Metro comparison

Eagle Pass vs Pocatello

Eagle Pass, TX and Pocatello, ID side by side, cost of living, rent, wages, crime, schools, childcare and environment, all from the same federal datasets so every number is directly comparable.

60.2
Eagle Pass Life Score
A-
Eagle Pass grade
67.9
Pocatello Life Score
A+
Pocatello grade

Head-to-head verdict

Across the seven dimensions, Eagle Pass scores higher on 2 (cost of living, rent) and Pocatello on 5 (wages, safety, schools, childcare, environment). The radar shows the full shape; the tables below break out every figure.

Eagle Pass vs Pocatello across all seven dimensions (each scored 0–100 as a national percentile, bigger area = stronger overall) 7-axis radar comparing 2 series across Cost, Wages, Rent, Safety, Schools, Childcare, Environ.. CostWagesRentSafetySchoolsChildcareEnviron. Eagle PassPocatello
Eagle Pass vs Pocatello across all seven dimensions (each scored 0–100 as a national percentile, bigger area = stronger overall)

Source: BEA, HUD, BLS, FBI, NCES, DOL, EPA As of December 2024

Dimension scorecard

Where each metro wins, and by how much

Every dimension is a national percentile (0–100). Each bar leans toward the stronger metro, a long lean is a decisive edge, a near-even split is a toss-up. The radar shows the overall shape; this shows the per-dimension margins.

◖ Eagle Pass Pocatello ◗
cost of living
100
81
wages
0
21
rent
96
69
safety
36
82
schools
42
70
childcare
76
87
environment
85
91

Eagle Pass and Pocatello differ across eleven dimensions of livability. Eagle Pass has a cost-of-living index of 83.8 vs Pocatello's 88.9 (national average = 100). Median salaries are $45,947 in Eagle Pass and $59,267 in Pocatello. A 2-bedroom averages $973/mo vs $1,173/mo.

How to read this matchup

Reading the Eagle Pass vs Pocatello Comparison

Eagle Pass (TX) and Pocatello (ID) are assembled here from the same federal data pipeline, BEA Regional Price Parities, HUD Fair Market Rents, BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, FBI Uniform Crime Reports, NCES public-school counts, and EPA environmental indicators, so every number on this page is directly comparable. The overall cost index reads 83.8 for Eagle Pass against 88.9 for Pocatello, a 5.1-point gap on a scale where 100 equals the U.S. average. HUD's 2-bedroom Fair Market Rent, the figure used to set housing-choice voucher payment standards, is $973/mo in Eagle Pass and $1,173/mo in Pocatello, a $200/mo difference that compounds to $2,400 over a year.

On wages, BLS OES reports a median salary of $45,947 across 10,930 jobs in Eagle Pass against $59,267 across 29,080 jobs in Pocatello. Adjusted through the BEA cost-of-living lens, $100,000 earned in Eagle Pass carries the same local purchasing power as $106,087 in Pocatello - the most honest way to read the salary headline, because nominal wages and rents move together in tight metros. State-level violent crime, the most reliable geographic tier FBI UCR publishes, is 394.7 per 100,000 residents in TX vs 234.7 in ID, with property-crime rates of 2058.2 and 754.4 respectively.

Schools are reported at the state tier by NCES: TX lists 9,061 public schools at a 14.7:1 student-teacher ratio, while ID lists 778 schools at 17.1:1, a signal of class-size staffing, though individual district and school-level variation within each state is substantial. Department of Labor center-based infant care runs $7,566/yr in the Eagle Pass area versus $7,315/yr in Pocatello - a line item that shifts the real cost-of-living picture for households with children under five far more than headline RPP does. When these pieces are read together rather than in isolation, Eagle Pass and Pocatello are not simply "cheaper" or "more expensive" - they trade across dimensions, and which metro wins depends on whether your household optimizes for rent, wages, schools, childcare, safety, or environment. Treat the tables below as inputs to that trade-off, not as a single ranking.

Eagle Pass composite

60.2 /100

Grade A- · weighted across 7 dims

Pocatello composite

67.9 /100

Grade A+ · weighted across 7 dims

Cost-of-living gap

-5.1 pts

Eagle Pass vs Pocatello BEA RPP

2-bed rent delta

$200 /mo

Pocatello priced higher

Composite life score on the national 0–100 scale

Eagle Pass

Eagle Pass composite (Grade A-)

Pocatello

Pocatello composite (Grade A+)

Composite is a weighted roll-up of seven dimensions: cost (20%), wages (20%), rent (15%), safety (15%), schools (10%), childcare (10%), environment (10%). Each input normalized to a 0–100 percentile across all metros.

💰 Cost of Living BEA →

Category Eagle Pass Pocatello
Overall RPP 83.8 88.9
Goods 93.8 96.2
Services 81.9 69.8
Rents 53.7 66.4

Salary Equivalent Calculator

What salary in Pocatello gives the same purchasing power as your salary in Eagle Pass?

$
Equivalent in Pocatello: $106,087

Based on BEA Regional Price Parities (Eagle Pass: 83.8, Pocatello: 88.9, national avg = 100).

🏠 Rent (Fair Market Rent) HUD →

Bedrooms Eagle Pass Pocatello
Studio $814/mo $809/mo
1 Bedroom $888/mo $894/mo
2 Bedroom $973/mo $1,173/mo
3 Bedroom $1,337/mo $1,631/mo
4 Bedroom $1,499/mo $1,968/mo

💼 Wages & Employment BLS →

Metric Eagle Pass Pocatello
Avg Median Salary $45,947 $59,267
Total Employment 10,930 29,080

🛡️ Crime Rates (state-level) FBI →

Crime Type (per 100K) Eagle Pass (TX) Pocatello (ID)
Violent Crime 394.7 234.7
Property Crime 2058.2 754.4

🎓 Schools (state-level) NCES →

Metric TX ID
Total Schools 9,061 778
Student-Teacher Ratio 14.7:1 17.1:1
Charter Schools 11.4% 9.8%

👶 Childcare Costs (Annual Avg) (state-level) DOL →

Age Group TX ID
Infant (Center) $7,566/yr $7,315/yr
Toddler (Center) $7,109/yr $7,002/yr
Preschool (Center) $6,926/yr $6,437/yr

🌿 Environment (state-level) EPA →

Metric TX ID
EPA Facilities 2,342 135
Water Systems 4,620 773
Superfund Sites 70 12
Water Violations 35,693 2,331
Government-verified data - Air quality (EPA AQS), water safety (EPA SDWIS), healthcare access (HRSA), and disaster risk (FEMA NRI) are sourced directly from U.S. federal agencies. No crowdsourced estimates.

💨 Air Quality (EPA AQS) EPA AQS →

Metric Eagle Pass Pocatello
Median AQI 42.0 36.0
Good Air Days 63.0% 88.8%
Unhealthy Air Days 0 days 1 days

💧 Water Safety (EPA SDWIS, state-level) EPA SDWIS →

Metric TX ID
Water Safety Score 13/100 5/100
Total Violations 746,210 104,850
Health-Based Violations 162,945 19,965
Systems with Violations 90.2% 96.1%

🏥 Healthcare Access (HRSA, state-level) HRSA →

Metric TX ID
Healthcare Access Score 67/100 34/100
Population in Shortage Area 33.0% 65.8%
HPSA Designations 1,119 253

HPSA = Health Professional Shortage Area, designated by HRSA. Higher access score = better healthcare availability.

⚠️ Natural Disaster Risk (FEMA NRI, state-level) FEMA NRI →

Metric TX ID
Disaster Safety Score 64/100 78/100
NRI Risk Score (avg county) 49.0 38.5
Expected Annual Loss Score 44.7 41.3

FEMA National Risk Index (NRI) scores are county-level percentiles (0–100). Higher disaster safety score = lower relative risk. State-level values are county averages.

Crime, schools, childcare, and environment data shown at state level. Metro-specific data for these dimensions is not available.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is Eagle Pass more expensive than Pocatello?
Eagle Pass has a cost of living index of 83.8 compared to Pocatello's 88.9 (national average = 100). Pocatello is 5.1 points above Eagle Pass on the BEA Regional Price Parity scale.
What is the rent difference between Eagle Pass and Pocatello?
A 2-bedroom apartment averages $973/mo in Eagle Pass vs $1,173/mo in Pocatello, based on HUD Fair Market Rent data. Studios range from $814/mo to $809/mo.
How do salaries compare between Eagle Pass and Pocatello?
The average median salary across all occupations is $45,947 in Eagle Pass and $59,267 in Pocatello, according to BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics. After adjusting for cost of living, $100,000 in Eagle Pass has the same purchasing power as $106,087 in Pocatello.
Is Eagle Pass or Pocatello safer?
At the state level, TX has a violent crime rate of 394.7 per 100,000 residents compared to ID's 234.7 per 100,000. Property crime rates are 2058.2 vs 754.4 per 100,000 respectively, based on FBI Uniform Crime Report data.
How do schools compare between Eagle Pass and Pocatello?
TX has 9,061 public schools with an average student-teacher ratio of 14.7:1, while ID has 778 schools at 17.1:1. Charter schools make up 11.4% of TX schools vs 9.8% in ID. Data from the National Center for Education Statistics.
Where does the comparison data come from?
All data comes from official U.S. government sources: Bureau of Economic Analysis (cost of living), HUD (fair market rents), BLS (wages), FBI UCR (crime), NCES (schools), Department of Labor (childcare), EPA (environment, air quality, water safety), HRSA (healthcare access), and FEMA NRI (disaster risk). No crowdsourced estimates or proprietary ratings are used.

Research Guides

Data from BEA, HUD, FBI UCR, BLS OES, NCES, DOL, EPA AQS, EPA SDWIS, HRSA, and FEMA NRI. Not affiliated with the U.S. Government.

Disclaimer: This comparison is provided for informational purposes only and does not constitute financial, legal, or relocation advice. Consult a qualified professional before making decisions based on this data.

Data sourced from official public datasets, current as of 2026. See our methodology for details. Retrieved and formatted by PlainCompare