Overall
- Amherst Town-Northampton
- 100.2
- Fairbanks-College
- 103.2
Diff +3.0 RPP
Amherst Town-Northampton vs Fairbanks-College
Cost of living comparison based on BEA Regional Price Parities. Fairbanks-College is 3% more expensive than Amherst Town-Northampton.
3% more expensive
Fairbanks-College, AK is 3% more expensive than Amherst Town-Northampton, MA on BEA Regional Price Parities (overall RPP 103.2 vs 100.2). A $100,000 salary in Amherst Town-Northampton buys about the same as $102,958 in Fairbanks-College; the largest component gap is services.
- Overall RPP 100.2 (Amherst Town-Northampton) vs 103.2 (Fairbanks-College)
- $100k in Amherst Town-Northampton ≈ $102,958 purchasing power in Fairbanks-College
- Services drives the gap (-36.0 RPP points)
RPP parity plate
Pair MA:AK 100.2→103.2
TIER-NEAR · CROSS-STATE · SPLIT-BUDGET · BOTH-ABOVE · PP-SHIFT
- TIER-NEAR Near tier
- CROSS-STATE MA × AK
- SPLIT-BUDGET Split budget
- BOTH-ABOVE Both above 100
- 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
- Fairbanks-College
- 107.3
Diff +10.3 RPP
Services
- Amherst Town-Northampton
- 155.7
- Fairbanks-College
- 119.8
Diff -36.0 RPP
Rents
- Fairbanks-College
- 92.6
Diff -5.0 RPP
| Category | Amherst Town-Northampton | Fairbanks-College | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Overall | 100.2 | 103.2 | +3.0 |
| Goods | 97.0 | 107.3 | +10.3 |
| Services | 155.7 | 119.8 | -36.0 |
| Rents | 97.5 | 92.6 | -5.0 |
Visual Comparison
Overall
Amherst Town-Northampton 100.2
Fairbanks-College 103.2
Goods
Amherst Town-Northampton 97.0
Fairbanks-College 107.3
Services
Amherst Town-Northampton 155.7
Fairbanks-College 119.8
Rents
Amherst Town-Northampton 97.5
Fairbanks-College 92.6
Vertical line = national average (100)
What This Comparison Actually Tells You
Services creates the largest separation: Fairbanks-College is 36.0 points lower. But services and rents move against the overall direction, so this is a split budget rather than a clean across-the-board winner.
Fairbanks-College, AK is 3% more expensive than Amherst Town-Northampton, MA, a meaningful but not extreme shift. The move decision turns on which budget category creates the 3.0-point overall gap.
Both metros exceed the U.S. benchmark of 100. The choice is between two national premiums, so local wages need to clear the higher baseline in either market.
Comparable population context is incomplete for this pair, so no market-scale explanation is inferred from the price indexes.
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 $102,958 in Fairbanks-College, but it is not a personal spending weight.
Amherst Town-Northampton
100.2
Cost Index
Fairbanks-College
103.2
Cost Index
Salary Equivalents
What a salary in Amherst Town-Northampton would need to be in Fairbanks-College for the same purchasing power:
| In Amherst Town-Northampton | In Fairbanks-College | Difference |
|---|---|---|
| $50,000 | $51,479 | +$1,479 |
| $75,000 | $77,218 | +$2,218 |
| $100,000 | $102,958 | +$2,958 |
| $150,000 | $154,437 | +$4,437 |
$ in Amherst Town-Northampton = in Fairbanks-College
Same BEA Regional Price Parity ratio as the table above (100.2 → 103.2), computed live from your number, nothing is sent anywhere.
How the Price Gap Changed
Amherst Town-Northampton and Fairbanks-College share 17 published annual releases from 2008 through 2024. Their overall gap narrowed, moving from 5.0 to 3.0 RPP points. Fairbanks-College remained the higher-index metro in the latest release.
Rents changed the most within this pair: its gap moved 36.9 points between the first and latest shared releases (31.9 to 5.0 points). This describes a relative price-index history, not a forecast or a household budget.
| Release Year | Amherst Town-Northampton RPP | Fairbanks-College RPP | Relative Gap |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2008 | 99.7 | 104.7 | 5.0 points Fairbanks-College higher |
| 2012 | 99.3 | 97.9 | 1.4 points Amherst Town-Northampton higher |
| 2016 | 99.7 | 100.4 | 0.7 points Fairbanks-College higher |
| 2020 | 101.8 | 99.4 | 2.4 points Amherst Town-Northampton higher |
| 2024 | 100.2 | 103.2 | 3.0 points Fairbanks-College 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 Fairbanks-College more expensive than Amherst Town-Northampton?
Fairbanks-College is 3% more expensive than Amherst Town-Northampton. The overall cost index is 103.2 vs 100.2 (national average = 100).
What salary in Fairbanks-College equals $100K in Amherst Town-Northampton?
A $100,000 salary in Amherst Town-Northampton has the same purchasing power as $102,958 in Fairbanks-College. This is based on the BEA Regional Price Parity indexes.
How do rents compare between Amherst Town-Northampton and Fairbanks-College?
Rents in Amherst Town-Northampton are indexed at 97.5 while Fairbanks-College is at 92.6 (national average = 100). Amherst Town-Northampton 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.