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Abilene vs Manhattan

Cost of living comparison based on BEA Regional Price Parities. Manhattan is 0.2% less expensive than Abilene.

0.2% less expensive

Manhattan, KS is 0.2% less expensive than Abilene, TX on BEA Regional Price Parities (overall RPP 90.2 vs 90.4). A $100,000 salary in Abilene buys about the same as $99,776 in Manhattan; the largest component gap is services.

  • Overall RPP 90.4 (Abilene) vs 90.2 (Manhattan)
  • $100k in Abilene ≈ $99,776 purchasing power in Manhattan
  • Services drives the gap (+7.2 RPP points)

RPP parity plate

Pair TX:KS 90.4→90.2

PHOTO-FINISH · CROSS-STATE · SPLIT-BUDGET · BOTH-BELOW · PP-PAR

  • PHOTO-FINISH Photo finish
  • CROSS-STATE TX × KS
  • SPLIT-BUDGET Split budget
  • BOTH-BELOW Both below 100
  • PP-PAR PP near-par

Instrument codes from this pair's BEA Regional Price Parities (overall · goods · services · rents · national benchmark 100 · purchasing-power conversion), not a ranking or recommendation.

Abilene
90.4
Cost Index
Manhattan
90.2
Cost Index

What This Comparison Actually Tells You

Abilene, TX and Manhattan, KS are a photo finish on overall price level, only 0.2 RPP points apart. A salary conversion is therefore a fine adjustment, not evidence of a fundamentally different cost regime.

Services creates the largest separation: Manhattan is 7.2 points higher. But services and goods move against the overall direction, so this is a split budget rather than a clean across-the-board winner.

Comparable population context is incomplete for this pair, so no market-scale explanation is inferred from the price indexes.

Both metros remain below the U.S. benchmark of 100. This comparison chooses between two below-average price levels; “more expensive” here does not mean nationally expensive.

For a service-heavy household, test childcare, health, and other locally supplied costs before relying on rent alone. The BEA ratio converts $100,000 in Abilene to $99,776 in Manhattan, but it is not a personal spending weight.

Category Breakdown

Visual Comparison

Overall
Abilene
90.4
Manhattan
90.2
Goods
Abilene
93.8
Manhattan
94.0
Services
Abilene
81.2
Manhattan
88.4
Rents
Abilene
73.8
Manhattan
72.0

Vertical line = national average (100)

Salary Equivalents

What a salary in Abilene would need to be in Manhattan for the same purchasing power:

In Abilene In Manhattan Difference
$50,000 $49,888 $-112
$75,000 $74,832 $-168
$100,000 $99,776 $-224
$150,000 $149,665 $-335
$ in Abilene = – in Manhattan

Same BEA Regional Price Parity ratio as the table above (90.4 → 90.2), computed live from your number, nothing is sent anywhere.

Reverse: Manhattan → Abilene Abilene Details Manhattan Details

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Frequently Asked Questions

Is Manhattan more expensive than Abilene?

Manhattan is 0.2% less expensive than Abilene. The overall cost index is 90.2 vs 90.4 (national average = 100).

What salary in Manhattan equals $100K in Abilene?

A $100,000 salary in Abilene has the same purchasing power as $99,776 in Manhattan. This is based on the BEA Regional Price Parity indexes.

How do rents compare between Abilene and Manhattan?

Rents in Abilene are indexed at 73.8 while Manhattan is at 72.0 (national average = 100). Abilene has higher rents.

Data sources

Data sourced from official public datasets, Regional Price Parities (2024), index where national average = 100. Retrieved and formatted by PlainCost. See our methodology for details.

Every figure on PlainCost is rendered directly from BEA Regional Price Parity source data, no number is typed in by an editor. See our editorial standards & corrections policy, the methodology behind these numbers, our changelog, or report a data error. Data current as of 2026-08-11. Rankings measure the published cost-of-living index only; we don't recommend where to live or rate any metro's quality of life.