Overall
Diff +0.4 RPP
Albany-Schenectady-Troy vs Allentown-Bethlehem-Easton
Cost of living comparison based on BEA Regional Price Parities. Allentown-Bethlehem-Easton is 0.4% more expensive than Albany-Schenectady-Troy.
0.4% more expensive
Allentown-Bethlehem-Easton, PA-NJ is 0.4% more expensive than Albany-Schenectady-Troy, NY on BEA Regional Price Parities (overall RPP 100.0 vs 99.6). A $100,000 salary in Albany-Schenectady-Troy buys about the same as $100,404 in Allentown-Bethlehem-Easton; the largest component gap is services.
- Overall RPP 99.6 (Albany-Schenectady-Troy) vs 100.0 (Allentown-Bethlehem-Easton)
- $100k in Albany-Schenectady-Troy ≈ $100,404 purchasing power in Allentown-Bethlehem-Easton
- Services drives the gap (-26.5 RPP points)
RPP parity plate
Pair NY:PA 99.6→100.0
PHOTO-FINISH · CROSS-STATE · SPLIT-BUDGET · BOTH-BELOW · PP-PAR
- PHOTO-FINISH Photo finish
- CROSS-STATE NY × PA
- 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.
Albany-Schenectady-Troy
99.6
Cost Index
Allentown-Bethlehem-Easton
100.0
Cost Index
What This Comparison Actually Tells You
Albany-Schenectady-Troy, NY and Allentown-Bethlehem-Easton, PA-NJ are a photo finish on overall price level, only 0.4 RPP points apart. A salary conversion is therefore a fine adjustment, not evidence of a fundamentally different cost regime.
Services creates the largest separation: Allentown-Bethlehem-Easton is 26.5 points lower. But services 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 Albany-Schenectady-Troy to $100,404 in Allentown-Bethlehem-Easton, but it is not a personal spending weight.
Category Breakdown
Goods
Diff +0.9 RPP
Services
- Albany-Schenectady-Troy
- 134.0
Diff -26.5 RPP
Rents
- Albany-Schenectady-Troy
- 102.6
Diff +2.9 RPP
| Category | Albany-Schenectady-Troy | Allentown-Bethlehem-Easton | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Overall | 99.6 | 100.0 | +0.4 |
| Goods | 99.7 | 100.6 | +0.9 |
| Services | 134.0 | 107.6 | -26.5 |
| Rents | 102.6 | 105.5 | +2.9 |
Visual Comparison
Overall
Albany-Schenectady-Troy 99.6
Allentown-Bethlehem-Easton 100.0
Goods
Albany-Schenectady-Troy 99.7
Allentown-Bethlehem-Easton 100.6
Services
Albany-Schenectady-Troy 134.0
Allentown-Bethlehem-Easton 107.6
Rents
Albany-Schenectady-Troy 102.6
Allentown-Bethlehem-Easton 105.5
Vertical line = national average (100)
How the Price Gap Changed
Albany-Schenectady-Troy and Allentown-Bethlehem-Easton share 17 published annual releases from 2008 through 2024. Their overall gap narrowed, moving from 1.4 to 0.4 RPP points. Allentown-Bethlehem-Easton remained the higher-index metro in the latest release.
Rents changed the most within this pair: its gap moved 7.5 points between the first and latest shared releases (4.5 to 2.9 points). This describes a relative price-index history, not a forecast or a household budget.
| Release Year | Albany-Schenectady-Troy RPP | Allentown-Bethlehem-Easton RPP | Relative Gap |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2008 | 102.4 | 101.1 | 1.4 points Albany-Schenectady-Troy higher |
| 2012 | 99.5 | 99.9 | 0.4 points Allentown-Bethlehem-Easton higher |
| 2016 | 101.1 | 101.1 | 0.0 points Allentown-Bethlehem-Easton higher |
| 2020 | 99.0 | 99.7 | 0.7 points Allentown-Bethlehem-Easton higher |
| 2024 | 99.6 | 100.0 | 0.4 points Allentown-Bethlehem-Easton 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.
Salary Equivalents
What a salary in Albany-Schenectady-Troy would need to be in Allentown-Bethlehem-Easton for the same purchasing power:
| In Albany-Schenectady-Troy | In Allentown-Bethlehem-Easton | Difference |
|---|---|---|
| $50,000 | $50,202 | +$202 |
| $75,000 | $75,303 | +$303 |
| $100,000 | $100,404 | +$404 |
| $150,000 | $150,606 | +$606 |
$ in Albany-Schenectady-Troy = in Allentown-Bethlehem-Easton
Same BEA Regional Price Parity ratio as the table above (99.6 → 100.0), computed live from your number, nothing is sent anywhere.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Allentown-Bethlehem-Easton more expensive than Albany-Schenectady-Troy?
Allentown-Bethlehem-Easton is 0.4% more expensive than Albany-Schenectady-Troy. The overall cost index is 100.0 vs 99.6 (national average = 100).
What salary in Allentown-Bethlehem-Easton equals $100K in Albany-Schenectady-Troy?
A $100,000 salary in Albany-Schenectady-Troy has the same purchasing power as $100,404 in Allentown-Bethlehem-Easton. This is based on the BEA Regional Price Parity indexes.
How do rents compare between Albany-Schenectady-Troy and Allentown-Bethlehem-Easton?
Rents in Albany-Schenectady-Troy are indexed at 102.6 while Allentown-Bethlehem-Easton is at 105.5 (national average = 100). Allentown-Bethlehem-Easton 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.