Overall
- Amherst Town-Northampton
- 100.2
Diff -0.3 RPP
Amherst Town-Northampton vs Allentown-Bethlehem-Easton
Cost of living comparison based on BEA Regional Price Parities. Allentown-Bethlehem-Easton is 0.3% less expensive than Amherst Town-Northampton.
0.3% less expensive
Allentown-Bethlehem-Easton, PA-NJ is 0.3% less expensive than Amherst Town-Northampton, MA on BEA Regional Price Parities (overall RPP 100.0 vs 100.2). A $100,000 salary in Amherst Town-Northampton buys about the same as $99,726 in Allentown-Bethlehem-Easton; the largest component gap is services.
- Overall RPP 100.2 (Amherst Town-Northampton) vs 100.0 (Allentown-Bethlehem-Easton)
- $100k in Amherst Town-Northampton ≈ $99,726 purchasing power in Allentown-Bethlehem-Easton
- Services drives the gap (-48.1 RPP points)
RPP parity plate
Pair MA:PA 100.2→100.0
PHOTO-FINISH · CROSS-STATE · SPLIT-BUDGET · BENCH-CROSS · PP-PAR
- PHOTO-FINISH Photo finish
- CROSS-STATE MA × PA
- SPLIT-BUDGET Split budget
- BENCH-CROSS Benchmark cross
- 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.
Amherst Town-Northampton
100.2
Cost Index
Allentown-Bethlehem-Easton
100.0
Cost Index
What This Comparison Actually Tells You
Amherst Town-Northampton, MA and Allentown-Bethlehem-Easton, PA-NJ 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.
Services creates the largest separation: Allentown-Bethlehem-Easton is 48.1 points lower. But rents and goods 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.
This route crosses the national benchmark: Amherst Town-Northampton is above 100 while Allentown-Bethlehem-Easton is below it. That makes the move a change of price regime, not merely a rank swap.
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 Amherst Town-Northampton to $99,726 in Allentown-Bethlehem-Easton, but it is not a personal spending weight.
Category Breakdown
Goods
Diff +3.6 RPP
Services
- Amherst Town-Northampton
- 155.7
Diff -48.1 RPP
Rents
Diff +8.0 RPP
| Category | Amherst Town-Northampton | Allentown-Bethlehem-Easton | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Overall | 100.2 | 100.0 | -0.3 |
| Goods | 97.0 | 100.6 | +3.6 |
| Services | 155.7 | 107.6 | -48.1 |
| Rents | 97.5 | 105.5 | +8.0 |
Visual Comparison
Overall
Amherst Town-Northampton 100.2
Allentown-Bethlehem-Easton 100.0
Goods
Amherst Town-Northampton 97.0
Allentown-Bethlehem-Easton 100.6
Services
Amherst Town-Northampton 155.7
Allentown-Bethlehem-Easton 107.6
Rents
Amherst Town-Northampton 97.5
Allentown-Bethlehem-Easton 105.5
Vertical line = national average (100)
Salary Equivalents
What a salary in Amherst Town-Northampton would need to be in Allentown-Bethlehem-Easton for the same purchasing power:
| In Amherst Town-Northampton | In Allentown-Bethlehem-Easton | Difference |
|---|---|---|
| $50,000 | $49,863 | $-137 |
| $75,000 | $74,794 | $-206 |
| $100,000 | $99,726 | $-274 |
| $150,000 | $149,588 | $-412 |
$ in Amherst Town-Northampton = in Allentown-Bethlehem-Easton
Same BEA Regional Price Parity ratio as the table above (100.2 → 100.0), computed live from your number, nothing is sent anywhere.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Allentown-Bethlehem-Easton more expensive than Amherst Town-Northampton?
Allentown-Bethlehem-Easton is 0.3% less expensive than Amherst Town-Northampton. The overall cost index is 100.0 vs 100.2 (national average = 100).
What salary in Allentown-Bethlehem-Easton equals $100K in Amherst Town-Northampton?
A $100,000 salary in Amherst Town-Northampton has the same purchasing power as $99,726 in Allentown-Bethlehem-Easton. This is based on the BEA Regional Price Parity indexes.
How do rents compare between Amherst Town-Northampton and Allentown-Bethlehem-Easton?
Rents in Amherst Town-Northampton are indexed at 97.5 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.