Overall
- Albany
- 102.1
Diff -3.2 RPP
Albany vs Atlantic City-Hammonton
Cost of living comparison based on BEA Regional Price Parities. Atlantic City-Hammonton is 3.2% less expensive than Albany.
3.2% less expensive
Atlantic City-Hammonton, NJ is 3.2% less expensive than Albany, OR on BEA Regional Price Parities (overall RPP 98.9 vs 102.1). A $100,000 salary in Albany buys about the same as $96,824 in Atlantic City-Hammonton; the largest component gap is goods.
- Overall RPP 102.1 (Albany) vs 98.9 (Atlantic City-Hammonton)
- $100k in Albany ≈ $96,824 purchasing power in Atlantic City-Hammonton
- Goods drives the gap (-5.5 RPP points)
RPP parity plate
Pair OR:NJ 102.1→98.9
TIER-NEAR · CROSS-STATE · SPLIT-BUDGET · BENCH-CROSS · PP-SHIFT
- TIER-NEAR Near tier
- CROSS-STATE OR × NJ
- SPLIT-BUDGET Split budget
- BENCH-CROSS Benchmark cross
- PP-SHIFT PP shift
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.
Category Breakdown
Goods
- Albany
- 105.3
Diff -5.5 RPP
Services
- Albany
- 104.8
- Atlantic City-Hammonton
- 109.2
Diff +4.4 RPP
Rents
- Albany
- 101.1
Diff -2.4 RPP
| Category | Albany | Atlantic City-Hammonton | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Overall | 102.1 | 98.9 | -3.2 |
| Goods | 105.3 | 99.8 | -5.5 |
| Services | 104.8 | 109.2 | +4.4 |
| Rents | 101.1 | 98.7 | -2.4 |
Visual Comparison
Overall
Albany 102.1
Atlantic City-Hammonton 98.9
Goods
Albany 105.3
Atlantic City-Hammonton 99.8
Services
Albany 104.8
Atlantic City-Hammonton 109.2
Rents
Albany 101.1
Atlantic City-Hammonton 98.7
Vertical line = national average (100)
What This Comparison Actually Tells You
Goods creates the largest separation: Atlantic City-Hammonton is 5.5 points lower. But services move against the overall direction, so this is a split budget rather than a clean across-the-board winner.
Atlantic City-Hammonton, NJ is 3.2% less expensive than Albany, OR, a meaningful but not extreme shift. The move decision turns on which budget category creates the 3.2-point overall gap.
This route crosses the national benchmark: Albany is above 100 while Atlantic City-Hammonton is below it. That makes the move a change of price regime, not merely a rank swap.
Comparable population context is incomplete for this pair, so no market-scale explanation is inferred from the price indexes.
For a goods-led difference, remember that many tradable prices vary less by address than housing or labor-priced services. Use $96,824 in Atlantic City-Hammonton as the BEA equivalent of $100,000 in Albany, then replace the national basket with your own.
Albany
102.1
Cost Index
Atlantic City-Hammonton
98.9
Cost Index
Salary Equivalents
What a salary in Albany would need to be in Atlantic City-Hammonton for the same purchasing power:
| In Albany | In Atlantic City-Hammonton | Difference |
|---|---|---|
| $50,000 | $48,412 | $-1,588 |
| $75,000 | $72,618 | $-2,382 |
| $100,000 | $96,824 | $-3,176 |
| $150,000 | $145,236 | $-4,764 |
$ in Albany = in Atlantic City-Hammonton
Same BEA Regional Price Parity ratio as the table above (102.1 → 98.9), computed live from your number, nothing is sent anywhere.
How the Price Gap Changed
Albany and Atlantic City-Hammonton share 17 published annual releases from 2008 through 2024. Their overall gap narrowed, moving from 11.4 to 3.2 RPP points. Albany remained the higher-index metro in the latest release.
Rents changed the most within this pair: its gap moved 43.5 points between the first and latest shared releases (41.1 to 2.4 points). This describes a relative price-index history, not a forecast or a household budget.
| Release Year | Albany RPP | Atlantic City-Hammonton RPP | Relative Gap |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2008 | 99.3 | 110.7 | 11.4 points Atlantic City-Hammonton higher |
| 2012 | 96.6 | 104.6 | 8.0 points Atlantic City-Hammonton higher |
| 2016 | 98.9 | 102.6 | 3.7 points Atlantic City-Hammonton higher |
| 2020 | 102.7 | 101.2 | 1.5 points Albany higher |
| 2024 | 102.1 | 98.9 | 3.2 points Albany higher |
Annual BEA Regional Price Parity releases; a higher index means a higher price level relative to the national average of 100. Selected years shown from the full shared series.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Atlantic City-Hammonton more expensive than Albany?
Atlantic City-Hammonton is 3.2% less expensive than Albany. The overall cost index is 98.9 vs 102.1 (national average = 100).
What salary in Atlantic City-Hammonton equals $100K in Albany?
A $100,000 salary in Albany has the same purchasing power as $96,824 in Atlantic City-Hammonton. This is based on the BEA Regional Price Parity indexes.
How do rents compare between Albany and Atlantic City-Hammonton?
Rents in Albany are indexed at 101.1 while Atlantic City-Hammonton is at 98.7 (national average = 100). Albany has higher rents.
Data sources
- BEA Regional Price Parities (RPP), the cost-of-living indices shown on this page
- U.S. Census Bureau, American Community Survey (ACS), gross-rent observations behind the rents component
- BLS Consumer Price Index (CPI), goods and services price relatives
- BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS), labor-driven services component
- HUD Fair Market Rents (FMR), 40th-percentile rent cross-reference
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.