PlainCost
Home / Compare /

Birmingham vs Lincoln

Cost of living comparison based on BEA Regional Price Parities. Lincoln is 0.1% less expensive than Birmingham.

0.1% less expensive

Lincoln, NE is 0.1% less expensive than Birmingham, AL on BEA Regional Price Parities (overall RPP 91.6 vs 91.6). A $100,000 salary in Birmingham buys about the same as $99,931 in Lincoln; the largest component gap is rents.

  • Overall RPP 91.6 (Birmingham) vs 91.6 (Lincoln)
  • $100k in Birmingham ≈ $99,931 purchasing power in Lincoln
  • Rents drives the gap (+12.4 RPP points)

RPP parity plate

Pair AL:NE 91.6→91.6

PHOTO-FINISH · CROSS-STATE · SPLIT-BUDGET · BOTH-BELOW · PP-PAR

  • PHOTO-FINISH Photo finish
  • CROSS-STATE AL × NE
  • 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.

Birmingham
91.6
Cost Index
Lincoln
91.6
Cost Index

What This Comparison Actually Tells You

Birmingham, AL and Lincoln, NE are a photo finish on overall price level, only 0.1 RPP points apart. A salary conversion is therefore a fine adjustment, not evidence of a fundamentally different cost regime.

Rents creates the largest separation: Lincoln is 12.4 points higher. 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 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 Birmingham corresponds to $99,931 in Lincoln.

Category Breakdown

Visual Comparison

Overall
Birmingham
91.6
Lincoln
91.6
Goods
Birmingham
96.4
Lincoln
94.1
Services
Birmingham
83.8
Lincoln
76.8
Rents
Birmingham
71.9
Lincoln
84.2

Vertical line = national average (100)

Salary Equivalents

What a salary in Birmingham would need to be in Lincoln for the same purchasing power:

In Birmingham In Lincoln Difference
$50,000 $49,966 $-34
$75,000 $74,948 $-52
$100,000 $99,931 $-69
$150,000 $149,897 $-103
$ in Birmingham = – in Lincoln

Same BEA Regional Price Parity ratio as the table above (91.6 → 91.6), computed live from your number, nothing is sent anywhere.

Reverse: Lincoln → Birmingham Birmingham Details Lincoln Details

Also Compare

vs Fond du Lac vs Michigan City-La Porte vs Des Moines-West Des Moines vs Evansville vs Pueblo vs Iowa City vs Chattanooga

Frequently Asked Questions

Is Lincoln more expensive than Birmingham?

Lincoln is 0.1% less expensive than Birmingham. The overall cost index is 91.6 vs 91.6 (national average = 100).

What salary in Lincoln equals $100K in Birmingham?

A $100,000 salary in Birmingham has the same purchasing power as $99,931 in Lincoln. This is based on the BEA Regional Price Parity indexes.

How do rents compare between Birmingham and Lincoln?

Rents in Birmingham are indexed at 71.9 while Lincoln is at 84.2 (national average = 100). Lincoln has higher rents.

Data sources

Data sourced from official public datasets, Regional Price Parities (2024), index where national average = 100. Retrieved and formatted by PlainCost. See our methodology for details.

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.