Amarillo is 0.2% less expensive than Winston-Salem.

0.2% less expensive

Amarillo, TX is 0.2% less expensive than Winston-Salem, NC on BEA Regional Price Parities (overall RPP 91.8 vs 92.0). A $100,000 salary in Winston-Salem buys about the same as $99,758 in Amarillo; the largest component gap is rents.

  • Overall RPP 92.0 (Winston-Salem) vs 91.8 (Amarillo)
  • $100k in Winston-Salem ≈ $99,758 purchasing power in Amarillo
  • Rents drives the gap (+7.0 RPP points)

RPP parity plate

Pair NC:TX 92.0→91.8

PHOTO-FINISH · CROSS-STATE · SPLIT-BUDGET · BOTH-BELOW · PP-PAR

  • PHOTO-FINISH Photo finish
  • CROSS-STATE NC × 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.

Winston-Salem
92.0
Cost Index
Amarillo
91.8
Cost Index

What This Comparison Actually Tells You

Winston-Salem, NC and Amarillo, TX 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.

Rents creates the largest separation: Amarillo is 7.0 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 Winston-Salem corresponds to $99,758 in Amarillo.

Category Breakdown

Visual Comparison

Overall
Winston-Salem
92.0
Amarillo
91.8
Goods
Winston-Salem
96.6
Amarillo
93.8
Services
Winston-Salem
88.4
Amarillo
83.5
Rents
Winston-Salem
71.4
Amarillo
78.4

Vertical line = national average (100)

Salary Equivalents

What a salary in Winston-Salem would need to be in Amarillo for the same purchasing power:

In Winston-Salem In Amarillo Difference
$50,000 $49,879 $-121
$75,000 $74,818 $-182
$100,000 $99,758 $-242
$150,000 $149,637 $-363
$ in Winston-Salem = – in Amarillo

Same BEA Regional Price Parity ratio as the table above (92.0 → 91.8), computed live from your number, nothing is sent anywhere.

Reverse: Amarillo → Winston-Salem Winston-Salem Details Amarillo Details

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Frequently Asked Questions

Is Amarillo more expensive than Winston-Salem?

Amarillo is 0.2% less expensive than Winston-Salem. The overall cost index is 91.8 vs 92.0 (national average = 100).

What salary in Amarillo equals $100K in Winston-Salem?

A $100,000 salary in Winston-Salem has the same purchasing power as $99,758 in Amarillo. This is based on the BEA Regional Price Parity indexes.

How do rents compare between Winston-Salem and Amarillo?

Rents in Winston-Salem are indexed at 71.4 while Amarillo is at 78.4 (national average = 100). Amarillo has higher rents.

Data sources

Data sourced from official public datasets, Regional Price Parities (2024), index where national average = 100. Retrieved and formatted by PlainCost. See our methodology for details.

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.