Overall
- Amherst Town-Northampton
- 100.2
- Lancaster
- 98.3
Diff -2.0 RPP
Amherst Town-Northampton vs Lancaster
Cost of living comparison based on BEA Regional Price Parities. Lancaster is 2% less expensive than Amherst Town-Northampton.
2% less expensive
Lancaster, PA is 2% less expensive than Amherst Town-Northampton, MA on BEA Regional Price Parities (overall RPP 98.3 vs 100.2). A $100,000 salary in Amherst Town-Northampton buys about the same as $98,019 in Lancaster; the largest component gap is services.
- Overall RPP 100.2 (Amherst Town-Northampton) vs 98.3 (Lancaster)
- $100k in Amherst Town-Northampton ≈ $98,019 purchasing power in Lancaster
- Services drives the gap (-48.5 RPP points)
RPP parity plate
Pair MA:PA 100.2→98.3
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
Lancaster
98.3
Cost Index
What This Comparison Actually Tells You
Amherst Town-Northampton, MA and Lancaster, PA are a photo finish on overall price level, only 2.0 RPP points apart. A salary conversion is therefore a fine adjustment, not evidence of a fundamentally different cost regime.
Services creates the largest separation: Lancaster is 48.5 points lower. But 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 Lancaster 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 $98,019 in Lancaster, but it is not a personal spending weight.
Category Breakdown
Goods
- Lancaster
- 100.7
Diff +3.7 RPP
Services
- Amherst Town-Northampton
- 155.7
- Lancaster
- 107.3
Diff -48.5 RPP
Rents
- Lancaster
- 93.8
Diff -3.7 RPP
| Category | Amherst Town-Northampton | Lancaster | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Overall | 100.2 | 98.3 | -2.0 |
| Goods | 97.0 | 100.7 | +3.7 |
| Services | 155.7 | 107.3 | -48.5 |
| Rents | 97.5 | 93.8 | -3.7 |
Visual Comparison
Overall
Amherst Town-Northampton 100.2
Lancaster 98.3
Goods
Amherst Town-Northampton 97.0
Lancaster 100.7
Services
Amherst Town-Northampton 155.7
Lancaster 107.3
Rents
Amherst Town-Northampton 97.5
Lancaster 93.8
Vertical line = national average (100)
How the Price Gap Changed
Amherst Town-Northampton and Lancaster share 17 published annual releases from 2008 through 2024. Their overall gap widened, moving from 0.5 to 2.0 RPP points. Amherst Town-Northampton remained the higher-index metro in the latest release.
Services changed the most within this pair: its gap moved 17.1 points between the first and latest shared releases (31.3 to 48.5 points). This describes a relative price-index history, not a forecast or a household budget.
| Release Year | Amherst Town-Northampton RPP | Lancaster RPP | Relative Gap |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2008 | 99.7 | 100.2 | 0.5 points Lancaster higher |
| 2012 | 99.3 | 97.8 | 1.5 points Amherst Town-Northampton higher |
| 2016 | 99.7 | 99.4 | 0.4 points Amherst Town-Northampton higher |
| 2020 | 101.8 | 97.9 | 3.9 points Amherst Town-Northampton higher |
| 2024 | 100.2 | 98.3 | 2.0 points Amherst Town-Northampton 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 Amherst Town-Northampton would need to be in Lancaster for the same purchasing power:
| In Amherst Town-Northampton | In Lancaster | Difference |
|---|---|---|
| $50,000 | $49,009 | $-991 |
| $75,000 | $73,514 | $-1,486 |
| $100,000 | $98,019 | $-1,981 |
| $150,000 | $147,028 | $-2,972 |
$ in Amherst Town-Northampton = in Lancaster
Same BEA Regional Price Parity ratio as the table above (100.2 → 98.3), computed live from your number, nothing is sent anywhere.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Lancaster more expensive than Amherst Town-Northampton?
Lancaster is 2% less expensive than Amherst Town-Northampton. The overall cost index is 98.3 vs 100.2 (national average = 100).
What salary in Lancaster equals $100K in Amherst Town-Northampton?
A $100,000 salary in Amherst Town-Northampton has the same purchasing power as $98,019 in Lancaster. This is based on the BEA Regional Price Parity indexes.
How do rents compare between Amherst Town-Northampton and Lancaster?
Rents in Amherst Town-Northampton are indexed at 97.5 while Lancaster is at 93.8 (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.