Overall
- Barnstable Town
- 98.4
- Denver-Aurora-Centennial
- 105.8
Diff +7.4 RPP
Barnstable Town vs Denver-Aurora-Centennial
Cost of living comparison based on BEA Regional Price Parities. Denver-Aurora-Centennial is 7.6% more expensive than Barnstable Town.
7.6% more expensive
Denver-Aurora-Centennial, CO is 7.6% more expensive than Barnstable Town, MA on BEA Regional Price Parities (overall RPP 105.8 vs 98.4). A $100,000 salary in Barnstable Town buys about the same as $107,556 in Denver-Aurora-Centennial; the largest component gap is services.
- Overall RPP 98.4 (Barnstable Town) vs 105.8 (Denver-Aurora-Centennial)
- $100k in Barnstable Town ≈ $107,556 purchasing power in Denver-Aurora-Centennial
- Services drives the gap (-70.6 RPP points)
RPP parity plate
Pair MA:CO 98.4→105.8
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
- Denver-Aurora-Centennial
- 101.0
Diff +3.9 RPP
Services
- Barnstable Town
- 158.4
Diff -70.6 RPP
Rents
- Barnstable Town
- 90.0
- Denver-Aurora-Centennial
- 146.9
Diff +56.9 RPP
| Category | Barnstable Town | Denver-Aurora-Centennial | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Overall | 98.4 | 105.8 | +7.4 |
| Goods | 97.0 | 101.0 | +3.9 |
| Services | 158.4 | 87.9 | -70.6 |
| Rents | 90.0 | 146.9 | +56.9 |
Visual Comparison
Overall
Barnstable Town 98.4
Denver-Aurora-Centennial 105.8
Goods
Barnstable Town 97.0
Denver-Aurora-Centennial 101.0
Services
Barnstable Town 158.4
Denver-Aurora-Centennial 87.9
Rents
Barnstable Town 90.0
Denver-Aurora-Centennial 146.9
Vertical line = national average (100)
What This Comparison Actually Tells You
Services creates the largest separation: Denver-Aurora-Centennial is 70.6 points lower. But services move against the overall direction, so this is a split budget rather than a clean across-the-board winner.
Denver-Aurora-Centennial, CO is 7.6% more expensive than Barnstable Town, MA, a meaningful but not extreme shift. The move decision turns on which budget category creates the 7.4-point overall gap.
This route crosses the national benchmark: Denver-Aurora-Centennial 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 $107,556 in Denver-Aurora-Centennial, but it is not a personal spending weight.
Barnstable Town
98.4
Cost Index
Denver-Aurora-Centennial
105.8
Cost Index
Salary Equivalents
What a salary in Barnstable Town would need to be in Denver-Aurora-Centennial for the same purchasing power:
| In Barnstable Town | In Denver-Aurora-Centennial | Difference |
|---|---|---|
| $50,000 | $53,778 | +$3,778 |
| $75,000 | $80,667 | +$5,667 |
| $100,000 | $107,556 | +$7,556 |
| $150,000 | $161,333 | +$11,333 |
$ in Barnstable Town = in Denver-Aurora-Centennial
Same BEA Regional Price Parity ratio as the table above (98.4 → 105.8), computed live from your number, nothing is sent anywhere.
How the Price Gap Changed
Barnstable Town and Denver-Aurora-Centennial share 17 published annual releases from 2008 through 2024. Their overall gap widened, moving from 3.0 to 7.4 RPP points. Denver-Aurora-Centennial remained the higher-index metro in the latest release.
Rents changed the most within this pair: its gap moved 40.8 points between the first and latest shared releases (16.1 to 56.9 points). This describes a relative price-index history, not a forecast or a household budget.
| Release Year | Barnstable Town RPP | Denver-Aurora-Centennial RPP | Relative Gap |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2008 | 102.8 | 105.8 | 3.0 points Denver-Aurora-Centennial higher |
| 2012 | 100.9 | 105.1 | 4.2 points Denver-Aurora-Centennial higher |
| 2016 | 105.8 | 105.2 | 0.6 points Barnstable Town higher |
| 2020 | 101.3 | 109.4 | 8.1 points Denver-Aurora-Centennial higher |
| 2024 | 98.4 | 105.8 | 7.4 points Denver-Aurora-Centennial 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 Denver-Aurora-Centennial more expensive than Barnstable Town?
Denver-Aurora-Centennial is 7.6% more expensive than Barnstable Town. The overall cost index is 105.8 vs 98.4 (national average = 100).
What salary in Denver-Aurora-Centennial equals $100K in Barnstable Town?
A $100,000 salary in Barnstable Town has the same purchasing power as $107,556 in Denver-Aurora-Centennial. This is based on the BEA Regional Price Parity indexes.
How do rents compare between Barnstable Town and Denver-Aurora-Centennial?
Rents in Barnstable Town are indexed at 90.0 while Denver-Aurora-Centennial is at 146.9 (national average = 100). Denver-Aurora-Centennial 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.