Overall
- Buffalo-Cheektowaga
- 95.8
- Kankakee
- 96.4
Diff +0.6 RPP
Buffalo-Cheektowaga vs Kankakee
Cost of living comparison based on BEA Regional Price Parities. Kankakee is 0.6% more expensive than Buffalo-Cheektowaga.
0.6% more expensive
Kankakee, IL is 0.6% more expensive than Buffalo-Cheektowaga, NY on BEA Regional Price Parities (overall RPP 96.4 vs 95.8). A $100,000 salary in Buffalo-Cheektowaga buys about the same as $100,574 in Kankakee; the largest component gap is services.
- Overall RPP 95.8 (Buffalo-Cheektowaga) vs 96.4 (Kankakee)
- $100k in Buffalo-Cheektowaga ≈ $100,574 purchasing power in Kankakee
- Services drives the gap (-40.1 RPP points)
RPP parity plate
Pair NY:IL 95.8→96.4
PHOTO-FINISH · CROSS-STATE · SPLIT-BUDGET · BOTH-BELOW · PP-PAR
- PHOTO-FINISH Photo finish
- CROSS-STATE NY × IL
- 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.
Buffalo-Cheektowaga
95.8
Cost Index
Kankakee
96.4
Cost Index
What This Comparison Actually Tells You
Buffalo-Cheektowaga, NY and Kankakee, IL are a photo finish on overall price level, only 0.6 RPP points apart. A salary conversion is therefore a fine adjustment, not evidence of a fundamentally different cost regime.
Services creates the largest separation: Kankakee is 40.1 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 service-heavy household, test childcare, health, and other locally supplied costs before relying on rent alone. The BEA ratio converts $100,000 in Buffalo-Cheektowaga to $100,574 in Kankakee, but it is not a personal spending weight.
Category Breakdown
Goods
- Buffalo-Cheektowaga
- 99.7
- Kankakee
- 93.6
Diff -6.0 RPP
Services
- Buffalo-Cheektowaga
- 129.5
- Kankakee
- 89.4
Diff -40.1 RPP
Rents
- Buffalo-Cheektowaga
- 81.0
- Kankakee
- 92.9
Diff +11.9 RPP
| Category | Buffalo-Cheektowaga | Kankakee | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Overall | 95.8 | 96.4 | +0.6 |
| Goods | 99.7 | 93.6 | -6.0 |
| Services | 129.5 | 89.4 | -40.1 |
| Rents | 81.0 | 92.9 | +11.9 |
Visual Comparison
Overall
Buffalo-Cheektowaga 95.8
Kankakee 96.4
Goods
Buffalo-Cheektowaga 99.7
Kankakee 93.6
Services
Buffalo-Cheektowaga 129.5
Kankakee 89.4
Rents
Buffalo-Cheektowaga 81.0
Kankakee 92.9
Vertical line = national average (100)
How the Price Gap Changed
Buffalo-Cheektowaga and Kankakee share 17 published annual releases from 2008 through 2024. Their overall gap narrowed, moving from 2.5 to 0.6 RPP points. Kankakee remained the higher-index metro in the latest release.
Goods changed the most within this pair: its gap moved 9.4 points between the first and latest shared releases (3.3 to 6.0 points). This describes a relative price-index history, not a forecast or a household budget.
| Release Year | Buffalo-Cheektowaga RPP | Kankakee RPP | Relative Gap |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2008 | 97.0 | 99.5 | 2.5 points Kankakee higher |
| 2012 | 96.2 | 99.2 | 3.0 points Kankakee higher |
| 2016 | 97.5 | 97.6 | 0.2 points Kankakee higher |
| 2020 | 94.2 | 90.6 | 3.6 points Buffalo-Cheektowaga higher |
| 2024 | 95.8 | 96.4 | 0.6 points Kankakee 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 Buffalo-Cheektowaga would need to be in Kankakee for the same purchasing power:
| In Buffalo-Cheektowaga | In Kankakee | Difference |
|---|---|---|
| $50,000 | $50,287 | +$287 |
| $75,000 | $75,430 | +$430 |
| $100,000 | $100,574 | +$574 |
| $150,000 | $150,861 | +$861 |
$ in Buffalo-Cheektowaga = in Kankakee
Same BEA Regional Price Parity ratio as the table above (95.8 → 96.4), computed live from your number, nothing is sent anywhere.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Kankakee more expensive than Buffalo-Cheektowaga?
Kankakee is 0.6% more expensive than Buffalo-Cheektowaga. The overall cost index is 96.4 vs 95.8 (national average = 100).
What salary in Kankakee equals $100K in Buffalo-Cheektowaga?
A $100,000 salary in Buffalo-Cheektowaga has the same purchasing power as $100,574 in Kankakee. This is based on the BEA Regional Price Parity indexes.
How do rents compare between Buffalo-Cheektowaga and Kankakee?
Rents in Buffalo-Cheektowaga are indexed at 81.0 while Kankakee is at 92.9 (national average = 100). Kankakee 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.