Fort Smith → Mansfield

Moving from Fort Smith to Mansfield shifts your BEA Regional Price Parity from 85.9 to 88.9 (100 = US average), so a Fort Smith salary needs to be multiplied by 1.03 to hold the same purchasing power in Mansfield. On rent, HUD Fair Market Rent for a 2-bedroom goes from $937/month in Fort Smith to $973/month in Mansfield - a higher monthly bill of $36, or $432/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 $53,744 in Fort Smith versus $59,166 in Mansfield - a raw gap of $5,422 higher. The Mansfield labor market has 42,920 tracked jobs against 89,060 in Fort Smith, 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 Fort Smith and Mansfield are 580 and 293 per 100,000 (state-level). NCES student-teacher ratios run 13.6:1 at origin versus 18.2:1 at destination. Our composite verdict - Favorable - weighs all seven federal sources; the dimension table below lets you override that with your personal priorities.