Overall
- Barnstable Town
- 98.4
- Longview-Kelso
- 97.5
Diff -0.8 RPP
Barnstable Town vs Longview-Kelso
Cost of living comparison based on BEA Regional Price Parities. Longview-Kelso is 0.8% less expensive than Barnstable Town.
0.8% less expensive
Longview-Kelso, WA is 0.8% less expensive than Barnstable Town, MA on BEA Regional Price Parities (overall RPP 97.5 vs 98.4). A $100,000 salary in Barnstable Town buys about the same as $99,180 in Longview-Kelso; the largest component gap is services.
- Overall RPP 98.4 (Barnstable Town) vs 97.5 (Longview-Kelso)
- $100k in Barnstable Town ≈ $99,180 purchasing power in Longview-Kelso
- Services drives the gap (-60.0 RPP points)
RPP parity plate
Pair MA:WA 98.4→97.5
PHOTO-FINISH · CROSS-STATE · SPLIT-BUDGET · BOTH-BELOW · PP-PAR
- PHOTO-FINISH Photo finish
- CROSS-STATE MA × WA
- SPLIT-BUDGET Split budget
- BOTH-BELOW Both below 100
- PP-PAR PP near-par
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.
Barnstable Town
98.4
Cost Index
Longview-Kelso
97.5
Cost Index
What This Comparison Actually Tells You
Barnstable Town, MA and Longview-Kelso, WA are a photo finish on overall price level, only 0.8 RPP points apart. A salary conversion is therefore a fine adjustment, not evidence of a fundamentally different cost regime.
Services creates the largest separation: Longview-Kelso is 60.0 points lower. But goods move against the overall direction, so this is a split budget rather than a clean across-the-board winner.
Comparable population context is incomplete for this pair, so no market-scale explanation is inferred from the price indexes.
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.
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 $99,180 in Longview-Kelso, but it is not a personal spending weight.
Category Breakdown
Goods
- Barnstable Town
- 97.0
- Longview-Kelso
- 105.0
Diff +8.0 RPP
Services
- Barnstable Town
- 158.4
- Longview-Kelso
- 98.5
Diff -60.0 RPP
Rents
- Barnstable Town
- 90.0
- Longview-Kelso
- 82.5
Diff -7.5 RPP
| Category | Barnstable Town | Longview-Kelso | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Overall | 98.4 | 97.5 | -0.8 |
| Goods | 97.0 | 105.0 | +8.0 |
| Services | 158.4 | 98.5 | -60.0 |
| Rents | 90.0 | 82.5 | -7.5 |
Visual Comparison
Overall
Barnstable Town 98.4
Longview-Kelso 97.5
Goods
Barnstable Town 97.0
Longview-Kelso 105.0
Services
Barnstable Town 158.4
Longview-Kelso 98.5
Rents
Barnstable Town 90.0
Longview-Kelso 82.5
Vertical line = national average (100)
How the Price Gap Changed
Barnstable Town and Longview-Kelso share 17 published annual releases from 2008 through 2024. Their overall gap narrowed, moving from 4.7 to 0.8 RPP points. Barnstable Town remained the higher-index metro in the latest release.
Services changed the most within this pair: its gap moved 14.1 points between the first and latest shared releases (74.1 to 60.0 points). This describes a relative price-index history, not a forecast or a household budget.
| Release Year | Barnstable Town RPP | Longview-Kelso RPP | Relative Gap |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2008 | 102.8 | 98.1 | 4.7 points Barnstable Town higher |
| 2012 | 100.9 | 92.5 | 8.5 points Barnstable Town higher |
| 2016 | 105.8 | 96.8 | 8.9 points Barnstable Town higher |
| 2020 | 101.3 | 100.0 | 1.2 points Barnstable Town higher |
| 2024 | 98.4 | 97.5 | 0.8 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.
Salary Equivalents
What a salary in Barnstable Town would need to be in Longview-Kelso for the same purchasing power:
| In Barnstable Town | In Longview-Kelso | Difference |
|---|---|---|
| $50,000 | $49,590 | $-410 |
| $75,000 | $74,385 | $-615 |
| $100,000 | $99,180 | $-820 |
| $150,000 | $148,771 | $-1,229 |
$ in Barnstable Town = in Longview-Kelso
Same BEA Regional Price Parity ratio as the table above (98.4 → 97.5), computed live from your number, nothing is sent anywhere.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Longview-Kelso more expensive than Barnstable Town?
Longview-Kelso is 0.8% less expensive than Barnstable Town. The overall cost index is 97.5 vs 98.4 (national average = 100).
What salary in Longview-Kelso equals $100K in Barnstable Town?
A $100,000 salary in Barnstable Town has the same purchasing power as $99,180 in Longview-Kelso. This is based on the BEA Regional Price Parity indexes.
How do rents compare between Barnstable Town and Longview-Kelso?
Rents in Barnstable Town are indexed at 90.0 while Longview-Kelso is at 82.5 (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.