Overall
- Barnstable Town
- 98.4
- Lebanon
- 93.2
Diff -5.1 RPP
Barnstable Town vs Lebanon
Cost of living comparison based on BEA Regional Price Parities. Lebanon is 5.2% less expensive than Barnstable Town.
5.2% less expensive
Lebanon, PA is 5.2% less expensive than Barnstable Town, MA on BEA Regional Price Parities (overall RPP 93.2 vs 98.4). A $100,000 salary in Barnstable Town buys about the same as $94,777 in Lebanon; the largest component gap is services.
- Overall RPP 98.4 (Barnstable Town) vs 93.2 (Lebanon)
- $100k in Barnstable Town ≈ $94,777 purchasing power in Lebanon
- Services drives the gap (-50.0 RPP points)
RPP parity plate
Pair MA:PA 98.4→93.2
TIER-NEAR · CROSS-STATE · SPLIT-BUDGET · BOTH-BELOW · PP-SHIFT
- TIER-NEAR Near tier
- CROSS-STATE MA × PA
- SPLIT-BUDGET Split budget
- BOTH-BELOW Both below 100
- 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
- Lebanon
- 100.7
Diff +3.7 RPP
Services
- Barnstable Town
- 158.4
- Lebanon
- 108.4
Diff -50.0 RPP
Rents
- Barnstable Town
- 90.0
- Lebanon
- 66.0
Diff -24.0 RPP
| Category | Barnstable Town | Lebanon | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Overall | 98.4 | 93.2 | -5.1 |
| Goods | 97.0 | 100.7 | +3.7 |
| Services | 158.4 | 108.4 | -50.0 |
| Rents | 90.0 | 66.0 | -24.0 |
Visual Comparison
Overall
Barnstable Town 98.4
Lebanon 93.2
Goods
Barnstable Town 97.0
Lebanon 100.7
Services
Barnstable Town 158.4
Lebanon 108.4
Rents
Barnstable Town 90.0
Lebanon 66.0
Vertical line = national average (100)
What This Comparison Actually Tells You
Services creates the largest separation: Lebanon is 50.0 points lower. But goods move against the overall direction, so this is a split budget rather than a clean across-the-board winner.
Lebanon, PA is 5.2% less expensive than Barnstable Town, MA, a meaningful but not extreme shift. The move decision turns on which budget category creates the 5.1-point overall gap.
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.
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 $94,777 in Lebanon, but it is not a personal spending weight.
Barnstable Town
98.4
Cost Index
Lebanon
93.2
Cost Index
Salary Equivalents
What a salary in Barnstable Town would need to be in Lebanon for the same purchasing power:
| In Barnstable Town | In Lebanon | Difference |
|---|---|---|
| $50,000 | $47,388 | $-2,612 |
| $75,000 | $71,083 | $-3,917 |
| $100,000 | $94,777 | $-5,223 |
| $150,000 | $142,165 | $-7,835 |
$ in Barnstable Town = in Lebanon
Same BEA Regional Price Parity ratio as the table above (98.4 → 93.2), computed live from your number, nothing is sent anywhere.
How the Price Gap Changed
Barnstable Town and Lebanon share 17 published annual releases from 2008 through 2024. Their overall gap widened, moving from 3.8 to 5.1 RPP points. Barnstable Town remained the higher-index metro in the latest release.
Services changed the most within this pair: its gap moved 21.1 points between the first and latest shared releases (28.9 to 50.0 points). This describes a relative price-index history, not a forecast or a household budget.
| Release Year | Barnstable Town RPP | Lebanon RPP | Relative Gap |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2008 | 102.8 | 99.0 | 3.8 points Barnstable Town higher |
| 2012 | 100.9 | 95.7 | 5.2 points Barnstable Town higher |
| 2016 | 105.8 | 96.4 | 9.3 points Barnstable Town higher |
| 2020 | 101.3 | 94.9 | 6.4 points Barnstable Town higher |
| 2024 | 98.4 | 93.2 | 5.1 points Barnstable Town 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 Lebanon more expensive than Barnstable Town?
Lebanon is 5.2% less expensive than Barnstable Town. The overall cost index is 93.2 vs 98.4 (national average = 100).
What salary in Lebanon equals $100K in Barnstable Town?
A $100,000 salary in Barnstable Town has the same purchasing power as $94,777 in Lebanon. This is based on the BEA Regional Price Parity indexes.
How do rents compare between Barnstable Town and Lebanon?
Rents in Barnstable Town are indexed at 90.0 while Lebanon is at 66.0 (national average = 100). Barnstable Town 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.