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Albany vs Rocky Mount

Cost of living comparison based on BEA Regional Price Parities. Rocky Mount is 0.4% more expensive than Albany.

0.4% more expensive

Rocky Mount, NC is 0.4% more expensive than Albany, GA on BEA Regional Price Parities (overall RPP 88.0 vs 87.7). A $100,000 salary in Albany buys about the same as $100,391 in Rocky Mount; the largest component gap is rents.

  • Overall RPP 87.7 (Albany) vs 88.0 (Rocky Mount)
  • $100k in Albany ≈ $100,391 purchasing power in Rocky Mount
  • Rents drives the gap (+1.5 RPP points)

RPP parity plate

Pair GA:NC 87.7→88.0

PHOTO-FINISH · CROSS-STATE · RENT-LED · BOTH-BELOW · PP-PAR

  • PHOTO-FINISH Photo finish
  • CROSS-STATE GA × NC
  • RENT-LED Rent-led gap
  • 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.

Albany
87.7
Cost Index
Rocky Mount
88.0
Cost Index

What This Comparison Actually Tells You

Albany, GA and Rocky Mount, NC are a photo finish on overall price level, only 0.3 RPP points apart. A salary conversion is therefore a fine adjustment, not evidence of a fundamentally different cost regime.

Rents leads the difference, with Rocky Mount 1.5 points higher than Albany. Goods, services, and rents all point in the same broad direction, making the headline comparison more transferable across household types.

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 housing-sensitive move, validate the rent gap first: HUD Fair Market Rent and the actual unit size can overturn what the blended index implies. On the BEA ratio alone, $100,000 in Albany corresponds to $100,391 in Rocky Mount.

Category Breakdown

Visual Comparison

Overall
Albany
87.7
Rocky Mount
88.0
Goods
Albany
96.3
Rocky Mount
96.6
Services
Albany
88.3
Rocky Mount
88.4
Rents
Albany
54.6
Rocky Mount
56.1

Vertical line = national average (100)

Salary Equivalents

What a salary in Albany would need to be in Rocky Mount for the same purchasing power:

In Albany In Rocky Mount Difference
$50,000 $50,196 +$196
$75,000 $75,293 +$293
$100,000 $100,391 +$391
$150,000 $150,587 +$587
$ in Albany = – in Rocky Mount

Same BEA Regional Price Parity ratio as the table above (87.7 → 88.0), computed live from your number, nothing is sent anywhere.

Reverse: Rocky Mount → Albany Albany Details Rocky Mount Details

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Frequently Asked Questions

Is Rocky Mount more expensive than Albany?

Rocky Mount is 0.4% more expensive than Albany. The overall cost index is 88.0 vs 87.7 (national average = 100).

What salary in Rocky Mount equals $100K in Albany?

A $100,000 salary in Albany has the same purchasing power as $100,391 in Rocky Mount. This is based on the BEA Regional Price Parity indexes.

How do rents compare between Albany and Rocky Mount?

Rents in Albany are indexed at 54.6 while Rocky Mount is at 56.1 (national average = 100). Rocky Mount 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.