Overall
- Barnstable Town
- 98.4
- Lewiston-Auburn
- 94.7
Diff -3.6 RPP
Barnstable Town vs Lewiston-Auburn
Cost of living comparison based on BEA Regional Price Parities. Lewiston-Auburn is 3.7% less expensive than Barnstable Town.
3.7% less expensive
Lewiston-Auburn, ME is 3.7% less expensive than Barnstable Town, MA on BEA Regional Price Parities (overall RPP 94.7 vs 98.4). A $100,000 salary in Barnstable Town buys about the same as $96,324 in Lewiston-Auburn; the largest component gap is services.
- Overall RPP 98.4 (Barnstable Town) vs 94.7 (Lewiston-Auburn)
- $100k in Barnstable Town ≈ $96,324 purchasing power in Lewiston-Auburn
- Services drives the gap (-24.1 RPP points)
RPP parity plate
Pair MA:ME 98.4→94.7
TIER-NEAR · CROSS-STATE · SPLIT-BUDGET · BOTH-BELOW · PP-SHIFT
- TIER-NEAR Near tier
- CROSS-STATE MA × ME
- 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
- Lewiston-Auburn
- 97.2
Diff +0.2 RPP
Services
- Barnstable Town
- 158.4
- Lewiston-Auburn
- 134.4
Diff -24.1 RPP
Rents
- Barnstable Town
- 90.0
- Lewiston-Auburn
- 69.0
Diff -21.0 RPP
| Category | Barnstable Town | Lewiston-Auburn | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Overall | 98.4 | 94.7 | -3.6 |
| Goods | 97.0 | 97.2 | +0.2 |
| Services | 158.4 | 134.4 | -24.1 |
| Rents | 90.0 | 69.0 | -21.0 |
Visual Comparison
Overall
Barnstable Town 98.4
Lewiston-Auburn 94.7
Goods
Barnstable Town 97.0
Lewiston-Auburn 97.2
Services
Barnstable Town 158.4
Lewiston-Auburn 134.4
Rents
Barnstable Town 90.0
Lewiston-Auburn 69.0
Vertical line = national average (100)
What This Comparison Actually Tells You
Services creates the largest separation: Lewiston-Auburn is 24.1 points lower. But goods move against the overall direction, so this is a split budget rather than a clean across-the-board winner.
Lewiston-Auburn, ME is 3.7% less expensive than Barnstable Town, MA, a meaningful but not extreme shift. The move decision turns on which budget category creates the 3.6-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 $96,324 in Lewiston-Auburn, but it is not a personal spending weight.
Barnstable Town
98.4
Cost Index
Lewiston-Auburn
94.7
Cost Index
Salary Equivalents
What a salary in Barnstable Town would need to be in Lewiston-Auburn for the same purchasing power:
| In Barnstable Town | In Lewiston-Auburn | Difference |
|---|---|---|
| $50,000 | $48,162 | $-1,838 |
| $75,000 | $72,243 | $-2,757 |
| $100,000 | $96,324 | $-3,676 |
| $150,000 | $144,487 | $-5,513 |
$ in Barnstable Town = in Lewiston-Auburn
Same BEA Regional Price Parity ratio as the table above (98.4 → 94.7), computed live from your number, nothing is sent anywhere.
How the Price Gap Changed
Barnstable Town and Lewiston-Auburn share 17 published annual releases from 2008 through 2024. Their overall gap narrowed, moving from 5.1 to 3.6 RPP points. Barnstable Town remained the higher-index metro in the latest release.
Services changed the most within this pair: its gap moved 22.0 points between the first and latest shared releases (2.1 to 24.1 points). This describes a relative price-index history, not a forecast or a household budget.
| Release Year | Barnstable Town RPP | Lewiston-Auburn RPP | Relative Gap |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2008 | 102.8 | 97.7 | 5.1 points Barnstable Town higher |
| 2012 | 100.9 | 98.8 | 2.2 points Barnstable Town higher |
| 2016 | 105.8 | 96.6 | 9.2 points Barnstable Town higher |
| 2020 | 101.3 | 99.7 | 1.6 points Barnstable Town higher |
| 2024 | 98.4 | 94.7 | 3.6 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 Lewiston-Auburn more expensive than Barnstable Town?
Lewiston-Auburn is 3.7% less expensive than Barnstable Town. The overall cost index is 94.7 vs 98.4 (national average = 100).
What salary in Lewiston-Auburn equals $100K in Barnstable Town?
A $100,000 salary in Barnstable Town has the same purchasing power as $96,324 in Lewiston-Auburn. This is based on the BEA Regional Price Parity indexes.
How do rents compare between Barnstable Town and Lewiston-Auburn?
Rents in Barnstable Town are indexed at 90.0 while Lewiston-Auburn is at 69.0 (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.