Overall
- Albuquerque
- 95.5
Diff +4.5 RPP
Albuquerque vs Palm Bay-Melbourne-Titusville
Cost of living comparison based on BEA Regional Price Parities. Palm Bay-Melbourne-Titusville is 4.7% more expensive than Albuquerque.
4.7% more expensive
Palm Bay-Melbourne-Titusville, FL is 4.7% more expensive than Albuquerque, NM on BEA Regional Price Parities (overall RPP 100.0 vs 95.5). A $100,000 salary in Albuquerque buys about the same as $104,667 in Palm Bay-Melbourne-Titusville; the largest component gap is rents.
- Overall RPP 95.5 (Albuquerque) vs 100.0 (Palm Bay-Melbourne-Titusville)
- $100k in Albuquerque ≈ $104,667 purchasing power in Palm Bay-Melbourne-Titusville
- Rents drives the gap (+22.6 RPP points)
RPP parity plate
Pair NM:FL 95.5→100.0
TIER-NEAR · CROSS-STATE · RENT-LED · BENCH-CROSS · PP-SHIFT
- TIER-NEAR Near tier
- CROSS-STATE NM × FL
- RENT-LED Rent-led gap
- 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.
Salary Equivalents
What a salary in Albuquerque would need to be in Palm Bay-Melbourne-Titusville for the same purchasing power:
| In Albuquerque | In Palm Bay-Melbourne-Titusville | Difference |
|---|---|---|
| $50,000 | $52,333 | +$2,333 |
| $75,000 | $78,500 | +$3,500 |
| $100,000 | $104,667 | +$4,667 |
| $150,000 | $157,000 | +$7,000 |
$ in Albuquerque = in Palm Bay-Melbourne-Titusville
Same BEA Regional Price Parity ratio as the table above (95.5 → 100.0), computed live from your number, nothing is sent anywhere.
What This Comparison Actually Tells You
Palm Bay-Melbourne-Titusville, FL is 4.7% more expensive than Albuquerque, NM, a meaningful but not extreme shift. The move decision turns on which budget category creates the 4.5-point overall gap.
This route crosses the national benchmark: Palm Bay-Melbourne-Titusville is above 100 while Albuquerque is below it. That makes the move a change of price regime, not merely a rank swap.
Rents leads the difference, with Palm Bay-Melbourne-Titusville 22.6 points higher than Albuquerque. 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.
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 Albuquerque corresponds to $104,667 in Palm Bay-Melbourne-Titusville.
Category Breakdown
Goods
- Albuquerque
- 96.1
Diff +0.1 RPP
Services
- Albuquerque
- 77.9
Diff +10.2 RPP
Rents
- Albuquerque
- 89.2
Diff +22.6 RPP
| Category | Albuquerque | Palm Bay-Melbourne-Titusville | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Overall | 95.5 | 100.0 | +4.5 |
| Goods | 96.1 | 96.2 | +0.1 |
| Services | 77.9 | 88.1 | +10.2 |
| Rents | 89.2 | 111.7 | +22.6 |
Visual Comparison
Overall
Albuquerque 95.5
Palm Bay-Melbourne-Titusville 100.0
Goods
Albuquerque 96.1
Palm Bay-Melbourne-Titusville 96.2
Services
Albuquerque 77.9
Palm Bay-Melbourne-Titusville 88.1
Rents
Albuquerque 89.2
Palm Bay-Melbourne-Titusville 111.7
Vertical line = national average (100)
Albuquerque
95.5
Cost Index
Palm Bay-Melbourne-Titusville
100.0
Cost Index
How the Price Gap Changed
Albuquerque and Palm Bay-Melbourne-Titusville share 17 published annual releases from 2008 through 2024. Their overall gap widened, moving from 3.0 to 4.5 RPP points. Palm Bay-Melbourne-Titusville remained the higher-index metro in the latest release.
Rents changed the most within this pair: its gap moved 12.1 points between the first and latest shared releases (10.5 to 22.6 points). This describes a relative price-index history, not a forecast or a household budget.
| Release Year | Albuquerque RPP | Palm Bay-Melbourne-Titusville RPP | Relative Gap |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2008 | 97.0 | 99.9 | 3.0 points Palm Bay-Melbourne-Titusville higher |
| 2012 | 99.6 | 98.0 | 1.6 points Albuquerque higher |
| 2016 | 96.6 | 98.8 | 2.2 points Palm Bay-Melbourne-Titusville higher |
| 2020 | 94.2 | 96.8 | 2.6 points Palm Bay-Melbourne-Titusville higher |
| 2024 | 95.5 | 100.0 | 4.5 points Palm Bay-Melbourne-Titusville 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 Palm Bay-Melbourne-Titusville more expensive than Albuquerque?
Palm Bay-Melbourne-Titusville is 4.7% more expensive than Albuquerque. The overall cost index is 100.0 vs 95.5 (national average = 100).
What salary in Palm Bay-Melbourne-Titusville equals $100K in Albuquerque?
A $100,000 salary in Albuquerque has the same purchasing power as $104,667 in Palm Bay-Melbourne-Titusville. This is based on the BEA Regional Price Parity indexes.
How do rents compare between Albuquerque and Palm Bay-Melbourne-Titusville?
Rents in Albuquerque are indexed at 89.2 while Palm Bay-Melbourne-Titusville is at 111.7 (national average = 100). Palm Bay-Melbourne-Titusville 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.