Overall
- Charlottesville
- 99.1
Diff -0.9 RPP
Atlanta-Sandy Springs-Roswell vs Charlottesville
Cost of living comparison based on BEA Regional Price Parities. Charlottesville is 0.9% less expensive than Atlanta-Sandy Springs-Roswell.
0.9% less expensive
Charlottesville, VA is 0.9% less expensive than Atlanta-Sandy Springs-Roswell, GA on BEA Regional Price Parities (overall RPP 99.1 vs 100.1). A $100,000 salary in Atlanta-Sandy Springs-Roswell buys about the same as $99,089 in Charlottesville; the largest component gap is services.
- Overall RPP 100.1 (Atlanta-Sandy Springs-Roswell) vs 99.1 (Charlottesville)
- $100k in Atlanta-Sandy Springs-Roswell ≈ $99,089 purchasing power in Charlottesville
- Services drives the gap (-7.3 RPP points)
RPP parity plate
Pair GA:VA 100.1→99.1
PHOTO-FINISH · CROSS-STATE · SERVICES-LED · BENCH-CROSS · PP-PAR
- PHOTO-FINISH Photo finish
- CROSS-STATE GA × VA
- SERVICES-LED Services-led gap
- 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.
Atlanta-Sandy Springs-Roswell
100.1
Cost Index
Charlottesville
99.1
Cost Index
What This Comparison Actually Tells You
Atlanta-Sandy Springs-Roswell, GA and Charlottesville, VA are a photo finish on overall price level, only 0.9 RPP points apart. A salary conversion is therefore a fine adjustment, not evidence of a fundamentally different cost regime.
Services leads the difference, with Charlottesville 7.3 points lower than Atlanta-Sandy Springs-Roswell. Goods, services, and rents all point in the same broad direction, making the headline comparison more transferable across household types.
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: Atlanta-Sandy Springs-Roswell is above 100 while Charlottesville 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 Atlanta-Sandy Springs-Roswell to $99,089 in Charlottesville, but it is not a personal spending weight.
Category Breakdown
Goods
- Charlottesville
- 96.8
Diff -3.6 RPP
Services
- Charlottesville
- 89.0
Diff -7.3 RPP
Rents
- Charlottesville
- 107.0
Diff -4.0 RPP
| Category | Atlanta-Sandy Springs-Roswell | Charlottesville | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Overall | 100.1 | 99.1 | -0.9 |
| Goods | 100.4 | 96.8 | -3.6 |
| Services | 96.2 | 89.0 | -7.3 |
| Rents | 111.0 | 107.0 | -4.0 |
Visual Comparison
Overall
Atlanta-Sandy Springs-Roswell 100.1
Charlottesville 99.1
Goods
Atlanta-Sandy Springs-Roswell 100.4
Charlottesville 96.8
Services
Atlanta-Sandy Springs-Roswell 96.2
Charlottesville 89.0
Rents
Atlanta-Sandy Springs-Roswell 111.0
Charlottesville 107.0
Vertical line = national average (100)
How the Price Gap Changed
Atlanta-Sandy Springs-Roswell and Charlottesville share 17 published annual releases from 2008 through 2024. Their overall gap narrowed, moving from 1.6 to 0.9 RPP points. Atlanta-Sandy Springs-Roswell remained the higher-index metro in the latest release.
Rents changed the most within this pair: its gap moved 12.9 points between the first and latest shared releases (8.9 to 4.0 points). This describes a relative price-index history, not a forecast or a household budget.
| Release Year | Atlanta-Sandy Springs-Roswell RPP | Charlottesville RPP | Relative Gap |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2008 | 98.1 | 99.7 | 1.6 points Charlottesville higher |
| 2012 | 99.2 | 98.9 | 0.3 points Atlanta-Sandy Springs-Roswell higher |
| 2016 | 98.4 | 100.3 | 1.9 points Charlottesville higher |
| 2020 | 98.7 | 98.3 | 0.4 points Atlanta-Sandy Springs-Roswell higher |
| 2024 | 100.1 | 99.1 | 0.9 points Atlanta-Sandy Springs-Roswell 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 Atlanta-Sandy Springs-Roswell would need to be in Charlottesville for the same purchasing power:
| In Atlanta-Sandy Springs-Roswell | In Charlottesville | Difference |
|---|---|---|
| $50,000 | $49,544 | $-456 |
| $75,000 | $74,316 | $-684 |
| $100,000 | $99,089 | $-911 |
| $150,000 | $148,633 | $-1,367 |
$ in Atlanta-Sandy Springs-Roswell = in Charlottesville
Same BEA Regional Price Parity ratio as the table above (100.1 → 99.1), computed live from your number, nothing is sent anywhere.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Charlottesville more expensive than Atlanta-Sandy Springs-Roswell?
Charlottesville is 0.9% less expensive than Atlanta-Sandy Springs-Roswell. The overall cost index is 99.1 vs 100.1 (national average = 100).
What salary in Charlottesville equals $100K in Atlanta-Sandy Springs-Roswell?
A $100,000 salary in Atlanta-Sandy Springs-Roswell has the same purchasing power as $99,089 in Charlottesville. This is based on the BEA Regional Price Parity indexes.
How do rents compare between Atlanta-Sandy Springs-Roswell and Charlottesville?
Rents in Atlanta-Sandy Springs-Roswell are indexed at 111.0 while Charlottesville is at 107.0 (national average = 100). Atlanta-Sandy Springs-Roswell 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.