Overall
Diff +3.7 RPP
Atlantic City-Hammonton vs Philadelphia-Camden-Wilmington
Cost of living comparison based on BEA Regional Price Parities. Philadelphia-Camden-Wilmington is 3.7% more expensive than Atlantic City-Hammonton.
3.7% more expensive
Philadelphia-Camden-Wilmington, PA-NJ-DE-MD is 3.7% more expensive than Atlantic City-Hammonton, NJ on BEA Regional Price Parities (overall RPP 102.6 vs 98.9). A $100,000 salary in Atlantic City-Hammonton buys about the same as $103,740 in Philadelphia-Camden-Wilmington; the largest component gap is rents.
- Overall RPP 98.9 (Atlantic City-Hammonton) vs 102.6 (Philadelphia-Camden-Wilmington)
- $100k in Atlantic City-Hammonton ≈ $103,740 purchasing power in Philadelphia-Camden-Wilmington
- Rents drives the gap (+14.5 RPP points)
RPP parity plate
Pair NJ:PA 98.9→102.6
TIER-NEAR · CROSS-STATE · SPLIT-BUDGET · BENCH-CROSS · PP-SHIFT
- TIER-NEAR Near tier
- CROSS-STATE NJ × PA
- SPLIT-BUDGET Split budget
- BENCH-CROSS Benchmark cross
- 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
| Category | Atlantic City-Hammonton | Philadelphia-Camden-Wilmington | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Overall | 98.9 | 102.6 | +3.7 |
| Goods | 99.8 | 96.8 | -3.0 |
| Services | 109.2 | 114.4 | +5.2 |
| Rents | 98.7 | 113.1 | +14.5 |
Visual Comparison
Overall
Atlantic City-Hammonton 98.9
Philadelphia-Camden-Wilmington 102.6
Goods
Atlantic City-Hammonton 99.8
Philadelphia-Camden-Wilmington 96.8
Services
Atlantic City-Hammonton 109.2
Philadelphia-Camden-Wilmington 114.4
Rents
Atlantic City-Hammonton 98.7
Philadelphia-Camden-Wilmington 113.1
Vertical line = national average (100)
What This Comparison Actually Tells You
Rents creates the largest separation: Philadelphia-Camden-Wilmington is 14.5 points higher. But goods move against the overall direction, so this is a split budget rather than a clean across-the-board winner.
Philadelphia-Camden-Wilmington, PA-NJ-DE-MD is 3.7% more expensive than Atlantic City-Hammonton, NJ, a meaningful but not extreme shift. The move decision turns on which budget category creates the 3.7-point overall gap.
This route crosses the national benchmark: Philadelphia-Camden-Wilmington is above 100 while Atlantic City-Hammonton is below it. That makes the move a change of price regime, not merely a rank swap.
Comparable population context is incomplete for this pair, so no market-scale explanation is inferred from the price indexes.
For a housing-sensitive move, validate the rent gap first: HUD Fair Market Rent and the actual unit size can overturn what the blended index implies. On the BEA ratio alone, $100,000 in Atlantic City-Hammonton corresponds to $103,740 in Philadelphia-Camden-Wilmington.
Atlantic City-Hammonton
98.9
Cost Index
Philadelphia-Camden-Wilmington
102.6
Cost Index
Salary Equivalents
What a salary in Atlantic City-Hammonton would need to be in Philadelphia-Camden-Wilmington for the same purchasing power:
| In Atlantic City-Hammonton | In Philadelphia-Camden-Wilmington | Difference |
|---|---|---|
| $50,000 | $51,870 | +$1,870 |
| $75,000 | $77,805 | +$2,805 |
| $100,000 | $103,740 | +$3,740 |
| $150,000 | $155,610 | +$5,610 |
$ in Atlantic City-Hammonton = in Philadelphia-Camden-Wilmington
Same BEA Regional Price Parity ratio as the table above (98.9 → 102.6), computed live from your number, nothing is sent anywhere.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Philadelphia-Camden-Wilmington more expensive than Atlantic City-Hammonton?
Philadelphia-Camden-Wilmington is 3.7% more expensive than Atlantic City-Hammonton. The overall cost index is 102.6 vs 98.9 (national average = 100).
What salary in Philadelphia-Camden-Wilmington equals $100K in Atlantic City-Hammonton?
A $100,000 salary in Atlantic City-Hammonton has the same purchasing power as $103,740 in Philadelphia-Camden-Wilmington. This is based on the BEA Regional Price Parity indexes.
How do rents compare between Atlantic City-Hammonton and Philadelphia-Camden-Wilmington?
Rents in Atlantic City-Hammonton are indexed at 98.7 while Philadelphia-Camden-Wilmington is at 113.1 (national average = 100). Philadelphia-Camden-Wilmington 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.