Overall
- St. Louis
- 95.1
Diff -3.8 RPP
Atlantic City-Hammonton vs St. Louis
Cost of living comparison based on BEA Regional Price Parities. St. Louis is 3.8% less expensive than Atlantic City-Hammonton.
3.8% less expensive
St. Louis, MO-IL is 3.8% less expensive than Atlantic City-Hammonton, NJ on BEA Regional Price Parities (overall RPP 95.1 vs 98.9). A $100,000 salary in Atlantic City-Hammonton buys about the same as $96,187 in St. Louis; the largest component gap is services.
- Overall RPP 98.9 (Atlantic City-Hammonton) vs 95.1 (St. Louis)
- $100k in Atlantic City-Hammonton ≈ $96,187 purchasing power in St. Louis
- Services drives the gap (-39.3 RPP points)
RPP parity plate
Pair NJ:MO 98.9→95.1
TIER-NEAR · CROSS-STATE · SPLIT-BUDGET · BOTH-BELOW · PP-SHIFT
- TIER-NEAR Near tier
- CROSS-STATE NJ × MO
- SPLIT-BUDGET Split budget
- BOTH-BELOW Both below 100
- 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
Goods
- St. Louis
- 100.0
Diff +0.2 RPP
Services
- Atlantic City-Hammonton
- 109.2
- St. Louis
- 69.9
Diff -39.3 RPP
Rents
- St. Louis
- 79.0
Diff -19.6 RPP
| Category | Atlantic City-Hammonton | St. Louis | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Overall | 98.9 | 95.1 | -3.8 |
| Goods | 99.8 | 100.0 | +0.2 |
| Services | 109.2 | 69.9 | -39.3 |
| Rents | 98.7 | 79.0 | -19.6 |
Visual Comparison
Overall
Atlantic City-Hammonton 98.9
St. Louis 95.1
Goods
Atlantic City-Hammonton 99.8
St. Louis 100.0
Services
Atlantic City-Hammonton 109.2
St. Louis 69.9
Rents
Atlantic City-Hammonton 98.7
St. Louis 79.0
Vertical line = national average (100)
What This Comparison Actually Tells You
Services creates the largest separation: St. Louis is 39.3 points lower. But goods move against the overall direction, so this is a split budget rather than a clean across-the-board winner.
St. Louis, MO-IL is 3.8% less expensive than Atlantic City-Hammonton, NJ, a meaningful but not extreme shift. The move decision turns on which budget category creates the 3.8-point overall gap.
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.
Comparable population context is incomplete for this pair, so no market-scale explanation is inferred from the price indexes.
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 $96,187 in St. Louis, but it is not a personal spending weight.
Atlantic City-Hammonton
98.9
Cost Index
St. Louis
95.1
Cost Index
Salary Equivalents
What a salary in Atlantic City-Hammonton would need to be in St. Louis for the same purchasing power:
| In Atlantic City-Hammonton | In St. Louis | Difference |
|---|---|---|
| $50,000 | $48,094 | $-1,906 |
| $75,000 | $72,141 | $-2,859 |
| $100,000 | $96,187 | $-3,813 |
| $150,000 | $144,281 | $-5,719 |
$ in Atlantic City-Hammonton = in St. Louis
Same BEA Regional Price Parity ratio as the table above (98.9 → 95.1), computed live from your number, nothing is sent anywhere.
How the Price Gap Changed
Atlantic City-Hammonton and St. Louis share 17 published annual releases from 2008 through 2024. Their overall gap narrowed, moving from 19.7 to 3.8 RPP points. Atlantic City-Hammonton remained the higher-index metro in the latest release.
Rents changed the most within this pair: its gap moved 29.7 points between the first and latest shared releases (49.4 to 19.6 points). This describes a relative price-index history, not a forecast or a household budget.
| Release Year | Atlantic City-Hammonton RPP | St. Louis RPP | Relative Gap |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2008 | 110.7 | 91.0 | 19.7 points Atlantic City-Hammonton higher |
| 2012 | 104.6 | 94.5 | 10.1 points Atlantic City-Hammonton higher |
| 2016 | 102.6 | 94.5 | 8.1 points Atlantic City-Hammonton higher |
| 2020 | 101.2 | 95.2 | 6.0 points Atlantic City-Hammonton higher |
| 2024 | 98.9 | 95.1 | 3.8 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.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is St. Louis more expensive than Atlantic City-Hammonton?
St. Louis is 3.8% less expensive than Atlantic City-Hammonton. The overall cost index is 95.1 vs 98.9 (national average = 100).
What salary in St. Louis equals $100K in Atlantic City-Hammonton?
A $100,000 salary in Atlantic City-Hammonton has the same purchasing power as $96,187 in St. Louis. This is based on the BEA Regional Price Parity indexes.
How do rents compare between Atlantic City-Hammonton and St. Louis?
Rents in Atlantic City-Hammonton are indexed at 98.7 while St. Louis is at 79.0 (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.