Overall
- Bowling Green
- 90.2
- Montgomery
- 89.7
Diff -0.5 RPP
Bowling Green vs Montgomery
Cost of living comparison based on BEA Regional Price Parities. Montgomery is 0.6% less expensive than Bowling Green.
0.6% less expensive
Montgomery, AL is 0.6% less expensive than Bowling Green, KY on BEA Regional Price Parities (overall RPP 89.7 vs 90.2). A $100,000 salary in Bowling Green buys about the same as $99,449 in Montgomery; the largest component gap is services.
- Overall RPP 90.2 (Bowling Green) vs 89.7 (Montgomery)
- $100k in Bowling Green ≈ $99,449 purchasing power in Montgomery
- Services drives the gap (+9.7 RPP points)
RPP parity plate
Pair KY:AL 90.2→89.7
PHOTO-FINISH · CROSS-STATE · SPLIT-BUDGET · BOTH-BELOW · PP-PAR
- PHOTO-FINISH Photo finish
- CROSS-STATE KY × AL
- 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.
Bowling Green
90.2
Cost Index
Montgomery
89.7
Cost Index
What This Comparison Actually Tells You
Bowling Green, KY and Montgomery, AL 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: Montgomery is 9.7 points higher. But services and rents 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 Bowling Green to $99,449 in Montgomery, but it is not a personal spending weight.
Category Breakdown
Goods
- Bowling Green
- 96.2
- Montgomery
- 96.4
Diff +0.2 RPP
Services
- Bowling Green
- 75.2
- Montgomery
- 84.9
Diff +9.7 RPP
Rents
- Bowling Green
- 63.4
- Montgomery
- 64.3
Diff +1.0 RPP
| Category | Bowling Green | Montgomery | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Overall | 90.2 | 89.7 | -0.5 |
| Goods | 96.2 | 96.4 | +0.2 |
| Services | 75.2 | 84.9 | +9.7 |
| Rents | 63.4 | 64.3 | +1.0 |
Visual Comparison
Overall
Bowling Green 90.2
Montgomery 89.7
Goods
Bowling Green 96.2
Montgomery 96.4
Services
Bowling Green 75.2
Montgomery 84.9
Rents
Bowling Green 63.4
Montgomery 64.3
Vertical line = national average (100)
Salary Equivalents
What a salary in Bowling Green would need to be in Montgomery for the same purchasing power:
| In Bowling Green | In Montgomery | Difference |
|---|---|---|
| $50,000 | $49,724 | $-276 |
| $75,000 | $74,587 | $-413 |
| $100,000 | $99,449 | $-551 |
| $150,000 | $149,173 | $-827 |
$ in Bowling Green = in Montgomery
Same BEA Regional Price Parity ratio as the table above (90.2 → 89.7), computed live from your number, nothing is sent anywhere.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Montgomery more expensive than Bowling Green?
Montgomery is 0.6% less expensive than Bowling Green. The overall cost index is 89.7 vs 90.2 (national average = 100).
What salary in Montgomery equals $100K in Bowling Green?
A $100,000 salary in Bowling Green has the same purchasing power as $99,449 in Montgomery. This is based on the BEA Regional Price Parity indexes.
How do rents compare between Bowling Green and Montgomery?
Rents in Bowling Green are indexed at 63.4 while Montgomery is at 64.3 (national average = 100). Montgomery 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.