Overall
- Santa Fe
- 98.8
Diff -5.7 RPP
Baltimore-Columbia-Towson vs Santa Fe
Cost of living comparison based on BEA Regional Price Parities. Santa Fe is 5.5% less expensive than Baltimore-Columbia-Towson.
5.5% less expensive
Santa Fe, NM is 5.5% less expensive than Baltimore-Columbia-Towson, MD on BEA Regional Price Parities (overall RPP 98.8 vs 104.5). A $100,000 salary in Baltimore-Columbia-Towson buys about the same as $94,526 in Santa Fe; the largest component gap is services.
- Overall RPP 104.5 (Baltimore-Columbia-Towson) vs 98.8 (Santa Fe)
- $100k in Baltimore-Columbia-Towson ≈ $94,526 purchasing power in Santa Fe
- Services drives the gap (-33.5 RPP points)
RPP parity plate
Pair MD:NM 104.5→98.8
TIER-NEAR · CROSS-STATE · SERVICES-LED · BENCH-CROSS · PP-SHIFT
- TIER-NEAR Near tier
- CROSS-STATE MD × NM
- SERVICES-LED Services-led gap
- 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.
What This Comparison Actually Tells You
Santa Fe, NM is 5.5% less expensive than Baltimore-Columbia-Towson, MD, a meaningful but not extreme shift. The move decision turns on which budget category creates the 5.7-point overall gap.
This route crosses the national benchmark: Baltimore-Columbia-Towson is above 100 while Santa Fe is below it. That makes the move a change of price regime, not merely a rank swap.
Services leads the difference, with Santa Fe 33.5 points lower than Baltimore-Columbia-Towson. 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.
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 $94,526 in Santa Fe, but it is not a personal spending weight.
How the Price Gap Changed
Baltimore-Columbia-Towson and Santa Fe share 17 published annual releases from 2008 through 2024. Their overall gap narrowed, moving from 8.4 to 5.7 RPP points. Baltimore-Columbia-Towson remained the higher-index metro in the latest release.
Rents changed the most within this pair: its gap moved 12.6 points between the first and latest shared releases (22.9 to 10.2 points). This describes a relative price-index history, not a forecast or a household budget.
| Release Year | Baltimore-Columbia-Towson RPP | Santa Fe RPP | Relative Gap |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2008 | 106.4 | 98.0 | 8.4 points Baltimore-Columbia-Towson higher |
| 2012 | 106.5 | 102.1 | 4.4 points Baltimore-Columbia-Towson higher |
| 2016 | 106.1 | 98.4 | 7.6 points Baltimore-Columbia-Towson higher |
| 2020 | 105.4 | 96.6 | 8.7 points Baltimore-Columbia-Towson higher |
| 2024 | 104.5 | 98.8 | 5.7 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.
Category Breakdown
Goods
- Santa Fe
- 96.1
Diff -6.2 RPP
Services
- Santa Fe
- 76.7
Diff -33.5 RPP
Rents
- Santa Fe
- 108.0
Diff -10.2 RPP
| Category | Baltimore-Columbia-Towson | Santa Fe | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Overall | 104.5 | 98.8 | -5.7 |
| Goods | 102.4 | 96.1 | -6.2 |
| Services | 110.2 | 76.7 | -33.5 |
| Rents | 118.2 | 108.0 | -10.2 |
Visual Comparison
Overall
Baltimore-Columbia-Towson 104.5
Santa Fe 98.8
Goods
Baltimore-Columbia-Towson 102.4
Santa Fe 96.1
Services
Baltimore-Columbia-Towson 110.2
Santa Fe 76.7
Rents
Baltimore-Columbia-Towson 118.2
Santa Fe 108.0
Vertical line = national average (100)
Salary Equivalents
What a salary in Baltimore-Columbia-Towson would need to be in Santa Fe for the same purchasing power:
| In Baltimore-Columbia-Towson | In Santa Fe | Difference |
|---|---|---|
| $50,000 | $47,263 | $-2,737 |
| $75,000 | $70,894 | $-4,106 |
| $100,000 | $94,526 | $-5,474 |
| $150,000 | $141,788 | $-8,212 |
$ in Baltimore-Columbia-Towson = in Santa Fe
Same BEA Regional Price Parity ratio as the table above (104.5 → 98.8), computed live from your number, nothing is sent anywhere.
Baltimore-Columbia-Towson
104.5
Cost Index
Santa Fe
98.8
Cost Index
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Santa Fe more expensive than Baltimore-Columbia-Towson?
Santa Fe is 5.5% less expensive than Baltimore-Columbia-Towson. The overall cost index is 98.8 vs 104.5 (national average = 100).
What salary in Santa Fe equals $100K in Baltimore-Columbia-Towson?
A $100,000 salary in Baltimore-Columbia-Towson has the same purchasing power as $94,526 in Santa Fe. This is based on the BEA Regional Price Parity indexes.
How do rents compare between Baltimore-Columbia-Towson and Santa Fe?
Rents in Baltimore-Columbia-Towson are indexed at 118.2 while Santa Fe is at 108.0 (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.