Overall
- Birmingham
- 91.6
Diff -0.5 RPP
Birmingham vs Staunton-Stuarts Draft
Cost of living comparison based on BEA Regional Price Parities. Staunton-Stuarts Draft is 0.6% less expensive than Birmingham.
0.6% less expensive
Staunton-Stuarts Draft, VA is 0.6% less expensive than Birmingham, AL on BEA Regional Price Parities (overall RPP 91.1 vs 91.6). A $100,000 salary in Birmingham buys about the same as $99,437 in Staunton-Stuarts Draft; the largest component gap is services.
- Overall RPP 91.6 (Birmingham) vs 91.1 (Staunton-Stuarts Draft)
- $100k in Birmingham ≈ $99,437 purchasing power in Staunton-Stuarts Draft
- Services drives the gap (+5.7 RPP points)
RPP parity plate
Pair AL:VA 91.6→91.1
PHOTO-FINISH · CROSS-STATE · SPLIT-BUDGET · BOTH-BELOW · PP-PAR
- PHOTO-FINISH Photo finish
- CROSS-STATE AL × VA
- 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
Staunton-Stuarts Draft
91.1
Cost Index
What This Comparison Actually Tells You
Birmingham, AL and Staunton-Stuarts Draft, VA are a photo finish on overall price level, only 0.5 RPP points apart. A salary conversion is therefore a fine adjustment, not evidence of a fundamentally different cost regime.
Services creates the largest separation: Staunton-Stuarts Draft is 5.7 points higher. But services and goods 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 Birmingham to $99,437 in Staunton-Stuarts Draft, but it is not a personal spending weight.
Category Breakdown
Goods
- Birmingham
- 96.4
Diff +0.4 RPP
Services
- Birmingham
- 83.8
Diff +5.7 RPP
Rents
- Birmingham
- 71.9
Diff -3.6 RPP
| Category | Birmingham | Staunton-Stuarts Draft | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Overall | 91.6 | 91.1 | -0.5 |
| Goods | 96.4 | 96.8 | +0.4 |
| Services | 83.8 | 89.5 | +5.7 |
| Rents | 71.9 | 68.2 | -3.6 |
Visual Comparison
Overall
Birmingham 91.6
Staunton-Stuarts Draft 91.1
Goods
Birmingham 96.4
Staunton-Stuarts Draft 96.8
Services
Birmingham 83.8
Staunton-Stuarts Draft 89.5
Rents
Birmingham 71.9
Staunton-Stuarts Draft 68.2
Vertical line = national average (100)
Salary Equivalents
What a salary in Birmingham would need to be in Staunton-Stuarts Draft for the same purchasing power:
| In Birmingham | In Staunton-Stuarts Draft | Difference |
|---|---|---|
| $50,000 | $49,718 | $-282 |
| $75,000 | $74,578 | $-422 |
| $100,000 | $99,437 | $-563 |
| $150,000 | $149,155 | $-845 |
$ in Birmingham = in Staunton-Stuarts Draft
Same BEA Regional Price Parity ratio as the table above (91.6 → 91.1), computed live from your number, nothing is sent anywhere.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Staunton-Stuarts Draft more expensive than Birmingham?
Staunton-Stuarts Draft is 0.6% less expensive than Birmingham. The overall cost index is 91.1 vs 91.6 (national average = 100).
What salary in Staunton-Stuarts Draft equals $100K in Birmingham?
A $100,000 salary in Birmingham has the same purchasing power as $99,437 in Staunton-Stuarts Draft. This is based on the BEA Regional Price Parity indexes.
How do rents compare between Birmingham and Staunton-Stuarts Draft?
Rents in Birmingham are indexed at 71.9 while Staunton-Stuarts Draft is at 68.2 (national average = 100). Birmingham 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.