Overall
- Ann Arbor
- 100.9
- Chicago-Naperville-Elgin
- 103.6
Diff +2.7 RPP
Ann Arbor vs Chicago-Naperville-Elgin
Cost of living comparison based on BEA Regional Price Parities. Chicago-Naperville-Elgin is 2.7% more expensive than Ann Arbor.
2.7% more expensive
Chicago-Naperville-Elgin, IL-IN is 2.7% more expensive than Ann Arbor, MI on BEA Regional Price Parities (overall RPP 103.6 vs 100.9). A $100,000 salary in Ann Arbor buys about the same as $102,691 in Chicago-Naperville-Elgin; the largest component gap is services.
- Overall RPP 100.9 (Ann Arbor) vs 103.6 (Chicago-Naperville-Elgin)
- $100k in Ann Arbor ≈ $102,691 purchasing power in Chicago-Naperville-Elgin
- Services drives the gap (-14.6 RPP points)
RPP parity plate
Pair MI:IL 100.9→103.6
TIER-NEAR · CROSS-STATE · SPLIT-BUDGET · BOTH-ABOVE · PP-SHIFT
- TIER-NEAR Near tier
- CROSS-STATE MI × IL
- 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
- Ann Arbor
- 93.7
- Chicago-Naperville-Elgin
- 107.3
Diff +13.5 RPP
Services
- Ann Arbor
- 98.2
Diff -14.6 RPP
Rents
- Ann Arbor
- 125.3
- Chicago-Naperville-Elgin
- 112.0
Diff -13.3 RPP
| Category | Ann Arbor | Chicago-Naperville-Elgin | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Overall | 100.9 | 103.6 | +2.7 |
| Goods | 93.7 | 107.3 | +13.5 |
| Services | 98.2 | 83.6 | -14.6 |
| Rents | 125.3 | 112.0 | -13.3 |
Visual Comparison
Overall
Ann Arbor 100.9
Chicago-Naperville-Elgin 103.6
Goods
Ann Arbor 93.7
Chicago-Naperville-Elgin 107.3
Services
Ann Arbor 98.2
Chicago-Naperville-Elgin 83.6
Rents
Ann Arbor 125.3
Chicago-Naperville-Elgin 112.0
Vertical line = national average (100)
What This Comparison Actually Tells You
Services creates the largest separation: Chicago-Naperville-Elgin is 14.6 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.
Chicago-Naperville-Elgin, IL-IN is 2.7% more expensive than Ann Arbor, MI, a meaningful but not extreme shift. The move decision turns on which budget category creates the 2.7-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 Ann Arbor to $102,691 in Chicago-Naperville-Elgin, but it is not a personal spending weight.
Ann Arbor
100.9
Cost Index
Chicago-Naperville-Elgin
103.6
Cost Index
Salary Equivalents
What a salary in Ann Arbor would need to be in Chicago-Naperville-Elgin for the same purchasing power:
| In Ann Arbor | In Chicago-Naperville-Elgin | Difference |
|---|---|---|
| $50,000 | $51,346 | +$1,346 |
| $75,000 | $77,018 | +$2,018 |
| $100,000 | $102,691 | +$2,691 |
| $150,000 | $154,037 | +$4,037 |
$ in Ann Arbor = in Chicago-Naperville-Elgin
Same BEA Regional Price Parity ratio as the table above (100.9 → 103.6), computed live from your number, nothing is sent anywhere.
How the Price Gap Changed
Ann Arbor and Chicago-Naperville-Elgin share 17 published annual releases from 2008 through 2024. Their overall gap held broadly steady, moving from 1.8 to 2.7 RPP points. Chicago-Naperville-Elgin remained the higher-index metro in the latest release.
Rents changed the most within this pair: its gap moved 11.0 points between the first and latest shared releases (2.3 to 13.3 points). This describes a relative price-index history, not a forecast or a household budget.
| Release Year | Ann Arbor RPP | Chicago-Naperville-Elgin RPP | Relative Gap |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2008 | 103.6 | 105.4 | 1.8 points Chicago-Naperville-Elgin higher |
| 2012 | 100.9 | 105.1 | 4.3 points Chicago-Naperville-Elgin higher |
| 2016 | 98.4 | 103.8 | 5.4 points Chicago-Naperville-Elgin higher |
| 2020 | 98.6 | 104.5 | 5.9 points Chicago-Naperville-Elgin higher |
| 2024 | 100.9 | 103.6 | 2.7 points Chicago-Naperville-Elgin 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 Chicago-Naperville-Elgin more expensive than Ann Arbor?
Chicago-Naperville-Elgin is 2.7% more expensive than Ann Arbor. The overall cost index is 103.6 vs 100.9 (national average = 100).
What salary in Chicago-Naperville-Elgin equals $100K in Ann Arbor?
A $100,000 salary in Ann Arbor has the same purchasing power as $102,691 in Chicago-Naperville-Elgin. This is based on the BEA Regional Price Parity indexes.
How do rents compare between Ann Arbor and Chicago-Naperville-Elgin?
Rents in Ann Arbor are indexed at 125.3 while Chicago-Naperville-Elgin is at 112.0 (national average = 100). Ann Arbor 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.