Overall
- Barnstable Town
- 98.4
- Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue
- 111.1
Diff +12.8 RPP
Barnstable Town vs Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue
Cost of living comparison based on BEA Regional Price Parities. Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue is 13% more expensive than Barnstable Town.
13% more expensive
Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue, WA is 13% more expensive than Barnstable Town, MA on BEA Regional Price Parities (overall RPP 111.1 vs 98.4). A $100,000 salary in Barnstable Town buys about the same as $112,996 in Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue; the largest component gap is services.
- Overall RPP 98.4 (Barnstable Town) vs 111.1 (Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue)
- $100k in Barnstable Town ≈ $112,996 purchasing power in Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue
- Services drives the gap (-65.6 RPP points)
RPP parity plate
Pair MA:WA 98.4→111.1
TIER-GAP · CROSS-STATE · SPLIT-BUDGET · BENCH-CROSS · PP-SHIFT
- TIER-GAP Clear tier gap
- CROSS-STATE MA × WA
- SPLIT-BUDGET Split budget
- BENCH-CROSS Benchmark cross
- 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
- Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue
- 104.0
Diff +7.0 RPP
Services
- Barnstable Town
- 158.4
Diff -65.6 RPP
Rents
- Barnstable Town
- 90.0
- Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue
- 151.3
Diff +61.3 RPP
| Category | Barnstable Town | Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Overall | 98.4 | 111.1 | +12.8 |
| Goods | 97.0 | 104.0 | +7.0 |
| Services | 158.4 | 92.8 | -65.6 |
| Rents | 90.0 | 151.3 | +61.3 |
Visual Comparison
Overall
Barnstable Town 98.4
Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue 111.1
Goods
Barnstable Town 97.0
Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue 104.0
Services
Barnstable Town 158.4
Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue 92.8
Rents
Barnstable Town 90.0
Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue 151.3
Vertical line = national average (100)
What This Comparison Actually Tells You
Services creates the largest separation: Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue is 65.6 points lower. But services move against the overall direction, so this is a split budget rather than a clean across-the-board winner.
Barnstable Town, MA and Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue, WA sit in clearly different price tiers, separated by 12.8 RPP points. At this distance, treating the same nominal salary as equivalent would materially change purchasing power.
This route crosses the national benchmark: Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue is above 100 while Barnstable Town is below it. That makes the move a change of price regime, not merely a rank swap.
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 $112,996 in Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue, but it is not a personal spending weight.
Barnstable Town
98.4
Cost Index
Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue
111.1
Cost Index
Salary Equivalents
What a salary in Barnstable Town would need to be in Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue for the same purchasing power:
| In Barnstable Town | In Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue | Difference |
|---|---|---|
| $50,000 | $56,498 | +$6,498 |
| $75,000 | $84,747 | +$9,747 |
| $100,000 | $112,996 | +$12,996 |
| $150,000 | $169,494 | +$19,494 |
$ in Barnstable Town = in Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue
Same BEA Regional Price Parity ratio as the table above (98.4 → 111.1), computed live from your number, nothing is sent anywhere.
How the Price Gap Changed
Barnstable Town and Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue share 17 published annual releases from 2008 through 2024. Their overall gap widened, moving from 6.3 to 12.8 RPP points. Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue remained the higher-index metro in the latest release.
Rents changed the most within this pair: its gap moved 28.9 points between the first and latest shared releases (32.4 to 61.3 points). This describes a relative price-index history, not a forecast or a household budget.
| Release Year | Barnstable Town RPP | Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue RPP | Relative Gap |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2008 | 102.8 | 109.1 | 6.3 points Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue higher |
| 2012 | 100.9 | 105.3 | 4.4 points Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue higher |
| 2016 | 105.8 | 110.2 | 4.4 points Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue higher |
| 2020 | 101.3 | 113.0 | 11.8 points Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue higher |
| 2024 | 98.4 | 111.1 | 12.8 points Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue 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 Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue more expensive than Barnstable Town?
Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue is 13% more expensive than Barnstable Town. The overall cost index is 111.1 vs 98.4 (national average = 100).
What salary in Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue equals $100K in Barnstable Town?
A $100,000 salary in Barnstable Town has the same purchasing power as $112,996 in Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue. This is based on the BEA Regional Price Parity indexes.
How do rents compare between Barnstable Town and Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue?
Rents in Barnstable Town are indexed at 90.0 while Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue is at 151.3 (national average = 100). Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue 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.