Overall
- Barnstable Town
- 98.4
Diff +1.6 RPP
Barnstable Town vs Allentown-Bethlehem-Easton
Cost of living comparison based on BEA Regional Price Parities. Allentown-Bethlehem-Easton is 1.6% more expensive than Barnstable Town.
1.6% more expensive
Allentown-Bethlehem-Easton, PA-NJ is 1.6% more expensive than Barnstable Town, MA on BEA Regional Price Parities (overall RPP 100.0 vs 98.4). A $100,000 salary in Barnstable Town buys about the same as $101,644 in Allentown-Bethlehem-Easton; the largest component gap is services.
- Overall RPP 98.4 (Barnstable Town) vs 100.0 (Allentown-Bethlehem-Easton)
- $100k in Barnstable Town ≈ $101,644 purchasing power in Allentown-Bethlehem-Easton
- Services drives the gap (-50.9 RPP points)
RPP parity plate
Pair MA:PA 98.4→100.0
PHOTO-FINISH · CROSS-STATE · SPLIT-BUDGET · BOTH-BELOW · PP-PAR
- PHOTO-FINISH Photo finish
- CROSS-STATE MA × PA
- SPLIT-BUDGET Split budget
- 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.
Barnstable Town
98.4
Cost Index
Allentown-Bethlehem-Easton
100.0
Cost Index
What This Comparison Actually Tells You
Barnstable Town, MA and Allentown-Bethlehem-Easton, PA-NJ are a photo finish on overall price level, only 1.6 RPP points apart. A salary conversion is therefore a fine adjustment, not evidence of a fundamentally different cost regime.
Services creates the largest separation: Allentown-Bethlehem-Easton is 50.9 points lower. But services move against the overall direction, so this is a split budget rather than a clean across-the-board winner.
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 Barnstable Town to $101,644 in Allentown-Bethlehem-Easton, but it is not a personal spending weight.
Category Breakdown
Goods
- Barnstable Town
- 97.0
Diff +3.6 RPP
Services
- Barnstable Town
- 158.4
Diff -50.9 RPP
Rents
- Barnstable Town
- 90.0
Diff +15.5 RPP
| Category | Barnstable Town | Allentown-Bethlehem-Easton | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Overall | 98.4 | 100.0 | +1.6 |
| Goods | 97.0 | 100.6 | +3.6 |
| Services | 158.4 | 107.6 | -50.9 |
| Rents | 90.0 | 105.5 | +15.5 |
Visual Comparison
Overall
Barnstable Town 98.4
Allentown-Bethlehem-Easton 100.0
Goods
Barnstable Town 97.0
Allentown-Bethlehem-Easton 100.6
Services
Barnstable Town 158.4
Allentown-Bethlehem-Easton 107.6
Rents
Barnstable Town 90.0
Allentown-Bethlehem-Easton 105.5
Vertical line = national average (100)
Salary Equivalents
What a salary in Barnstable Town would need to be in Allentown-Bethlehem-Easton for the same purchasing power:
| In Barnstable Town | In Allentown-Bethlehem-Easton | Difference |
|---|---|---|
| $50,000 | $50,822 | +$822 |
| $75,000 | $76,233 | +$1,233 |
| $100,000 | $101,644 | +$1,644 |
| $150,000 | $152,466 | +$2,466 |
$ in Barnstable Town = in Allentown-Bethlehem-Easton
Same BEA Regional Price Parity ratio as the table above (98.4 → 100.0), computed live from your number, nothing is sent anywhere.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Allentown-Bethlehem-Easton more expensive than Barnstable Town?
Allentown-Bethlehem-Easton is 1.6% more expensive than Barnstable Town. The overall cost index is 100.0 vs 98.4 (national average = 100).
What salary in Allentown-Bethlehem-Easton equals $100K in Barnstable Town?
A $100,000 salary in Barnstable Town has the same purchasing power as $101,644 in Allentown-Bethlehem-Easton. This is based on the BEA Regional Price Parity indexes.
How do rents compare between Barnstable Town and Allentown-Bethlehem-Easton?
Rents in Barnstable Town are indexed at 90.0 while Allentown-Bethlehem-Easton is at 105.5 (national average = 100). Allentown-Bethlehem-Easton 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.