McAllen-Edinburg-Mission → Fort Smith

Moving from McAllen-Edinburg-Mission to Fort Smith shifts your BEA Regional Price Parity from 85.9 to 85.9 (100 = US average), so a McAllen-Edinburg-Mission salary needs to be multiplied by 1.00 to hold the same purchasing power in Fort Smith. On rent, HUD Fair Market Rent for a 2-bedroom goes from $1,060/month in McAllen-Edinburg-Mission to $937/month in Fort Smith - a lower monthly bill of $123, or $1,476/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 $55,404 in McAllen-Edinburg-Mission versus $53,744 in Fort Smith - a raw gap of $1,660 lower. The Fort Smith labor market has 89,060 tracked jobs against 289,460 in McAllen-Edinburg-Mission, 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 McAllen-Edinburg-Mission and Fort Smith are 395 and 580 per 100,000 (state-level). NCES student-teacher ratios run 14.7:1 at origin versus 13.6:1 at destination. Our composite verdict - Favorable - weighs all seven federal sources; the dimension table below lets you override that with your personal priorities.