Overall
- Beckley
- 88.4
- Chicago-Naperville-Elgin
- 103.6
Diff +15.2 RPP
Beckley vs Chicago-Naperville-Elgin
Cost of living comparison based on BEA Regional Price Parities. Chicago-Naperville-Elgin is 17.2% more expensive than Beckley.
17.2% more expensive
Chicago-Naperville-Elgin, IL-IN is 17.2% more expensive than Beckley, WV on BEA Regional Price Parities (overall RPP 103.6 vs 88.4). A $100,000 salary in Beckley buys about the same as $117,230 in Chicago-Naperville-Elgin; the largest component gap is rents.
- Overall RPP 88.4 (Beckley) vs 103.6 (Chicago-Naperville-Elgin)
- $100k in Beckley ≈ $117,230 purchasing power in Chicago-Naperville-Elgin
- Rents drives the gap (+59.8 RPP points)
RPP parity plate
Pair WV:IL 88.4→103.6
TIER-GAP · CROSS-STATE · SPLIT-BUDGET · BENCH-CROSS · PP-STEEP
- TIER-GAP Clear tier gap
- CROSS-STATE WV × IL
- SPLIT-BUDGET Split budget
- BENCH-CROSS Benchmark cross
- PP-STEEP Steep PP convert
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
- Beckley
- 96.3
- Chicago-Naperville-Elgin
- 107.3
Diff +11.0 RPP
Services
- Beckley
- 91.8
Diff -8.2 RPP
Rents
- Beckley
- 52.2
- Chicago-Naperville-Elgin
- 112.0
Diff +59.8 RPP
| Category | Beckley | Chicago-Naperville-Elgin | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Overall | 88.4 | 103.6 | +15.2 |
| Goods | 96.3 | 107.3 | +11.0 |
| Services | 91.8 | 83.6 | -8.2 |
| Rents | 52.2 | 112.0 | +59.8 |
Visual Comparison
Overall
Beckley 88.4
Chicago-Naperville-Elgin 103.6
Goods
Beckley 96.3
Chicago-Naperville-Elgin 107.3
Services
Beckley 91.8
Chicago-Naperville-Elgin 83.6
Rents
Beckley 52.2
Chicago-Naperville-Elgin 112.0
Vertical line = national average (100)
What This Comparison Actually Tells You
Rents creates the largest separation: Chicago-Naperville-Elgin is 59.8 points higher. But services move against the overall direction, so this is a split budget rather than a clean across-the-board winner.
Beckley, WV and Chicago-Naperville-Elgin, IL-IN sit in clearly different price tiers, separated by 15.2 RPP points. At this distance, treating the same nominal salary as equivalent would materially change purchasing power.
This route crosses the national benchmark: Chicago-Naperville-Elgin is above 100 while Beckley 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 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 Beckley corresponds to $117,230 in Chicago-Naperville-Elgin.
Beckley
88.4
Cost Index
Chicago-Naperville-Elgin
103.6
Cost Index
Salary Equivalents
What a salary in Beckley would need to be in Chicago-Naperville-Elgin for the same purchasing power:
| In Beckley | In Chicago-Naperville-Elgin | Difference |
|---|---|---|
| $50,000 | $58,615 | +$8,615 |
| $75,000 | $87,923 | +$12,923 |
| $100,000 | $117,230 | +$17,230 |
| $150,000 | $175,845 | +$25,845 |
$ in Beckley = in Chicago-Naperville-Elgin
Same BEA Regional Price Parity ratio as the table above (88.4 → 103.6), computed live from your number, nothing is sent anywhere.
How the Price Gap Changed
Beckley and Chicago-Naperville-Elgin share 17 published annual releases from 2008 through 2024. Their overall gap narrowed, moving from 22.0 to 15.2 RPP points. Chicago-Naperville-Elgin remained the higher-index metro in the latest release.
Services changed the most within this pair: its gap moved 37.2 points between the first and latest shared releases (29.0 to 8.2 points). This describes a relative price-index history, not a forecast or a household budget.
| Release Year | Beckley RPP | Chicago-Naperville-Elgin RPP | Relative Gap |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2008 | 83.5 | 105.4 | 22.0 points Chicago-Naperville-Elgin higher |
| 2012 | 83.6 | 105.1 | 21.5 points Chicago-Naperville-Elgin higher |
| 2016 | 83.3 | 103.8 | 20.5 points Chicago-Naperville-Elgin higher |
| 2020 | 83.4 | 104.5 | 21.0 points Chicago-Naperville-Elgin higher |
| 2024 | 88.4 | 103.6 | 15.2 points Chicago-Naperville-Elgin 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 Chicago-Naperville-Elgin more expensive than Beckley?
Chicago-Naperville-Elgin is 17.2% more expensive than Beckley. The overall cost index is 103.6 vs 88.4 (national average = 100).
What salary in Chicago-Naperville-Elgin equals $100K in Beckley?
A $100,000 salary in Beckley has the same purchasing power as $117,230 in Chicago-Naperville-Elgin. This is based on the BEA Regional Price Parity indexes.
How do rents compare between Beckley and Chicago-Naperville-Elgin?
Rents in Beckley are indexed at 52.2 while Chicago-Naperville-Elgin is at 112.0 (national average = 100). Chicago-Naperville-Elgin 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.