Overall
- Albuquerque
- 95.5
Diff +0.1 RPP
Albuquerque vs Indianapolis-Carmel-Greenwood
Cost of living comparison based on BEA Regional Price Parities. Indianapolis-Carmel-Greenwood is 0.2% more expensive than Albuquerque.
0.2% more expensive
Indianapolis-Carmel-Greenwood, IN is 0.2% more expensive than Albuquerque, NM on BEA Regional Price Parities (overall RPP 95.7 vs 95.5). A $100,000 salary in Albuquerque buys about the same as $100,157 in Indianapolis-Carmel-Greenwood; the largest component gap is services.
- Overall RPP 95.5 (Albuquerque) vs 95.7 (Indianapolis-Carmel-Greenwood)
- $100k in Albuquerque ≈ $100,157 purchasing power in Indianapolis-Carmel-Greenwood
- Services drives the gap (+8.5 RPP points)
RPP parity plate
Pair NM:IN 95.5→95.7
PHOTO-FINISH · CROSS-STATE · SPLIT-BUDGET · BOTH-BELOW · PP-PAR
- PHOTO-FINISH Photo finish
- CROSS-STATE NM × IN
- 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.
Albuquerque
95.5
Cost Index
Indianapolis-Carmel-Greenwood
95.7
Cost Index
What This Comparison Actually Tells You
Albuquerque, NM and Indianapolis-Carmel-Greenwood, IN are a photo finish on overall price level, only 0.1 RPP points apart. A salary conversion is therefore a fine adjustment, not evidence of a fundamentally different cost regime.
Services creates the largest separation: Indianapolis-Carmel-Greenwood is 8.5 points higher. But goods and rents 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 Albuquerque to $100,157 in Indianapolis-Carmel-Greenwood, but it is not a personal spending weight.
Category Breakdown
Goods
- Albuquerque
- 96.1
Diff -1.8 RPP
Services
- Albuquerque
- 77.9
Diff +8.5 RPP
Rents
- Albuquerque
- 89.2
Diff -0.2 RPP
| Category | Albuquerque | Indianapolis-Carmel-Greenwood | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Overall | 95.5 | 95.7 | +0.1 |
| Goods | 96.1 | 94.3 | -1.8 |
| Services | 77.9 | 86.4 | +8.5 |
| Rents | 89.2 | 88.9 | -0.2 |
Visual Comparison
Overall
Albuquerque 95.5
Indianapolis-Carmel-Greenwood 95.7
Goods
Albuquerque 96.1
Indianapolis-Carmel-Greenwood 94.3
Services
Albuquerque 77.9
Indianapolis-Carmel-Greenwood 86.4
Rents
Albuquerque 89.2
Indianapolis-Carmel-Greenwood 88.9
Vertical line = national average (100)
How the Price Gap Changed
Albuquerque and Indianapolis-Carmel-Greenwood share 17 published annual releases from 2008 through 2024. Their overall gap held broadly steady, moving from 0.2 to 0.1 RPP points. Indianapolis-Carmel-Greenwood remained the higher-index metro in the latest release.
Rents changed the most within this pair: its gap moved 9.2 points between the first and latest shared releases (9.5 to 0.2 points). This describes a relative price-index history, not a forecast or a household budget.
| Release Year | Albuquerque RPP | Indianapolis-Carmel-Greenwood RPP | Relative Gap |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2008 | 97.0 | 96.7 | 0.2 points Albuquerque higher |
| 2012 | 99.6 | 94.9 | 4.7 points Albuquerque higher |
| 2016 | 96.6 | 94.2 | 2.5 points Albuquerque higher |
| 2020 | 94.2 | 93.6 | 0.5 points Albuquerque higher |
| 2024 | 95.5 | 95.7 | 0.1 points Indianapolis-Carmel-Greenwood 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 Albuquerque would need to be in Indianapolis-Carmel-Greenwood for the same purchasing power:
| In Albuquerque | In Indianapolis-Carmel-Greenwood | Difference |
|---|---|---|
| $50,000 | $50,078 | +$78 |
| $75,000 | $75,118 | +$118 |
| $100,000 | $100,157 | +$157 |
| $150,000 | $150,235 | +$235 |
$ in Albuquerque = in Indianapolis-Carmel-Greenwood
Same BEA Regional Price Parity ratio as the table above (95.5 → 95.7), computed live from your number, nothing is sent anywhere.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Indianapolis-Carmel-Greenwood more expensive than Albuquerque?
Indianapolis-Carmel-Greenwood is 0.2% more expensive than Albuquerque. The overall cost index is 95.7 vs 95.5 (national average = 100).
What salary in Indianapolis-Carmel-Greenwood equals $100K in Albuquerque?
A $100,000 salary in Albuquerque has the same purchasing power as $100,157 in Indianapolis-Carmel-Greenwood. This is based on the BEA Regional Price Parity indexes.
How do rents compare between Albuquerque and Indianapolis-Carmel-Greenwood?
Rents in Albuquerque are indexed at 89.2 while Indianapolis-Carmel-Greenwood is at 88.9 (national average = 100). Albuquerque 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.