Overall
Diff -1.7 RPP
Atlantic City-Hammonton vs Lakeland-Winter Haven
Cost of living comparison based on BEA Regional Price Parities. Lakeland-Winter Haven is 1.7% less expensive than Atlantic City-Hammonton.
1.7% less expensive
Lakeland-Winter Haven, FL is 1.7% less expensive than Atlantic City-Hammonton, NJ on BEA Regional Price Parities (overall RPP 97.1 vs 98.9). A $100,000 salary in Atlantic City-Hammonton buys about the same as $98,264 in Lakeland-Winter Haven; the largest component gap is services.
- Overall RPP 98.9 (Atlantic City-Hammonton) vs 97.1 (Lakeland-Winter Haven)
- $100k in Atlantic City-Hammonton ≈ $98,264 purchasing power in Lakeland-Winter Haven
- Services drives the gap (-22.3 RPP points)
RPP parity plate
Pair NJ:FL 98.9→97.1
PHOTO-FINISH · CROSS-STATE · SERVICES-LED · BOTH-BELOW · PP-PAR
- PHOTO-FINISH Photo finish
- CROSS-STATE NJ × FL
- SERVICES-LED Services-led gap
- 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
Lakeland-Winter Haven
97.1
Cost Index
What This Comparison Actually Tells You
Atlantic City-Hammonton, NJ and Lakeland-Winter Haven, FL are a photo finish on overall price level, only 1.7 RPP points apart. A salary conversion is therefore a fine adjustment, not evidence of a fundamentally different cost regime.
Services leads the difference, with Lakeland-Winter Haven 22.3 points lower than Atlantic City-Hammonton. 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.
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 $98,264 in Lakeland-Winter Haven, but it is not a personal spending weight.
Category Breakdown
| Category | Atlantic City-Hammonton | Lakeland-Winter Haven | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Overall | 98.9 | 97.1 | -1.7 |
| Goods | 99.8 | 96.2 | -3.6 |
| Services | 109.2 | 86.9 | -22.3 |
| Rents | 98.7 | 95.9 | -2.7 |
Visual Comparison
Overall
Atlantic City-Hammonton 98.9
Lakeland-Winter Haven 97.1
Goods
Atlantic City-Hammonton 99.8
Lakeland-Winter Haven 96.2
Services
Atlantic City-Hammonton 109.2
Lakeland-Winter Haven 86.9
Rents
Atlantic City-Hammonton 98.7
Lakeland-Winter Haven 95.9
Vertical line = national average (100)
How the Price Gap Changed
Atlantic City-Hammonton and Lakeland-Winter Haven share 17 published annual releases from 2008 through 2024. Their overall gap narrowed, moving from 13.8 to 1.7 RPP points. Atlantic City-Hammonton remained the higher-index metro in the latest release.
Rents changed the most within this pair: its gap moved 40.2 points between the first and latest shared releases (43.0 to 2.7 points). This describes a relative price-index history, not a forecast or a household budget.
| Release Year | Atlantic City-Hammonton RPP | Lakeland-Winter Haven RPP | Relative Gap |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2008 | 110.7 | 96.9 | 13.8 points Atlantic City-Hammonton higher |
| 2012 | 104.6 | 96.1 | 8.5 points Atlantic City-Hammonton higher |
| 2016 | 102.6 | 96.4 | 6.2 points Atlantic City-Hammonton higher |
| 2020 | 101.2 | 93.3 | 7.9 points Atlantic City-Hammonton higher |
| 2024 | 98.9 | 97.1 | 1.7 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 Lakeland-Winter Haven for the same purchasing power:
| In Atlantic City-Hammonton | In Lakeland-Winter Haven | Difference |
|---|---|---|
| $50,000 | $49,132 | $-868 |
| $75,000 | $73,698 | $-1,302 |
| $100,000 | $98,264 | $-1,736 |
| $150,000 | $147,396 | $-2,604 |
$ in Atlantic City-Hammonton = in Lakeland-Winter Haven
Same BEA Regional Price Parity ratio as the table above (98.9 → 97.1), computed live from your number, nothing is sent anywhere.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Lakeland-Winter Haven more expensive than Atlantic City-Hammonton?
Lakeland-Winter Haven is 1.7% less expensive than Atlantic City-Hammonton. The overall cost index is 97.1 vs 98.9 (national average = 100).
What salary in Lakeland-Winter Haven equals $100K in Atlantic City-Hammonton?
A $100,000 salary in Atlantic City-Hammonton has the same purchasing power as $98,264 in Lakeland-Winter Haven. This is based on the BEA Regional Price Parity indexes.
How do rents compare between Atlantic City-Hammonton and Lakeland-Winter Haven?
Rents in Atlantic City-Hammonton are indexed at 98.7 while Lakeland-Winter Haven is at 95.9 (national average = 100). Atlantic City-Hammonton 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.