How far does your income really go? BEA Regional Price Parity for every U.S. state — housing, goods, services, all items.
The Bureau of Economic Analysis publishes Regional Price Parities[1] — a direct measure of how state-level prices compare to the U.S. national average (= 100). An RPP of 115 means prices run 15% higher than average; 88 means 12% lower. The national median household income benchmark[2] is from Census CPS ASEC, and state income-tax status[3]is pulled from Tax Foundation's annual bracket review.
BEA's RPP is computed by comparing the price levels of a consistent basket of goods and services across state lines. The housing component uses fair-market rents from HUD; goods use retail scanner data; services use BLS CPI microdata. Unlike the older C2ER/MERIC index, RPP is a federal statistic with a transparent methodology — which is why CalcFi uses it as the canonical cost-of-living measure.
Most Expensive
California
RPP 112.2
Cheapest
Mississippi
RPP 86.8
National Median HH Income
$83,592
CPS ASEC
Data Last Updated
BEA 2023
| Rank | State | RPP (all) ▼ |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | California | 112.2[1]12.2% pricier |
| 2 | District of Columbia | 110.7[1]10.7% pricier |
| 3 | Hawaii | 109.7[1]9.7% pricier |
| 4 | New Jersey | 108.9[1]8.9% pricier |
| 5 | Washington | 108.4[1]8.4% pricier |
| 6 | New York | 107.8[1]7.8% pricier |
| 7 | Massachusetts | 107.7[1]7.7% pricier |
| 8 | New Hampshire | 105.4[1]5.4% pricier |
| 9 | Oregon | 104.8[1]4.8% pricier |
| 10 | Maryland | 104.6[1]4.6% pricier |
| 11 | Connecticut | 104.2[1]4.2% pricier |
| 12 | Florida | 103.6[1]3.6% pricier |
| 13 | Alaska | 103.3[1]3.3% pricier |
| 14 | Rhode Island | 102.1[1]2.1% pricier |
| 15 | Colorado | 101.9[1]1.9% pricier |
| 16 | Virginia | 101.3[1]1.3% pricier |
| 17 | Arizona | 100.7[1]0.7% pricier |
| 18 | Delaware | 98.8[1]1.2% cheaper |
| 19 | Illinois | 98.8[1]1.2% cheaper |
| 20 | Minnesota | 98.3[1]1.7% cheaper |
| 21 | Maine | 98.0[1]2.0% cheaper |
| 22 | Nevada | 97.9[1]2.1% cheaper |
| 23 | Pennsylvania | 97.4[1]2.6% cheaper |
| 24 | Vermont | 97.1[1]2.9% cheaper |
| 25 | Texas | 97.1[1]2.9% cheaper |
| 26 | Georgia | 96.5[1]3.5% cheaper |
| 27 | Utah | 95.7[1]4.3% cheaper |
| 28 | North Carolina | 94.4[1]5.6% cheaper |
| 29 | Michigan | 94.3[1]5.7% cheaper |
| 30 | South Carolina | 93.5[1]6.5% cheaper |
| 31 | Wisconsin | 93.2[1]6.8% cheaper |
| 32 | Idaho | 92.2[1]7.8% cheaper |
| 33 | Indiana | 92.1[1]7.9% cheaper |
| 34 | Tennessee | 92.1[1]7.9% cheaper |
| 35 | Ohio | 91.9[1]8.1% cheaper |
| 36 | Wyoming | 91.6[1]8.4% cheaper |
| 37 | Missouri | 91.1[1]8.9% cheaper |
| 38 | Montana | 91.0[1]9.0% cheaper |
| 39 | New Mexico | 91.0[1]9.0% cheaper |
| 40 | Nebraska | 90.3[1]9.7% cheaper |
| 41 | Kansas | 89.9[1]10.1% cheaper |
| 42 | Kentucky | 89.9[1]10.1% cheaper |
| 43 | West Virginia | 89.6[1]10.4% cheaper |
| 44 | Alabama | 89.1[1]10.9% cheaper |
| 45 | Iowa | 88.8[1]11.2% cheaper |
| 46 | Louisiana | 88.7[1]11.3% cheaper |
| 47 | Oklahoma | 88.7[1]11.3% cheaper |
| 48 | North Dakota | 88.2[1]11.8% cheaper |
| 49 | South Dakota | 88.1[1]11.9% cheaper |
| 50 | Arkansas | 86.8[1]13.2% cheaper |
| 51 | Mississippi | 86.8[1]13.2% cheaper |
“$83,592 Adjusted” = national median income × (100 ÷ state RPP). Positive delta = your money goes further. State-level RPPs mask substantial within-state variation — NYC is far pricier than upstate NY.
The variance in housing RPP (from roughly 60 in Mississippi to above 160 in coastal metros) dwarfs the variance in goods RPP (96–110) and services RPP (88–113). States with affordable housing consistently rank as best-value regardless of income-tax policy. This is consistent with ZHVI state-level home values.
New York, Massachusetts, New Jersey, and Connecticut all carry all-items RPPs above 108, with housing RPPs above 130. A $100,000 salary in New York City has the equivalent real purchasing power of roughly $86,000 at the national average. Pair that with the country's highest state income-tax brackets and the effective tax-adjusted RPP climbs another 4–7 points.
Texas exemplifies a common no-income-tax trade-off: RPP 96.8 (below average) and no state income tax, but effective property-tax rates above 1.6% and high insurance costs on the Gulf Coast. The true tax-adjusted cost of living is often higher than neighboring states with a moderate income tax. See states with no income tax.
BEA publishes RPP on a one-year lag (the 2023 vintage ships in early 2024). That's slower than Zillow ZHVI or FRED interest-rate series, but it's the most rigorous federal cost-of-living series available. For more current regional pricing, cross-check state energy prices and state CPI.
Household Income by State
Raw median income before COL adjustment
Home Prices by State
ZHVI state-level home values
States With No Income Tax
Tax savings vs. cost-of-living trade-offs
Energy Prices by State
EIA electricity, natgas, gasoline
State Economic Snapshot
Unemployment, CPI, HPI YoY
Income Percentile Calculator
Where you rank nationally vs. by state
This table reads listStateColIndex()from CalcFi's data repository — backed by the state_col_index table populated by the BEA ETL. Each row carries a record-level source: SourceRef (all four RPP fields ship together in one BEA release), so retrievedAtpropagates directly to the “Last reviewed” date above.
Adjusted-income formula: Nominal income × (100 ÷ State RPP) = real purchasing-power equivalent. This is the BEA-recommended way to compare incomes across states without over- or under-stating local costs.
Refresh cadence:BEA releases updated RPP tables annually, typically in early summer (one-year lag). Once the ETL refreshes, the next ISR revalidation (24 h) bumps the visible “Last reviewed” date.
Known limits: statewide RPPs average metro and rural areas together. BEA publishes more granular metro-area RPPs in a separate release — those differ by 10–30 points from the state average in high-variance states like California and New York.
CalcFi does not sell data. If you spot an error, email hello@calcfi.app with the URL and the correct figure.
FRED + BLS + Treasury · refreshed