Overall
- Barnstable Town
- 98.4
- Wilmington
- 96.4
Diff -1.9 RPP
Barnstable Town vs Wilmington
Cost of living comparison based on BEA Regional Price Parities. Wilmington is 2% less expensive than Barnstable Town.
2% less expensive
Wilmington, NC is 2% less expensive than Barnstable Town, MA on BEA Regional Price Parities (overall RPP 96.4 vs 98.4). A $100,000 salary in Barnstable Town buys about the same as $98,039 in Wilmington; the largest component gap is services.
- Overall RPP 98.4 (Barnstable Town) vs 96.4 (Wilmington)
- $100k in Barnstable Town ≈ $98,039 purchasing power in Wilmington
- Services drives the gap (-70.5 RPP points)
RPP parity plate
Pair MA:NC 98.4→96.4
PHOTO-FINISH · CROSS-STATE · SPLIT-BUDGET · BOTH-BELOW · PP-PAR
- PHOTO-FINISH Photo finish
- CROSS-STATE MA × NC
- 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
Wilmington
96.4
Cost Index
What This Comparison Actually Tells You
Barnstable Town, MA and Wilmington, NC are a photo finish on overall price level, only 1.9 RPP points apart. A salary conversion is therefore a fine adjustment, not evidence of a fundamentally different cost regime.
Services creates the largest separation: Wilmington is 70.5 points lower. But rents 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 $98,039 in Wilmington, but it is not a personal spending weight.
Category Breakdown
Goods
- Barnstable Town
- 97.0
- Wilmington
- 96.6
Diff -0.4 RPP
Services
- Barnstable Town
- 158.4
- Wilmington
- 87.9
Diff -70.5 RPP
Rents
- Barnstable Town
- 90.0
- Wilmington
- 93.2
Diff +3.2 RPP
| Category | Barnstable Town | Wilmington | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Overall | 98.4 | 96.4 | -1.9 |
| Goods | 97.0 | 96.6 | -0.4 |
| Services | 158.4 | 87.9 | -70.5 |
| Rents | 90.0 | 93.2 | +3.2 |
Visual Comparison
Overall
Barnstable Town 98.4
Wilmington 96.4
Goods
Barnstable Town 97.0
Wilmington 96.6
Services
Barnstable Town 158.4
Wilmington 87.9
Rents
Barnstable Town 90.0
Wilmington 93.2
Vertical line = national average (100)
How the Price Gap Changed
Barnstable Town and Wilmington share 17 published annual releases from 2008 through 2024. Their overall gap narrowed, moving from 9.6 to 1.9 RPP points. Barnstable Town remained the higher-index metro in the latest release.
Rents changed the most within this pair: its gap moved 26.7 points between the first and latest shared releases (23.5 to 3.2 points). This describes a relative price-index history, not a forecast or a household budget.
| Release Year | Barnstable Town RPP | Wilmington RPP | Relative Gap |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2008 | 102.8 | 93.2 | 9.6 points Barnstable Town higher |
| 2012 | 100.9 | 95.2 | 5.8 points Barnstable Town higher |
| 2016 | 105.8 | 95.1 | 10.7 points Barnstable Town higher |
| 2020 | 101.3 | 94.0 | 7.2 points Barnstable Town higher |
| 2024 | 98.4 | 96.4 | 1.9 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 Wilmington for the same purchasing power:
| In Barnstable Town | In Wilmington | Difference |
|---|---|---|
| $50,000 | $49,019 | $-981 |
| $75,000 | $73,529 | $-1,471 |
| $100,000 | $98,039 | $-1,961 |
| $150,000 | $147,058 | $-2,942 |
$ in Barnstable Town = in Wilmington
Same BEA Regional Price Parity ratio as the table above (98.4 → 96.4), computed live from your number, nothing is sent anywhere.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Wilmington more expensive than Barnstable Town?
Wilmington is 2% less expensive than Barnstable Town. The overall cost index is 96.4 vs 98.4 (national average = 100).
What salary in Wilmington equals $100K in Barnstable Town?
A $100,000 salary in Barnstable Town has the same purchasing power as $98,039 in Wilmington. This is based on the BEA Regional Price Parity indexes.
How do rents compare between Barnstable Town and Wilmington?
Rents in Barnstable Town are indexed at 90.0 while Wilmington is at 93.2 (national average = 100). Wilmington 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.