Overall
- Barnstable Town
- 98.4
Diff -6.1 RPP
Baltimore-Columbia-Towson vs Barnstable Town
Cost of living comparison based on BEA Regional Price Parities. Barnstable Town is 5.9% less expensive than Baltimore-Columbia-Towson.
5.9% less expensive
Barnstable Town, MA is 5.9% less expensive than Baltimore-Columbia-Towson, MD on BEA Regional Price Parities (overall RPP 98.4 vs 104.5). A $100,000 salary in Baltimore-Columbia-Towson buys about the same as $94,127 in Barnstable Town; the largest component gap is services.
- Overall RPP 104.5 (Baltimore-Columbia-Towson) vs 98.4 (Barnstable Town)
- $100k in Baltimore-Columbia-Towson ≈ $94,127 purchasing power in Barnstable Town
- Services drives the gap (+48.2 RPP points)
RPP parity plate
Pair MD:MA 104.5→98.4
TIER-NEAR · CROSS-STATE · SPLIT-BUDGET · BENCH-CROSS · PP-SHIFT
- TIER-NEAR Near tier
- CROSS-STATE MD × MA
- 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
Goods
- Barnstable Town
- 97.0
Diff -5.3 RPP
Services
- Barnstable Town
- 158.4
Diff +48.2 RPP
Rents
- Barnstable Town
- 90.0
Diff -28.2 RPP
| Category | Baltimore-Columbia-Towson | Barnstable Town | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Overall | 104.5 | 98.4 | -6.1 |
| Goods | 102.4 | 97.0 | -5.3 |
| Services | 110.2 | 158.4 | +48.2 |
| Rents | 118.2 | 90.0 | -28.2 |
Visual Comparison
Overall
Baltimore-Columbia-Towson 104.5
Barnstable Town 98.4
Goods
Baltimore-Columbia-Towson 102.4
Barnstable Town 97.0
Services
Baltimore-Columbia-Towson 110.2
Barnstable Town 158.4
Rents
Baltimore-Columbia-Towson 118.2
Barnstable Town 90.0
Vertical line = national average (100)
What This Comparison Actually Tells You
Services creates the largest separation: Barnstable Town is 48.2 points higher. But services move against the overall direction, so this is a split budget rather than a clean across-the-board winner.
Barnstable Town, MA is 5.9% less expensive than Baltimore-Columbia-Towson, MD, a meaningful but not extreme shift. The move decision turns on which budget category creates the 6.1-point overall gap.
This route crosses the national benchmark: Baltimore-Columbia-Towson is above 100 while Barnstable Town 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 service-heavy household, test childcare, health, and other locally supplied costs before relying on rent alone. The BEA ratio converts $100,000 in Baltimore-Columbia-Towson to $94,127 in Barnstable Town, but it is not a personal spending weight.
Baltimore-Columbia-Towson
104.5
Cost Index
Barnstable Town
98.4
Cost Index
Salary Equivalents
What a salary in Baltimore-Columbia-Towson would need to be in Barnstable Town for the same purchasing power:
| In Baltimore-Columbia-Towson | In Barnstable Town | Difference |
|---|---|---|
| $50,000 | $47,064 | $-2,936 |
| $75,000 | $70,596 | $-4,404 |
| $100,000 | $94,127 | $-5,873 |
| $150,000 | $141,191 | $-8,809 |
$ in Baltimore-Columbia-Towson = in Barnstable Town
Same BEA Regional Price Parity ratio as the table above (104.5 → 98.4), computed live from your number, nothing is sent anywhere.
How the Price Gap Changed
Baltimore-Columbia-Towson and Barnstable Town share 17 published annual releases from 2008 through 2024. Their overall gap widened, moving from 3.6 to 6.1 RPP points. Baltimore-Columbia-Towson remained the higher-index metro in the latest release.
Services changed the most within this pair: its gap moved 32.7 points between the first and latest shared releases (15.5 to 48.2 points). This describes a relative price-index history, not a forecast or a household budget.
| Release Year | Baltimore-Columbia-Towson RPP | Barnstable Town RPP | Relative Gap |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2008 | 106.4 | 102.8 | 3.6 points Baltimore-Columbia-Towson higher |
| 2012 | 106.5 | 100.9 | 5.6 points Baltimore-Columbia-Towson higher |
| 2016 | 106.1 | 105.8 | 0.3 points Baltimore-Columbia-Towson higher |
| 2020 | 105.4 | 101.3 | 4.1 points Baltimore-Columbia-Towson higher |
| 2024 | 104.5 | 98.4 | 6.1 points Baltimore-Columbia-Towson 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 Barnstable Town more expensive than Baltimore-Columbia-Towson?
Barnstable Town is 5.9% less expensive than Baltimore-Columbia-Towson. The overall cost index is 98.4 vs 104.5 (national average = 100).
What salary in Barnstable Town equals $100K in Baltimore-Columbia-Towson?
A $100,000 salary in Baltimore-Columbia-Towson has the same purchasing power as $94,127 in Barnstable Town. This is based on the BEA Regional Price Parity indexes.
How do rents compare between Baltimore-Columbia-Towson and Barnstable Town?
Rents in Baltimore-Columbia-Towson are indexed at 118.2 while Barnstable Town is at 90.0 (national average = 100). Baltimore-Columbia-Towson 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.