Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington → Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater

Moving from Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington to Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater shifts your BEA Regional Price Parity from 103.1 to 100.9 (100 = US average), so a Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington salary needs to be multiplied by 0.98 to hold the same purchasing power in Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater. On rent, HUD Fair Market Rent for a 2-bedroom goes from $1,931/month in Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington to $1,977/month in Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater - a higher monthly bill of $46, or $552/year. That rent delta alone is often the single biggest line item when relocating.

Wages tell the other half. BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics report a median salary of $73,476 in Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington versus $68,404 in Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater - a raw gap of $5,072 lower. The Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater labor market has 1,402,180 tracked jobs against 4,019,090 in Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington, shaping how easy it is to find a comparable role. Combine that with the cost-of-living shift above and you get the real purchasing-power delta, sometimes a "higher salary" is actually a pay cut once rent and RPP are applied.

Safety, schools, and childcare round out the move. FBI UCR violent crime rates near Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington and Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater are 395 and 210 per 100,000 (state-level). NCES student-teacher ratios run 14.7:1 at origin versus 17.8:1 at destination. DOL center-based infant care costs $7,566/year in Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington versus $10,505/year in Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater. Our composite verdict - Less Favorable - weighs all seven federal sources; the dimension table below lets you override that with your personal priorities.