Overall
- Barnstable Town
- 98.4
- Boulder
- 105.2
Diff +6.9 RPP
Barnstable Town vs Boulder
Cost of living comparison based on BEA Regional Price Parities. Boulder is 7% more expensive than Barnstable Town.
7% more expensive
Boulder, CO is 7% more expensive than Barnstable Town, MA on BEA Regional Price Parities (overall RPP 105.2 vs 98.4). A $100,000 salary in Barnstable Town buys about the same as $106,966 in Boulder; the largest component gap is services.
- Overall RPP 98.4 (Barnstable Town) vs 105.2 (Boulder)
- $100k in Barnstable Town ≈ $106,966 purchasing power in Boulder
- Services drives the gap (-75.7 RPP points)
RPP parity plate
Pair MA:CO 98.4→105.2
TIER-NEAR · CROSS-STATE · SPLIT-BUDGET · BENCH-CROSS · PP-SHIFT
- TIER-NEAR Near tier
- CROSS-STATE MA × CO
- 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
- Boulder
- 96.1
Diff -1.0 RPP
Services
- Barnstable Town
- 158.4
- Boulder
- 82.7
Diff -75.7 RPP
Rents
- Barnstable Town
- 90.0
- Boulder
- 157.0
Diff +67.0 RPP
| Category | Barnstable Town | Boulder | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Overall | 98.4 | 105.2 | +6.9 |
| Goods | 97.0 | 96.1 | -1.0 |
| Services | 158.4 | 82.7 | -75.7 |
| Rents | 90.0 | 157.0 | +67.0 |
Visual Comparison
Overall
Barnstable Town 98.4
Boulder 105.2
Goods
Barnstable Town 97.0
Boulder 96.1
Services
Barnstable Town 158.4
Boulder 82.7
Rents
Barnstable Town 90.0
Boulder 157.0
Vertical line = national average (100)
What This Comparison Actually Tells You
Services creates the largest separation: Boulder is 75.7 points lower. But services and goods move against the overall direction, so this is a split budget rather than a clean across-the-board winner.
Boulder, CO is 7% more expensive than Barnstable Town, MA, a meaningful but not extreme shift. The move decision turns on which budget category creates the 6.9-point overall gap.
This route crosses the national benchmark: Boulder 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 Barnstable Town to $106,966 in Boulder, but it is not a personal spending weight.
Barnstable Town
98.4
Cost Index
Boulder
105.2
Cost Index
Salary Equivalents
What a salary in Barnstable Town would need to be in Boulder for the same purchasing power:
| In Barnstable Town | In Boulder | Difference |
|---|---|---|
| $50,000 | $53,483 | +$3,483 |
| $75,000 | $80,224 | +$5,224 |
| $100,000 | $106,966 | +$6,966 |
| $150,000 | $160,449 | +$10,449 |
$ in Barnstable Town = in Boulder
Same BEA Regional Price Parity ratio as the table above (98.4 → 105.2), computed live from your number, nothing is sent anywhere.
How the Price Gap Changed
Barnstable Town and Boulder share 17 published annual releases from 2008 through 2024. Their overall gap widened, moving from 5.7 to 6.9 RPP points. Boulder remained the higher-index metro in the latest release.
Rents changed the most within this pair: its gap moved 28.1 points between the first and latest shared releases (38.9 to 67.0 points). This describes a relative price-index history, not a forecast or a household budget.
| Release Year | Barnstable Town RPP | Boulder RPP | Relative Gap |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2008 | 102.8 | 108.5 | 5.7 points Boulder higher |
| 2012 | 100.9 | 107.5 | 6.6 points Boulder higher |
| 2016 | 105.8 | 105.6 | 0.2 points Barnstable Town higher |
| 2020 | 101.3 | 101.7 | 0.4 points Boulder higher |
| 2024 | 98.4 | 105.2 | 6.9 points Boulder 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 Boulder more expensive than Barnstable Town?
Boulder is 7% more expensive than Barnstable Town. The overall cost index is 105.2 vs 98.4 (national average = 100).
What salary in Boulder equals $100K in Barnstable Town?
A $100,000 salary in Barnstable Town has the same purchasing power as $106,966 in Boulder. This is based on the BEA Regional Price Parity indexes.
How do rents compare between Barnstable Town and Boulder?
Rents in Barnstable Town are indexed at 90.0 while Boulder is at 157.0 (national average = 100). Boulder 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.