Overall
- Asheville
- 96.5
Diff -0.2 RPP
Asheville vs Nashville-Davidson--Murfreesboro--Franklin
Cost of living comparison based on BEA Regional Price Parities. Nashville-Davidson--Murfreesboro--Franklin is 0.2% less expensive than Asheville.
0.2% less expensive
Nashville-Davidson--Murfreesboro--Franklin, TN is 0.2% less expensive than Asheville, NC on BEA Regional Price Parities (overall RPP 96.3 vs 96.5). A $100,000 salary in Asheville buys about the same as $99,826 in Nashville-Davidson--Murfreesboro--Franklin; the largest component gap is services.
- Overall RPP 96.5 (Asheville) vs 96.3 (Nashville-Davidson--Murfreesboro--Franklin)
- $100k in Asheville ≈ $99,826 purchasing power in Nashville-Davidson--Murfreesboro--Franklin
- Services drives the gap (-16.7 RPP points)
RPP parity plate
Pair NC:TN 96.5→96.3
PHOTO-FINISH · CROSS-STATE · SPLIT-BUDGET · BOTH-BELOW · PP-PAR
- PHOTO-FINISH Photo finish
- CROSS-STATE NC × TN
- SPLIT-BUDGET Split budget
- BOTH-BELOW Both below 100
- 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.
Asheville
96.5
Cost Index
Nashville-Davidson--Murfreesboro--Franklin
96.3
Cost Index
What This Comparison Actually Tells You
Asheville, NC and Nashville-Davidson--Murfreesboro--Franklin, TN are a photo finish on overall price level, only 0.2 RPP points apart. A salary conversion is therefore a fine adjustment, not evidence of a fundamentally different cost regime.
Services creates the largest separation: Nashville-Davidson--Murfreesboro--Franklin is 16.7 points lower. But rents 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.
Both metros remain below the U.S. benchmark of 100. This comparison chooses between two below-average price levels; “more expensive” here does not mean nationally expensive.
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 Asheville to $99,826 in Nashville-Davidson--Murfreesboro--Franklin, but it is not a personal spending weight.
Category Breakdown
Goods
- Asheville
- 96.6
Diff -0.4 RPP
Services
- Asheville
- 88.6
Diff -16.7 RPP
Rents
- Asheville
- 93.4
Diff +11.3 RPP
| Category | Asheville | Nashville-Davidson--Murfreesboro--Franklin | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Overall | 96.5 | 96.3 | -0.2 |
| Goods | 96.6 | 96.2 | -0.4 |
| Services | 88.6 | 72.0 | -16.7 |
| Rents | 93.4 | 104.6 | +11.3 |
Visual Comparison
Overall
Asheville 96.5
Nashville-Davidson--Murfreesboro--Franklin 96.3
Goods
Asheville 96.6
Nashville-Davidson--Murfreesboro--Franklin 96.2
Services
Asheville 88.6
Nashville-Davidson--Murfreesboro--Franklin 72.0
Rents
Asheville 93.4
Nashville-Davidson--Murfreesboro--Franklin 104.6
Vertical line = national average (100)
How the Price Gap Changed
Asheville and Nashville-Davidson--Murfreesboro--Franklin share 17 published annual releases from 2008 through 2024. Their overall gap narrowed, moving from 1.3 to 0.2 RPP points. Asheville remained the higher-index metro in the latest release.
Services changed the most within this pair: its gap moved 12.2 points between the first and latest shared releases (4.4 to 16.7 points). This describes a relative price-index history, not a forecast or a household budget.
| Release Year | Asheville RPP | Nashville-Davidson--Murfreesboro--Franklin RPP | Relative Gap |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2008 | 94.4 | 95.7 | 1.3 points Nashville-Davidson--Murfreesboro--Franklin higher |
| 2012 | 95.1 | 97.4 | 2.3 points Nashville-Davidson--Murfreesboro--Franklin higher |
| 2016 | 96.5 | 99.3 | 2.8 points Nashville-Davidson--Murfreesboro--Franklin higher |
| 2020 | 94.1 | 95.9 | 1.9 points Nashville-Davidson--Murfreesboro--Franklin higher |
| 2024 | 96.5 | 96.3 | 0.2 points Asheville 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 Asheville would need to be in Nashville-Davidson--Murfreesboro--Franklin for the same purchasing power:
| In Asheville | In Nashville-Davidson--Murfreesboro--Franklin | Difference |
|---|---|---|
| $50,000 | $49,913 | $-87 |
| $75,000 | $74,869 | $-131 |
| $100,000 | $99,826 | $-174 |
| $150,000 | $149,739 | $-261 |
$ in Asheville = in Nashville-Davidson--Murfreesboro--Franklin
Same BEA Regional Price Parity ratio as the table above (96.5 → 96.3), computed live from your number, nothing is sent anywhere.
Reverse: Nashville-Davidson--Murfreesboro--Franklin → Asheville Asheville Details
Nashville-Davidson--Murfreesboro--Franklin Details
Also Compare
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Nashville-Davidson--Murfreesboro--Franklin more expensive than Asheville?
Nashville-Davidson--Murfreesboro--Franklin is 0.2% less expensive than Asheville. The overall cost index is 96.3 vs 96.5 (national average = 100).
What salary in Nashville-Davidson--Murfreesboro--Franklin equals $100K in Asheville?
A $100,000 salary in Asheville has the same purchasing power as $99,826 in Nashville-Davidson--Murfreesboro--Franklin. This is based on the BEA Regional Price Parity indexes.
How do rents compare between Asheville and Nashville-Davidson--Murfreesboro--Franklin?
Rents in Asheville are indexed at 93.4 while Nashville-Davidson--Murfreesboro--Franklin is at 104.6 (national average = 100). Nashville-Davidson--Murfreesboro--Franklin 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.