Overall
- Barnstable Town
- 98.4
- Yuba City
- 104.2
Diff +5.9 RPP
Barnstable Town vs Yuba City
Cost of living comparison based on BEA Regional Price Parities. Yuba City is 6% more expensive than Barnstable Town.
6% more expensive
Yuba City, CA is 6% more expensive than Barnstable Town, MA on BEA Regional Price Parities (overall RPP 104.2 vs 98.4). A $100,000 salary in Barnstable Town buys about the same as $105,981 in Yuba City; the largest component gap is rents.
- Overall RPP 98.4 (Barnstable Town) vs 104.2 (Yuba City)
- $100k in Barnstable Town ≈ $105,981 purchasing power in Yuba City
- Rents drives the gap (+18.3 RPP points)
RPP parity plate
Pair MA:CA 98.4→104.2
TIER-NEAR · CROSS-STATE · RENT-LED · BENCH-CROSS · PP-SHIFT
- TIER-NEAR Near tier
- CROSS-STATE MA × CA
- RENT-LED Rent-led gap
- 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.
Salary Equivalents
What a salary in Barnstable Town would need to be in Yuba City for the same purchasing power:
| In Barnstable Town | In Yuba City | Difference |
|---|---|---|
| $50,000 | $52,990 | +$2,990 |
| $75,000 | $79,485 | +$4,485 |
| $100,000 | $105,981 | +$5,981 |
| $150,000 | $158,971 | +$8,971 |
$ in Barnstable Town = in Yuba City
Same BEA Regional Price Parity ratio as the table above (98.4 → 104.2), computed live from your number, nothing is sent anywhere.
What This Comparison Actually Tells You
Yuba City, CA is 6% more expensive than Barnstable Town, MA, a meaningful but not extreme shift. The move decision turns on which budget category creates the 5.9-point overall gap.
This route crosses the national benchmark: Yuba City is above 100 while Barnstable Town is below it. That makes the move a change of price regime, not merely a rank swap.
Rents leads the difference, with Yuba City 18.3 points higher than Barnstable Town. Goods, services, and rents all point in the same broad direction, making the headline comparison more transferable across household types.
Comparable population context is incomplete for this pair, so no market-scale explanation is inferred from the price indexes.
For a housing-sensitive move, validate the rent gap first: HUD Fair Market Rent and the actual unit size can overturn what the blended index implies. On the BEA ratio alone, $100,000 in Barnstable Town corresponds to $105,981 in Yuba City.
Category Breakdown
Goods
- Barnstable Town
- 97.0
- Yuba City
- 105.2
Diff +8.2 RPP
Services
- Barnstable Town
- 158.4
- Yuba City
- 160.8
Diff +2.3 RPP
Rents
- Barnstable Town
- 90.0
- Yuba City
- 108.3
Diff +18.3 RPP
| Category | Barnstable Town | Yuba City | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Overall | 98.4 | 104.2 | +5.9 |
| Goods | 97.0 | 105.2 | +8.2 |
| Services | 158.4 | 160.8 | +2.3 |
| Rents | 90.0 | 108.3 | +18.3 |
Visual Comparison
Overall
Barnstable Town 98.4
Yuba City 104.2
Goods
Barnstable Town 97.0
Yuba City 105.2
Services
Barnstable Town 158.4
Yuba City 160.8
Rents
Barnstable Town 90.0
Yuba City 108.3
Vertical line = national average (100)
Barnstable Town
98.4
Cost Index
Yuba City
104.2
Cost Index
How the Price Gap Changed
Barnstable Town and Yuba City share 17 published annual releases from 2008 through 2024. Their overall gap widened, moving from 5.0 to 5.9 RPP points. Yuba City remained the higher-index metro in the latest release.
Services changed the most within this pair: its gap moved 38.4 points between the first and latest shared releases (36.1 to 2.3 points). This describes a relative price-index history, not a forecast or a household budget.
| Release Year | Barnstable Town RPP | Yuba City RPP | Relative Gap |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2008 | 102.8 | 97.8 | 5.0 points Barnstable Town higher |
| 2012 | 100.9 | 102.2 | 1.3 points Yuba City higher |
| 2016 | 105.8 | 97.6 | 8.1 points Barnstable Town higher |
| 2020 | 101.3 | 102.0 | 0.7 points Yuba City higher |
| 2024 | 98.4 | 104.2 | 5.9 points Yuba City 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 Yuba City more expensive than Barnstable Town?
Yuba City is 6% more expensive than Barnstable Town. The overall cost index is 104.2 vs 98.4 (national average = 100).
What salary in Yuba City equals $100K in Barnstable Town?
A $100,000 salary in Barnstable Town has the same purchasing power as $105,981 in Yuba City. This is based on the BEA Regional Price Parity indexes.
How do rents compare between Barnstable Town and Yuba City?
Rents in Barnstable Town are indexed at 90.0 while Yuba City is at 108.3 (national average = 100). Yuba City 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.