Overall
- Bozeman
- 102.5
Diff -1.5 RPP
Bozeman vs Charleston-North Charleston
Cost of living comparison based on BEA Regional Price Parities. Charleston-North Charleston is 1.5% less expensive than Bozeman.
1.5% less expensive
Charleston-North Charleston, SC is 1.5% less expensive than Bozeman, MT on BEA Regional Price Parities (overall RPP 101.0 vs 102.5). A $100,000 salary in Bozeman buys about the same as $98,490 in Charleston-North Charleston; the largest component gap is rents.
- Overall RPP 102.5 (Bozeman) vs 101.0 (Charleston-North Charleston)
- $100k in Bozeman ≈ $98,490 purchasing power in Charleston-North Charleston
- Rents drives the gap (-19.4 RPP points)
RPP parity plate
Pair MT:SC 102.5→101.0
PHOTO-FINISH · CROSS-STATE · SPLIT-BUDGET · BOTH-ABOVE · PP-PAR
- PHOTO-FINISH Photo finish
- CROSS-STATE MT × SC
- SPLIT-BUDGET Split budget
- BOTH-ABOVE Both above 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.
Bozeman
102.5
Cost Index
Charleston-North Charleston
101.0
Cost Index
What This Comparison Actually Tells You
Bozeman, MT and Charleston-North Charleston, SC are a photo finish on overall price level, only 1.5 RPP points apart. A salary conversion is therefore a fine adjustment, not evidence of a fundamentally different cost regime.
Rents creates the largest separation: Charleston-North Charleston is 19.4 points lower. 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 exceed the U.S. benchmark of 100. The choice is between two national premiums, so local wages need to clear the higher baseline in either market.
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 Bozeman corresponds to $98,490 in Charleston-North Charleston.
Category Breakdown
Goods
- Bozeman
- 96.0
Diff +0.3 RPP
Services
- Bozeman
- 73.6
Diff +14.6 RPP
Rents
- Bozeman
- 139.2
Diff -19.4 RPP
| Category | Bozeman | Charleston-North Charleston | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Overall | 102.5 | 101.0 | -1.5 |
| Goods | 96.0 | 96.3 | +0.3 |
| Services | 73.6 | 88.2 | +14.6 |
| Rents | 139.2 | 119.8 | -19.4 |
Visual Comparison
Overall
Bozeman 102.5
Charleston-North Charleston 101.0
Goods
Bozeman 96.0
Charleston-North Charleston 96.3
Services
Bozeman 73.6
Charleston-North Charleston 88.2
Rents
Bozeman 139.2
Charleston-North Charleston 119.8
Vertical line = national average (100)
How the Price Gap Changed
Bozeman and Charleston-North Charleston share 17 published annual releases from 2008 through 2024. Their overall gap held broadly steady, moving from 1.4 to 1.5 RPP points. Bozeman remained the higher-index metro in the latest release.
Rents changed the most within this pair: its gap moved 25.5 points between the first and latest shared releases (6.1 to 19.4 points). This describes a relative price-index history, not a forecast or a household budget.
| Release Year | Bozeman RPP | Charleston-North Charleston RPP | Relative Gap |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2008 | 98.8 | 97.4 | 1.4 points Bozeman higher |
| 2012 | 97.1 | 100.3 | 3.3 points Charleston-North Charleston higher |
| 2016 | 97.5 | 99.7 | 2.3 points Charleston-North Charleston higher |
| 2020 | 96.5 | 98.0 | 1.5 points Charleston-North Charleston higher |
| 2024 | 102.5 | 101.0 | 1.5 points Bozeman 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 Bozeman would need to be in Charleston-North Charleston for the same purchasing power:
| In Bozeman | In Charleston-North Charleston | Difference |
|---|---|---|
| $50,000 | $49,245 | $-755 |
| $75,000 | $73,867 | $-1,133 |
| $100,000 | $98,490 | $-1,510 |
| $150,000 | $147,735 | $-2,265 |
$ in Bozeman = in Charleston-North Charleston
Same BEA Regional Price Parity ratio as the table above (102.5 → 101.0), computed live from your number, nothing is sent anywhere.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Charleston-North Charleston more expensive than Bozeman?
Charleston-North Charleston is 1.5% less expensive than Bozeman. The overall cost index is 101.0 vs 102.5 (national average = 100).
What salary in Charleston-North Charleston equals $100K in Bozeman?
A $100,000 salary in Bozeman has the same purchasing power as $98,490 in Charleston-North Charleston. This is based on the BEA Regional Price Parity indexes.
How do rents compare between Bozeman and Charleston-North Charleston?
Rents in Bozeman are indexed at 139.2 while Charleston-North Charleston is at 119.8 (national average = 100). Bozeman 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.