Overall
- Barnstable Town
- 98.4
Diff -2.0 RPP
Barnstable Town vs Nashville-Davidson--Murfreesboro--Franklin
Cost of living comparison based on BEA Regional Price Parities. Nashville-Davidson--Murfreesboro--Franklin is 2% less expensive than Barnstable Town.
2% less expensive
Nashville-Davidson--Murfreesboro--Franklin, TN is 2% less expensive than Barnstable Town, MA on BEA Regional Price Parities (overall RPP 96.3 vs 98.4). A $100,000 salary in Barnstable Town buys about the same as $97,953 in Nashville-Davidson--Murfreesboro--Franklin; the largest component gap is services.
- Overall RPP 98.4 (Barnstable Town) vs 96.3 (Nashville-Davidson--Murfreesboro--Franklin)
- $100k in Barnstable Town ≈ $97,953 purchasing power in Nashville-Davidson--Murfreesboro--Franklin
- Services drives the gap (-86.5 RPP points)
RPP parity plate
Pair MA:TN 98.4→96.3
TIER-NEAR · CROSS-STATE · SPLIT-BUDGET · BOTH-BELOW · PP-PAR
- TIER-NEAR Near tier
- CROSS-STATE MA × TN
- 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.
Category Breakdown
Goods
- Barnstable Town
- 97.0
Diff -0.8 RPP
Services
- Barnstable Town
- 158.4
Diff -86.5 RPP
Rents
- Barnstable Town
- 90.0
Diff +14.6 RPP
| Category | Barnstable Town | Nashville-Davidson--Murfreesboro--Franklin | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Overall | 98.4 | 96.3 | -2.0 |
| Goods | 97.0 | 96.2 | -0.8 |
| Services | 158.4 | 72.0 | -86.5 |
| Rents | 90.0 | 104.6 | +14.6 |
Visual Comparison
Overall
Barnstable Town 98.4
Nashville-Davidson--Murfreesboro--Franklin 96.3
Goods
Barnstable Town 97.0
Nashville-Davidson--Murfreesboro--Franklin 96.2
Services
Barnstable Town 158.4
Nashville-Davidson--Murfreesboro--Franklin 72.0
Rents
Barnstable Town 90.0
Nashville-Davidson--Murfreesboro--Franklin 104.6
Vertical line = national average (100)
What This Comparison Actually Tells You
Services creates the largest separation: Nashville-Davidson--Murfreesboro--Franklin is 86.5 points lower. But rents move against the overall direction, so this is a split budget rather than a clean across-the-board winner.
Nashville-Davidson--Murfreesboro--Franklin, TN is 2% less expensive than Barnstable Town, MA, a meaningful but not extreme shift. The move decision turns on which budget category creates the 2.0-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 $97,953 in Nashville-Davidson--Murfreesboro--Franklin, but it is not a personal spending weight.
Barnstable Town
98.4
Cost Index
Nashville-Davidson--Murfreesboro--Franklin
96.3
Cost Index
Salary Equivalents
What a salary in Barnstable Town would need to be in Nashville-Davidson--Murfreesboro--Franklin for the same purchasing power:
| In Barnstable Town | In Nashville-Davidson--Murfreesboro--Franklin | Difference |
|---|---|---|
| $50,000 | $48,977 | $-1,023 |
| $75,000 | $73,465 | $-1,535 |
| $100,000 | $97,953 | $-2,047 |
| $150,000 | $146,930 | $-3,070 |
$ in Barnstable Town = in Nashville-Davidson--Murfreesboro--Franklin
Same BEA Regional Price Parity ratio as the table above (98.4 → 96.3), computed live from your number, nothing is sent anywhere.
How the Price Gap Changed
Barnstable Town and Nashville-Davidson--Murfreesboro--Franklin share 17 published annual releases from 2008 through 2024. Their overall gap narrowed, moving from 7.1 to 2.0 RPP points. Barnstable Town remained the higher-index metro in the latest release.
Rents changed the most within this pair: its gap moved 31.9 points between the first and latest shared releases (17.3 to 14.6 points). This describes a relative price-index history, not a forecast or a household budget.
| Release Year | Barnstable Town RPP | Nashville-Davidson--Murfreesboro--Franklin RPP | Relative Gap |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2008 | 102.8 | 95.7 | 7.1 points Barnstable Town higher |
| 2012 | 100.9 | 97.4 | 3.6 points Barnstable Town higher |
| 2016 | 105.8 | 99.3 | 6.5 points Barnstable Town higher |
| 2020 | 101.3 | 95.9 | 5.3 points Barnstable Town higher |
| 2024 | 98.4 | 96.3 | 2.0 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 Nashville-Davidson--Murfreesboro--Franklin more expensive than Barnstable Town?
Nashville-Davidson--Murfreesboro--Franklin is 2% less expensive than Barnstable Town. The overall cost index is 96.3 vs 98.4 (national average = 100).
What salary in Nashville-Davidson--Murfreesboro--Franklin equals $100K in Barnstable Town?
A $100,000 salary in Barnstable Town has the same purchasing power as $97,953 in Nashville-Davidson--Murfreesboro--Franklin. This is based on the BEA Regional Price Parity indexes.
How do rents compare between Barnstable Town and Nashville-Davidson--Murfreesboro--Franklin?
Rents in Barnstable Town are indexed at 90.0 while Nashville-Davidson--Murfreesboro--Franklin is at 104.6 (national average = 100). Nashville-Davidson--Murfreesboro--Franklin 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.