BEA Regional Price Parities 2024 · updated February 19, 2026
Cost-of-Living Salary Calculator
Comparing an offer across state lines? See what your salary is actually worth in the other state — adjusted by the federal government's own price index, not a proprietary cost-of-living blend.
Methodology
Source. The U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis' Regional Price Parities (SARPP table, all-items index), 2024 vintage, last updated February 19, 2026. RPPs measure each state's overall consumer price level — goods, housing rents, and other services — against a U.S. average of 100. The full table ships with this site and is refreshed when BEA publishes the next vintage; no per-request calls, no blending with any other cost-of-living source.
The math, in full. Equivalent salary = salary × (destination RPP ÷ origin RPP). "National-price dollars" = salary ÷ (RPP ÷ 100). That's the entire computation — two divisions you can check by hand against the cited table. When both an origin salary and a destination offer are entered, the purchasing-power gap is the difference between their national-price values.
Scope and limitations. This is a state-level adjustment: BEA discontinued metro-area RPPs after the 2023 vintage, so within-state differences (a state's priciest metro vs. its cheapest) are not captured, and the statewide figure will understate costs in expensive metros. RPPs cover consumer prices only — no state or local taxes, which can move a real comparison materially. Price levels are a 2024 annual snapshot. Wage figures elsewhere on this site are never RPP-adjusted; this tool adjusts only the salary you type in, and no RPP value ever feeds into a BLS wage statistic shown on another page.
Informational only, not professional or financial advice. Last reviewed: July 2026.
Frequently asked questions
What is a Regional Price Parity?
Regional Price Parities (RPPs) are the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis' official measure of how price levels differ across states, expressed against a national level of 100. The all-items index used here covers goods, housing rents, and other services. This tool uses the 2024 vintage, last updated February 19, 2026 — the exact series and year are stated on every result.
Why does this compare states instead of cities?
BEA discontinued metro-area Regional Price Parities after the 2023 vintage; the state series is the finest geography the agency still publishes and updates annually. Rather than serve a frozen, aging metro series, this tool uses the current state figures and says so. The trade-off is real: within-state differences — San Francisco vs. Fresno — are not captured, and a statewide figure understates costs in a state's priciest metro.
Does this account for taxes?
No. RPPs measure consumer price levels, not taxes, and this tool compares pre-tax purchasing power only. State and local income taxes differ enough to move a real-world comparison materially — a state with cheap prices and high income tax can net out worse than this comparison suggests. Treat the result as the price-level half of the picture, not the whole picture.
How is this different from other cost-of-living calculators?
Most cost-of-living calculators blend proprietary or crowdsourced price baskets with undisclosed weights, and the same two cities can produce wildly different answers across sites. This tool does one division on one official federal statistic and shows you the statistic itself — you can check every result by hand from the cited BEA table.
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