Overall
- Brunswick-St. Simons
- 87.7
- Albany
- 87.7
Diff -0.0 RPP
Brunswick-St. Simons vs Albany
Cost of living comparison based on BEA Regional Price Parities. Albany is 0% less expensive than Brunswick-St. Simons.
0% less expensive
Albany, GA is 0% less expensive than Brunswick-St. Simons, GA on BEA Regional Price Parities (overall RPP 87.7 vs 87.7). A $100,000 salary in Brunswick-St. Simons buys about the same as $99,956 in Albany; the largest component gap is rents.
- Overall RPP 87.7 (Brunswick-St. Simons) vs 87.7 (Albany)
- $100k in Brunswick-St. Simons ≈ $99,956 purchasing power in Albany
- Rents drives the gap (-1.7 RPP points)
RPP parity plate
Pair GA:GA 87.7→87.7
PHOTO-FINISH · SAME-STATE · SPLIT-BUDGET · BOTH-BELOW · PP-PAR
- PHOTO-FINISH Photo finish
- SAME-STATE Same state · GA
- 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.
Brunswick-St. Simons
87.7
Cost Index
Albany
87.7
Cost Index
What This Comparison Actually Tells You
Brunswick-St. Simons, GA and Albany, GA are a photo finish on overall price level, only 0.0 RPP points apart. A salary conversion is therefore a fine adjustment, not evidence of a fundamentally different cost regime.
Rents creates the largest separation: Albany is 1.7 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 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 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 Brunswick-St. Simons corresponds to $99,956 in Albany.
Category Breakdown
Goods
- Brunswick-St. Simons
- 96.3
- Albany
- 96.3
Diff 0.0 RPP
Services
- Brunswick-St. Simons
- 87.3
- Albany
- 88.3
Diff +1.0 RPP
Rents
- Brunswick-St. Simons
- 56.3
- Albany
- 54.6
Diff -1.7 RPP
| Category | Brunswick-St. Simons | Albany | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Overall | 87.7 | 87.7 | -0.0 |
| Goods | 96.3 | 96.3 | 0.0 |
| Services | 87.3 | 88.3 | +1.0 |
| Rents | 56.3 | 54.6 | -1.7 |
Visual Comparison
Overall
Brunswick-St. Simons 87.7
Albany 87.7
Goods
Brunswick-St. Simons 96.3
Albany 96.3
Services
Brunswick-St. Simons 87.3
Albany 88.3
Rents
Brunswick-St. Simons 56.3
Albany 54.6
Vertical line = national average (100)
How the Price Gap Changed
Brunswick-St. Simons and Albany share 17 published annual releases from 2008 through 2024. Their overall gap narrowed, moving from 1.7 to 0.0 RPP points. Brunswick-St. Simons remained the higher-index metro in the latest release.
Rents changed the most within this pair: its gap moved 15.6 points between the first and latest shared releases (17.4 to 1.7 points). This describes a relative price-index history, not a forecast or a household budget.
| Release Year | Brunswick-St. Simons RPP | Albany RPP | Relative Gap |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2008 | 88.2 | 86.5 | 1.7 points Brunswick-St. Simons higher |
| 2012 | 89.9 | 87.4 | 2.5 points Brunswick-St. Simons higher |
| 2016 | 89.2 | 89.3 | 0.1 points Albany higher |
| 2020 | 89.0 | 83.8 | 5.1 points Brunswick-St. Simons higher |
| 2024 | 87.7 | 87.7 | 0.0 points Brunswick-St. Simons 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 Brunswick-St. Simons would need to be in Albany for the same purchasing power:
| In Brunswick-St. Simons | In Albany | Difference |
|---|---|---|
| $50,000 | $49,978 | $-22 |
| $75,000 | $74,967 | $-33 |
| $100,000 | $99,956 | $-44 |
| $150,000 | $149,933 | $-67 |
$ in Brunswick-St. Simons = in Albany
Same BEA Regional Price Parity ratio as the table above (87.7 → 87.7), computed live from your number, nothing is sent anywhere.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Albany more expensive than Brunswick-St. Simons?
Albany is 0% less expensive than Brunswick-St. Simons. The overall cost index is 87.7 vs 87.7 (national average = 100).
What salary in Albany equals $100K in Brunswick-St. Simons?
A $100,000 salary in Brunswick-St. Simons has the same purchasing power as $99,956 in Albany. This is based on the BEA Regional Price Parity indexes.
How do rents compare between Brunswick-St. Simons and Albany?
Rents in Brunswick-St. Simons are indexed at 56.3 while Albany is at 54.6 (national average = 100). Brunswick-St. Simons 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.