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To compare the cost of living between states, start with the same-year U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) Regional Price Parities (RPPs), then price your own likely housing, transportation, food, utilities, health care, and other major expenses in the specific places you are considering. Compare those recurring costs with realistic after-tax income, and keep one-time moving expenses separate. A state average is a useful baseline—not a forecast of your household’s bills.
Start with a consistent state price-level baseline
The BEA defines Regional Price Parities as measures of price-level differences across states and metropolitan areas for a given year, expressed as a percentage of the national price level. In practical terms, 100 is the national average; 110 means the regional average price level is 10 percent above it. The RPP is an index, not a dollar estimate or an affordability score. A value of 90 does not mean your personal bills will be exactly 10 percent lower.
The latest state estimates available as of October 2026 are for 2024, published in the BEA’s February 19, 2026 release. For that year, California’s all-items RPP was 110.7, Hawaii’s was 110.0, and New Jersey’s was 108.8. Arkansas was 86.9, Mississippi 87.0, and Iowa and Oklahoma each 87.8. These examples illustrate the range; they are not a recommendation or a complete ranking of states. See the BEA state and metro RPP tables and the 2024 BEA release for the official figures.
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Use matching years for both places. If your decision is between particular cities, look for a metro or local-area comparison rather than treating statewide averages as representative of every neighborhood. The BEA’s 2024 release discontinued separate metro-area publications of real personal consumption expenditures and real personal income, but its RPP product continues to provide state and local price comparisons.
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Understand what the index measures—and what it does not
RPPs compare average price levels in one year; they do not measure inflation, which is price change over time. They also do not incorporate everything that determines whether a move works financially, such as your salary, taxes, benefits, housing preferences, or moving expenses. The underlying method combines price information and expenditure weights from federal sources, including Bureau of Labor Statistics Consumer Price Index data, Census American Community Survey housing data, and BEA personal consumption expenditure data. The method aggregates county estimates into state and metro or local-area estimates.
The result is a broad average built from consumer categories and average prices. It cannot account for every household’s size, health needs, commute, housing choice, or lifestyle. The BEA also cautions that CPI was not designed for geographic comparisons; sparse or uneven samples can make some estimates volatile, and extreme regional values for selected volatile items—especially medical and education services—may be replaced with national price levels. Treat the index as a consistent starting point, then verify the costs that matter most to you with current local information. The BEA explains its approach in its RPP methodology and additional information on the state release.
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Compare your actual monthly budget in seven steps
- Choose comparable places and dates. Record the same-year state RPP for each candidate. If you are considering specific cities, use a metro or local-area RPP where available. Note the year beside each figure so an older estimate is not mistaken for a current one.
- Use all-items RPP only as a first screen. The overall index gives a weighted view of regional price levels. It does not tell you how much your household will spend or whether local earnings will cover those expenses.
- List your largest recurring costs. Include rent or likely ownership costs, utilities, food, transportation and commuting, medical expenses, childcare or education where relevant, and any other major recurring category. Prioritize the expenses that make up the largest share of your own budget.
- Price realistic housing options. Compare homes of a suitable size and type in the neighborhoods you would actually consider. For a purchase, account for relevant insurance and property-related costs as well as the price of the home; for a rental, compare the likely rent and terms. An index value is not a quote for a particular home.
- Adjust other categories to your likely choices. Check the commute you expect to make, your transportation mode, utility expectations, and household-specific needs. A state average can conceal meaningful differences between metro, suburban, and rural areas.
- Estimate destination income and take-home pay separately. Use credible earnings for the job or remote-work arrangement you expect, then account for taxes, benefits, and deductions. BEA real personal income is a regional, price-adjusted statistic—not an estimate of your paycheck or tax bill. The BEA 2024 release describes the regional statistics.
- Build a monthly scenario and show uncertainty. Put current and destination estimates side by side. Use low and high estimates for costs that are uncertain, total recurring monthly expenses, and compare the result with expected after-tax income. Record the assumptions and dates used so you can update the comparison when quotes or circumstances change.
Give housing its own comparison
Housing rents are often the main driver of differences in overall RPPs, according to the BEA. In 2024, the housing-rent RPP was 154.3 in California and 54.2 in West Virginia. Those figures compare regional rent price levels; neither is a rent amount in dollars, and neither predicts the price of a specific unit. Check current listings and actual availability in the neighborhoods that fit your needs rather than applying a statewide rent index to your own search.
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1Repair Windows errors before they cause bigger problems2Fix the driver behind crashes, sound loss and screen glitches3Clear out junk files and repair common Windows errorsFor a useful housing comparison, keep the home type, size, and location as consistent as possible. If you are deciding whether to rent or buy, do not treat a rent index as a comparison of total ownership cost: estimate the relevant costs of the option you would actually choose.
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Keep moving expenses outside the recurring-cost comparison
Moving-company or rental-truck charges, travel, deposits, storage, and overlapping leases belong in a separate one-time relocation budget. They affect how much cash the move requires, but they are not recurring regional prices measured by RPP. Get estimates tied to your route, moving date, and service level, and show them separately from the monthly budget so they do not distort the comparison of ongoing affordability.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.Use the figures without confusing price levels and affordability
Regional price levels answer one question: how do average prices in a place compare with the national level for that year? They do not answer whether your own move improves your finances. A lower-price state may still be a poor fit if your likely income is lower or your household’s largest expenses differ from the index’s average basket. Conversely, a higher-price place may be manageable if your expected income and budget support it.
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Do not use BEA real personal consumption expenditure growth as a household cost estimate. For example, the BEA reported 2024 real PCE growth of 5.3 percent in Massachusetts and 2.9 percent nationally; these are inflation-adjusted consumption growth statistics, not price-level scores or predictions of how much an individual family’s budget will change. Background on how the categories are presented appears in the BEA’s price-comparison explainer, which uses 2022 examples.
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