Overall
- Birmingham
- 91.6
- Naples-Marco Island
- 103.2
Diff +11.6 RPP
Birmingham vs Naples-Marco Island
Cost of living comparison based on BEA Regional Price Parities. Naples-Marco Island is 12.6% more expensive than Birmingham.
12.6% more expensive
Naples-Marco Island, FL is 12.6% more expensive than Birmingham, AL on BEA Regional Price Parities (overall RPP 103.2 vs 91.6). A $100,000 salary in Birmingham buys about the same as $112,610 in Naples-Marco Island; the largest component gap is rents.
- Overall RPP 91.6 (Birmingham) vs 103.2 (Naples-Marco Island)
- $100k in Birmingham ≈ $112,610 purchasing power in Naples-Marco Island
- Rents drives the gap (+57.6 RPP points)
RPP parity plate
Pair AL:FL 91.6→103.2
TIER-GAP · CROSS-STATE · SPLIT-BUDGET · BENCH-CROSS · PP-SHIFT
- TIER-GAP Clear tier gap
- CROSS-STATE AL × FL
- 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
- Birmingham
- 96.4
- Naples-Marco Island
- 96.2
Diff -0.2 RPP
Services
- Birmingham
- 83.8
- Naples-Marco Island
- 87.8
Diff +4.0 RPP
Rents
- Birmingham
- 71.9
- Naples-Marco Island
- 129.4
Diff +57.6 RPP
| Category | Birmingham | Naples-Marco Island | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Overall | 91.6 | 103.2 | +11.6 |
| Goods | 96.4 | 96.2 | -0.2 |
| Services | 83.8 | 87.8 | +4.0 |
| Rents | 71.9 | 129.4 | +57.6 |
Visual Comparison
Overall
Birmingham 91.6
Naples-Marco Island 103.2
Goods
Birmingham 96.4
Naples-Marco Island 96.2
Services
Birmingham 83.8
Naples-Marco Island 87.8
Rents
Birmingham 71.9
Naples-Marco Island 129.4
Vertical line = national average (100)
What This Comparison Actually Tells You
Rents creates the largest separation: Naples-Marco Island is 57.6 points higher. But goods move against the overall direction, so this is a split budget rather than a clean across-the-board winner.
Birmingham, AL and Naples-Marco Island, FL sit in clearly different price tiers, separated by 11.6 RPP points. At this distance, treating the same nominal salary as equivalent would materially change purchasing power.
This route crosses the national benchmark: Naples-Marco Island is above 100 while Birmingham 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 Birmingham corresponds to $112,610 in Naples-Marco Island.
Birmingham
91.6
Cost Index
Naples-Marco Island
103.2
Cost Index
Salary Equivalents
What a salary in Birmingham would need to be in Naples-Marco Island for the same purchasing power:
| In Birmingham | In Naples-Marco Island | Difference |
|---|---|---|
| $50,000 | $56,305 | +$6,305 |
| $75,000 | $84,457 | +$9,457 |
| $100,000 | $112,610 | +$12,610 |
| $150,000 | $168,914 | +$18,914 |
$ in Birmingham = in Naples-Marco Island
Same BEA Regional Price Parity ratio as the table above (91.6 → 103.2), computed live from your number, nothing is sent anywhere.
How the Price Gap Changed
Birmingham and Naples-Marco Island share 17 published annual releases from 2008 through 2024. Their overall gap held broadly steady, moving from 11.6 to 11.6 RPP points. Naples-Marco Island remained the higher-index metro in the latest release.
Rents changed the most within this pair: its gap moved 4.4 points between the first and latest shared releases (62.0 to 57.6 points). This describes a relative price-index history, not a forecast or a household budget.
| Release Year | Birmingham RPP | Naples-Marco Island RPP | Relative Gap |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2008 | 92.7 | 104.3 | 11.6 points Naples-Marco Island higher |
| 2012 | 93.7 | 101.6 | 7.9 points Naples-Marco Island higher |
| 2016 | 94.1 | 103.8 | 9.7 points Naples-Marco Island higher |
| 2020 | 91.4 | 99.1 | 7.7 points Naples-Marco Island higher |
| 2024 | 91.6 | 103.2 | 11.6 points Naples-Marco Island 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 Naples-Marco Island more expensive than Birmingham?
Naples-Marco Island is 12.6% more expensive than Birmingham. The overall cost index is 103.2 vs 91.6 (national average = 100).
What salary in Naples-Marco Island equals $100K in Birmingham?
A $100,000 salary in Birmingham has the same purchasing power as $112,610 in Naples-Marco Island. This is based on the BEA Regional Price Parity indexes.
How do rents compare between Birmingham and Naples-Marco Island?
Rents in Birmingham are indexed at 71.9 while Naples-Marco Island is at 129.4 (national average = 100). Naples-Marco Island 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.