Overall
- Barnstable Town
- 98.4
- Chico
- 101.2
Diff +2.8 RPP
Barnstable Town vs Chico
Cost of living comparison based on BEA Regional Price Parities. Chico is 2.9% more expensive than Barnstable Town.
2.9% more expensive
Chico, CA is 2.9% more expensive than Barnstable Town, MA on BEA Regional Price Parities (overall RPP 101.2 vs 98.4). A $100,000 salary in Barnstable Town buys about the same as $102,894 in Chico; the largest component gap is goods.
- Overall RPP 98.4 (Barnstable Town) vs 101.2 (Chico)
- $100k in Barnstable Town ≈ $102,894 purchasing power in Chico
- Goods drives the gap (+8.2 RPP points)
RPP parity plate
Pair MA:CA 98.4→101.2
TIER-NEAR · CROSS-STATE · GOODS-LED · BENCH-CROSS · PP-SHIFT
- TIER-NEAR Near tier
- CROSS-STATE MA × CA
- GOODS-LED Goods-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
Chico, CA is 2.9% more expensive than Barnstable Town, MA, a meaningful but not extreme shift. The move decision turns on which budget category creates the 2.8-point overall gap.
This route crosses the national benchmark: Chico is above 100 while Barnstable Town is below it. That makes the move a change of price regime, not merely a rank swap.
Goods leads the difference, with Chico 8.2 points higher than Barnstable Town. 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 goods-led difference, remember that many tradable prices vary less by address than housing or labor-priced services. Use $102,894 in Chico as the BEA equivalent of $100,000 in Barnstable Town, then replace the national basket with your own.
Barnstable Town
98.4
Cost Index
Chico
101.2
Cost Index
How the Price Gap Changed
Barnstable Town and Chico share 17 published annual releases from 2008 through 2024. Their overall gap narrowed, moving from 3.4 to 2.8 RPP points. Chico remained the higher-index metro in the latest release.
Services changed the most within this pair: its gap moved 37.8 points between the first and latest shared releases (37.4 to 0.4 points). This describes a relative price-index history, not a forecast or a household budget.
| Release Year | Barnstable Town RPP | Chico RPP | Relative Gap |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2008 | 102.8 | 99.4 | 3.4 points Barnstable Town higher |
| 2012 | 100.9 | 103.5 | 2.5 points Chico higher |
| 2016 | 105.8 | 97.1 | 8.7 points Barnstable Town higher |
| 2020 | 101.3 | 101.8 | 0.5 points Chico higher |
| 2024 | 98.4 | 101.2 | 2.8 points Chico 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
- Barnstable Town
- 97.0
- Chico
- 105.2
Diff +8.2 RPP
Services
- Barnstable Town
- 158.4
- Chico
- 158.8
Diff +0.4 RPP
Rents
- Barnstable Town
- 90.0
- Chico
- 91.9
Diff +1.9 RPP
| Category | Barnstable Town | Chico | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Overall | 98.4 | 101.2 | +2.8 |
| Goods | 97.0 | 105.2 | +8.2 |
| Services | 158.4 | 158.8 | +0.4 |
| Rents | 90.0 | 91.9 | +1.9 |
Visual Comparison
Overall
Barnstable Town 98.4
Chico 101.2
Goods
Barnstable Town 97.0
Chico 105.2
Services
Barnstable Town 158.4
Chico 158.8
Rents
Barnstable Town 90.0
Chico 91.9
Vertical line = national average (100)
Salary Equivalents
What a salary in Barnstable Town would need to be in Chico for the same purchasing power:
| In Barnstable Town | In Chico | Difference |
|---|---|---|
| $50,000 | $51,447 | +$1,447 |
| $75,000 | $77,170 | +$2,170 |
| $100,000 | $102,894 | +$2,894 |
| $150,000 | $154,341 | +$4,341 |
$ in Barnstable Town = in Chico
Same BEA Regional Price Parity ratio as the table above (98.4 → 101.2), computed live from your number, nothing is sent anywhere.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Chico more expensive than Barnstable Town?
Chico is 2.9% more expensive than Barnstable Town. The overall cost index is 101.2 vs 98.4 (national average = 100).
What salary in Chico equals $100K in Barnstable Town?
A $100,000 salary in Barnstable Town has the same purchasing power as $102,894 in Chico. This is based on the BEA Regional Price Parity indexes.
How do rents compare between Barnstable Town and Chico?
Rents in Barnstable Town are indexed at 90.0 while Chico is at 91.9 (national average = 100). Chico 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.