Overall
- Barnstable Town
- 98.4
Diff -3.6 RPP
Barnstable Town vs San Antonio-New Braunfels
Cost of living comparison based on BEA Regional Price Parities. San Antonio-New Braunfels is 3.7% less expensive than Barnstable Town.
3.7% less expensive
San Antonio-New Braunfels, TX 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 $96,304 in San Antonio-New Braunfels; the largest component gap is services.
- Overall RPP 98.4 (Barnstable Town) vs 94.7 (San Antonio-New Braunfels)
- $100k in Barnstable Town ≈ $96,304 purchasing power in San Antonio-New Braunfels
- Services drives the gap (-76.3 RPP points)
RPP parity plate
Pair MA:TX 98.4→94.7
TIER-NEAR · CROSS-STATE · SPLIT-BUDGET · BOTH-BELOW · PP-SHIFT
- TIER-NEAR Near tier
- CROSS-STATE MA × TX
- 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
Diff -3.3 RPP
Services
- Barnstable Town
- 158.4
Diff -76.3 RPP
Rents
- Barnstable Town
- 90.0
Diff +4.6 RPP
| Category | Barnstable Town | San Antonio-New Braunfels | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Overall | 98.4 | 94.7 | -3.6 |
| Goods | 97.0 | 93.8 | -3.3 |
| Services | 158.4 | 82.2 | -76.3 |
| Rents | 90.0 | 94.6 | +4.6 |
Visual Comparison
Overall
Barnstable Town 98.4
San Antonio-New Braunfels 94.7
Goods
Barnstable Town 97.0
San Antonio-New Braunfels 93.8
Services
Barnstable Town 158.4
San Antonio-New Braunfels 82.2
Rents
Barnstable Town 90.0
San Antonio-New Braunfels 94.6
Vertical line = national average (100)
What This Comparison Actually Tells You
Services creates the largest separation: San Antonio-New Braunfels is 76.3 points lower. But rents move against the overall direction, so this is a split budget rather than a clean across-the-board winner.
San Antonio-New Braunfels, TX 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 $96,304 in San Antonio-New Braunfels, but it is not a personal spending weight.
Barnstable Town
98.4
Cost Index
San Antonio-New Braunfels
94.7
Cost Index
Salary Equivalents
What a salary in Barnstable Town would need to be in San Antonio-New Braunfels for the same purchasing power:
| In Barnstable Town | In San Antonio-New Braunfels | Difference |
|---|---|---|
| $50,000 | $48,152 | $-1,848 |
| $75,000 | $72,228 | $-2,772 |
| $100,000 | $96,304 | $-3,696 |
| $150,000 | $144,456 | $-5,544 |
$ in Barnstable Town = in San Antonio-New Braunfels
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 San Antonio-New Braunfels share 17 published annual releases from 2008 through 2024. Their overall gap narrowed, moving from 6.7 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 37.1 points between the first and latest shared releases (39.2 to 76.3 points). This describes a relative price-index history, not a forecast or a household budget.
| Release Year | Barnstable Town RPP | San Antonio-New Braunfels RPP | Relative Gap |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2008 | 102.8 | 96.1 | 6.7 points Barnstable Town higher |
| 2012 | 100.9 | 97.4 | 3.5 points Barnstable Town higher |
| 2016 | 105.8 | 98.3 | 7.5 points Barnstable Town higher |
| 2020 | 101.3 | 96.8 | 4.5 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 San Antonio-New Braunfels more expensive than Barnstable Town?
San Antonio-New Braunfels is 3.7% less expensive than Barnstable Town. The overall cost index is 94.7 vs 98.4 (national average = 100).
What salary in San Antonio-New Braunfels equals $100K in Barnstable Town?
A $100,000 salary in Barnstable Town has the same purchasing power as $96,304 in San Antonio-New Braunfels. This is based on the BEA Regional Price Parity indexes.
How do rents compare between Barnstable Town and San Antonio-New Braunfels?
Rents in Barnstable Town are indexed at 90.0 while San Antonio-New Braunfels is at 94.6 (national average = 100). San Antonio-New Braunfels 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.