Overall
- Durham-Chapel Hill
- 97.6
Diff -1.3 RPP
Atlantic City-Hammonton vs Durham-Chapel Hill
Cost of living comparison based on BEA Regional Price Parities. Durham-Chapel Hill is 1.3% less expensive than Atlantic City-Hammonton.
1.3% less expensive
Durham-Chapel Hill, NC is 1.3% less expensive than Atlantic City-Hammonton, NJ on BEA Regional Price Parities (overall RPP 97.6 vs 98.9). A $100,000 salary in Atlantic City-Hammonton buys about the same as $98,700 in Durham-Chapel Hill; the largest component gap is services.
- Overall RPP 98.9 (Atlantic City-Hammonton) vs 97.6 (Durham-Chapel Hill)
- $100k in Atlantic City-Hammonton ≈ $98,700 purchasing power in Durham-Chapel Hill
- Services drives the gap (-19.9 RPP points)
RPP parity plate
Pair NJ:NC 98.9→97.6
PHOTO-FINISH · CROSS-STATE · SPLIT-BUDGET · BOTH-BELOW · PP-PAR
- PHOTO-FINISH Photo finish
- CROSS-STATE NJ × NC
- 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.
Atlantic City-Hammonton
98.9
Cost Index
Durham-Chapel Hill
97.6
Cost Index
What This Comparison Actually Tells You
Atlantic City-Hammonton, NJ and Durham-Chapel Hill, NC are a photo finish on overall price level, only 1.3 RPP points apart. A salary conversion is therefore a fine adjustment, not evidence of a fundamentally different cost regime.
Services creates the largest separation: Durham-Chapel Hill is 19.9 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 Atlantic City-Hammonton to $98,700 in Durham-Chapel Hill, but it is not a personal spending weight.
Category Breakdown
Goods
- Durham-Chapel Hill
- 96.6
Diff -3.2 RPP
Services
- Atlantic City-Hammonton
- 109.2
- Durham-Chapel Hill
- 89.3
Diff -19.9 RPP
Rents
- Durham-Chapel Hill
- 98.9
Diff +0.3 RPP
| Category | Atlantic City-Hammonton | Durham-Chapel Hill | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Overall | 98.9 | 97.6 | -1.3 |
| Goods | 99.8 | 96.6 | -3.2 |
| Services | 109.2 | 89.3 | -19.9 |
| Rents | 98.7 | 98.9 | +0.3 |
Visual Comparison
Overall
Atlantic City-Hammonton 98.9
Durham-Chapel Hill 97.6
Goods
Atlantic City-Hammonton 99.8
Durham-Chapel Hill 96.6
Services
Atlantic City-Hammonton 109.2
Durham-Chapel Hill 89.3
Rents
Atlantic City-Hammonton 98.7
Durham-Chapel Hill 98.9
Vertical line = national average (100)
How the Price Gap Changed
Atlantic City-Hammonton and Durham-Chapel Hill share 17 published annual releases from 2008 through 2024. Their overall gap narrowed, moving from 13.4 to 1.3 RPP points. Atlantic City-Hammonton remained the higher-index metro in the latest release.
Rents changed the most within this pair: its gap moved 37.5 points between the first and latest shared releases (37.3 to 0.3 points). This describes a relative price-index history, not a forecast or a household budget.
| Release Year | Atlantic City-Hammonton RPP | Durham-Chapel Hill RPP | Relative Gap |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2008 | 110.7 | 97.3 | 13.4 points Atlantic City-Hammonton higher |
| 2012 | 104.6 | 96.7 | 7.9 points Atlantic City-Hammonton higher |
| 2016 | 102.6 | 97.5 | 5.1 points Atlantic City-Hammonton higher |
| 2020 | 101.2 | 94.8 | 6.3 points Atlantic City-Hammonton higher |
| 2024 | 98.9 | 97.6 | 1.3 points Atlantic City-Hammonton 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 Atlantic City-Hammonton would need to be in Durham-Chapel Hill for the same purchasing power:
| In Atlantic City-Hammonton | In Durham-Chapel Hill | Difference |
|---|---|---|
| $50,000 | $49,350 | $-650 |
| $75,000 | $74,025 | $-975 |
| $100,000 | $98,700 | $-1,300 |
| $150,000 | $148,050 | $-1,950 |
$ in Atlantic City-Hammonton = in Durham-Chapel Hill
Same BEA Regional Price Parity ratio as the table above (98.9 → 97.6), computed live from your number, nothing is sent anywhere.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Durham-Chapel Hill more expensive than Atlantic City-Hammonton?
Durham-Chapel Hill is 1.3% less expensive than Atlantic City-Hammonton. The overall cost index is 97.6 vs 98.9 (national average = 100).
What salary in Durham-Chapel Hill equals $100K in Atlantic City-Hammonton?
A $100,000 salary in Atlantic City-Hammonton has the same purchasing power as $98,700 in Durham-Chapel Hill. This is based on the BEA Regional Price Parity indexes.
How do rents compare between Atlantic City-Hammonton and Durham-Chapel Hill?
Rents in Atlantic City-Hammonton are indexed at 98.7 while Durham-Chapel Hill is at 98.9 (national average = 100). Durham-Chapel Hill 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.