Overall
- Knoxville
- 92.6
Diff -0.1 RPP
Blacksburg-Christiansburg-Radford vs Knoxville
Cost of living comparison based on BEA Regional Price Parities. Knoxville is 0.2% less expensive than Blacksburg-Christiansburg-Radford.
0.2% less expensive
Knoxville, TN is 0.2% less expensive than Blacksburg-Christiansburg-Radford, VA on BEA Regional Price Parities (overall RPP 92.6 vs 92.7). A $100,000 salary in Blacksburg-Christiansburg-Radford buys about the same as $99,848 in Knoxville; the largest component gap is services.
- Overall RPP 92.7 (Blacksburg-Christiansburg-Radford) vs 92.6 (Knoxville)
- $100k in Blacksburg-Christiansburg-Radford ≈ $99,848 purchasing power in Knoxville
- Services drives the gap (-16.2 RPP points)
RPP parity plate
Pair VA:TN 92.7→92.6
PHOTO-FINISH · CROSS-STATE · SPLIT-BUDGET · BOTH-BELOW · PP-PAR
- PHOTO-FINISH Photo finish
- CROSS-STATE VA × TN
- 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.
Blacksburg-Christiansburg-Radford
92.7
Cost Index
Knoxville
92.6
Cost Index
What This Comparison Actually Tells You
Blacksburg-Christiansburg-Radford, VA and Knoxville, TN 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.
Services creates the largest separation: Knoxville is 16.2 points lower. 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 service-heavy household, test childcare, health, and other locally supplied costs before relying on rent alone. The BEA ratio converts $100,000 in Blacksburg-Christiansburg-Radford to $99,848 in Knoxville, but it is not a personal spending weight.
Category Breakdown
Goods
- Knoxville
- 96.2
Diff -0.5 RPP
Services
- Knoxville
- 71.9
Diff -16.2 RPP
Rents
- Knoxville
- 82.8
Diff +8.4 RPP
| Category | Blacksburg-Christiansburg-Radford | Knoxville | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Overall | 92.7 | 92.6 | -0.1 |
| Goods | 96.8 | 96.2 | -0.5 |
| Services | 88.1 | 71.9 | -16.2 |
| Rents | 74.4 | 82.8 | +8.4 |
Visual Comparison
Overall
Blacksburg-Christiansburg-Radford 92.7
Knoxville 92.6
Goods
Blacksburg-Christiansburg-Radford 96.8
Knoxville 96.2
Services
Blacksburg-Christiansburg-Radford 88.1
Knoxville 71.9
Rents
Blacksburg-Christiansburg-Radford 74.4
Knoxville 82.8
Vertical line = national average (100)
How the Price Gap Changed
Blacksburg-Christiansburg-Radford and Knoxville share 17 published annual releases from 2008 through 2024. Their overall gap narrowed, moving from 4.1 to 0.1 RPP points. Blacksburg-Christiansburg-Radford remained the higher-index metro in the latest release.
Services changed the most within this pair: its gap moved 18.7 points between the first and latest shared releases (2.5 to 16.2 points). This describes a relative price-index history, not a forecast or a household budget.
| Release Year | Blacksburg-Christiansburg-Radford RPP | Knoxville RPP | Relative Gap |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2008 | 87.9 | 92.0 | 4.1 points Knoxville higher |
| 2012 | 88.6 | 94.7 | 6.1 points Knoxville higher |
| 2016 | 88.4 | 93.7 | 5.3 points Knoxville higher |
| 2020 | 91.0 | 89.3 | 1.7 points Blacksburg-Christiansburg-Radford higher |
| 2024 | 92.7 | 92.6 | 0.1 points Blacksburg-Christiansburg-Radford 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.
Salary Equivalents
What a salary in Blacksburg-Christiansburg-Radford would need to be in Knoxville for the same purchasing power:
| In Blacksburg-Christiansburg-Radford | In Knoxville | Difference |
|---|---|---|
| $50,000 | $49,924 | $-76 |
| $75,000 | $74,886 | $-114 |
| $100,000 | $99,848 | $-152 |
| $150,000 | $149,772 | $-228 |
$ in Blacksburg-Christiansburg-Radford = in Knoxville
Same BEA Regional Price Parity ratio as the table above (92.7 → 92.6), computed live from your number, nothing is sent anywhere.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Knoxville more expensive than Blacksburg-Christiansburg-Radford?
Knoxville is 0.2% less expensive than Blacksburg-Christiansburg-Radford. The overall cost index is 92.6 vs 92.7 (national average = 100).
What salary in Knoxville equals $100K in Blacksburg-Christiansburg-Radford?
A $100,000 salary in Blacksburg-Christiansburg-Radford has the same purchasing power as $99,848 in Knoxville. This is based on the BEA Regional Price Parity indexes.
How do rents compare between Blacksburg-Christiansburg-Radford and Knoxville?
Rents in Blacksburg-Christiansburg-Radford are indexed at 74.4 while Knoxville is at 82.8 (national average = 100). Knoxville 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.