Overall
- Barnstable Town
- 98.4
- Cape Coral-Fort Myers
- 102.3
Diff +4.0 RPP
Barnstable Town vs Cape Coral-Fort Myers
Cost of living comparison based on BEA Regional Price Parities. Cape Coral-Fort Myers is 4.1% more expensive than Barnstable Town.
4.1% more expensive
Cape Coral-Fort Myers, FL is 4.1% more expensive than Barnstable Town, MA on BEA Regional Price Parities (overall RPP 102.3 vs 98.4). A $100,000 salary in Barnstable Town buys about the same as $104,065 in Cape Coral-Fort Myers; the largest component gap is services.
- Overall RPP 98.4 (Barnstable Town) vs 102.3 (Cape Coral-Fort Myers)
- $100k in Barnstable Town ≈ $104,065 purchasing power in Cape Coral-Fort Myers
- Services drives the gap (-71.5 RPP points)
RPP parity plate
Pair MA:FL 98.4→102.3
TIER-NEAR · CROSS-STATE · SPLIT-BUDGET · BENCH-CROSS · PP-SHIFT
- TIER-NEAR Near tier
- CROSS-STATE MA × FL
- 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 -0.8 RPP
Services
- Barnstable Town
- 158.4
Diff -71.5 RPP
Rents
- Barnstable Town
- 90.0
- Cape Coral-Fort Myers
- 125.1
Diff +35.1 RPP
| Category | Barnstable Town | Cape Coral-Fort Myers | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Overall | 98.4 | 102.3 | +4.0 |
| Goods | 97.0 | 96.2 | -0.8 |
| Services | 158.4 | 86.9 | -71.5 |
| Rents | 90.0 | 125.1 | +35.1 |
Visual Comparison
Overall
Barnstable Town 98.4
Cape Coral-Fort Myers 102.3
Goods
Barnstable Town 97.0
Cape Coral-Fort Myers 96.2
Services
Barnstable Town 158.4
Cape Coral-Fort Myers 86.9
Rents
Barnstable Town 90.0
Cape Coral-Fort Myers 125.1
Vertical line = national average (100)
What This Comparison Actually Tells You
Services creates the largest separation: Cape Coral-Fort Myers is 71.5 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.
Cape Coral-Fort Myers, FL is 4.1% more expensive than Barnstable Town, MA, a meaningful but not extreme shift. The move decision turns on which budget category creates the 4.0-point overall gap.
This route crosses the national benchmark: Cape Coral-Fort Myers 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 $104,065 in Cape Coral-Fort Myers, but it is not a personal spending weight.
Barnstable Town
98.4
Cost Index
Cape Coral-Fort Myers
102.3
Cost Index
Salary Equivalents
What a salary in Barnstable Town would need to be in Cape Coral-Fort Myers for the same purchasing power:
| In Barnstable Town | In Cape Coral-Fort Myers | Difference |
|---|---|---|
| $50,000 | $52,033 | +$2,033 |
| $75,000 | $78,049 | +$3,049 |
| $100,000 | $104,065 | +$4,065 |
| $150,000 | $156,098 | +$6,098 |
$ in Barnstable Town = in Cape Coral-Fort Myers
Same BEA Regional Price Parity ratio as the table above (98.4 → 102.3), computed live from your number, nothing is sent anywhere.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Cape Coral-Fort Myers more expensive than Barnstable Town?
Cape Coral-Fort Myers is 4.1% more expensive than Barnstable Town. The overall cost index is 102.3 vs 98.4 (national average = 100).
What salary in Cape Coral-Fort Myers equals $100K in Barnstable Town?
A $100,000 salary in Barnstable Town has the same purchasing power as $104,065 in Cape Coral-Fort Myers. This is based on the BEA Regional Price Parity indexes.
How do rents compare between Barnstable Town and Cape Coral-Fort Myers?
Rents in Barnstable Town are indexed at 90.0 while Cape Coral-Fort Myers is at 125.1 (national average = 100). Cape Coral-Fort Myers 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.