Overall
- Buffalo-Cheektowaga
- 95.8
- Salisbury
- 95.6
Diff -0.2 RPP
Buffalo-Cheektowaga vs Salisbury
Cost of living comparison based on BEA Regional Price Parities. Salisbury is 0.2% less expensive than Buffalo-Cheektowaga.
0.2% less expensive
Salisbury, MD is 0.2% less expensive than Buffalo-Cheektowaga, NY on BEA Regional Price Parities (overall RPP 95.6 vs 95.8). A $100,000 salary in Buffalo-Cheektowaga buys about the same as $99,763 in Salisbury; the largest component gap is services.
- Overall RPP 95.8 (Buffalo-Cheektowaga) vs 95.6 (Salisbury)
- $100k in Buffalo-Cheektowaga ≈ $99,763 purchasing power in Salisbury
- Services drives the gap (-26.7 RPP points)
RPP parity plate
Pair NY:MD 95.8→95.6
PHOTO-FINISH · CROSS-STATE · SPLIT-BUDGET · BOTH-BELOW · PP-PAR
- PHOTO-FINISH Photo finish
- CROSS-STATE NY × MD
- 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
Salisbury
95.6
Cost Index
What This Comparison Actually Tells You
Buffalo-Cheektowaga, NY and Salisbury, MD are a photo finish on overall price level, only 0.2 RPP points apart. A salary conversion is therefore a fine adjustment, not evidence of a fundamentally different cost regime.
Services creates the largest separation: Salisbury is 26.7 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 Buffalo-Cheektowaga to $99,763 in Salisbury, but it is not a personal spending weight.
Category Breakdown
Goods
- Buffalo-Cheektowaga
- 99.7
- Salisbury
- 96.6
Diff -3.1 RPP
Services
- Buffalo-Cheektowaga
- 129.5
- Salisbury
- 102.8
Diff -26.7 RPP
Rents
- Buffalo-Cheektowaga
- 81.0
- Salisbury
- 87.2
Diff +6.2 RPP
| Category | Buffalo-Cheektowaga | Salisbury | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Overall | 95.8 | 95.6 | -0.2 |
| Goods | 99.7 | 96.6 | -3.1 |
| Services | 129.5 | 102.8 | -26.7 |
| Rents | 81.0 | 87.2 | +6.2 |
Visual Comparison
Overall
Buffalo-Cheektowaga 95.8
Salisbury 95.6
Goods
Buffalo-Cheektowaga 99.7
Salisbury 96.6
Services
Buffalo-Cheektowaga 129.5
Salisbury 102.8
Rents
Buffalo-Cheektowaga 81.0
Salisbury 87.2
Vertical line = national average (100)
How the Price Gap Changed
Buffalo-Cheektowaga and Salisbury share 17 published annual releases from 2008 through 2024. Their overall gap narrowed, moving from 3.2 to 0.2 RPP points. Buffalo-Cheektowaga remained the higher-index metro in the latest release.
Rents changed the most within this pair: its gap moved 10.4 points between the first and latest shared releases (16.6 to 6.2 points). This describes a relative price-index history, not a forecast or a household budget.
| Release Year | Buffalo-Cheektowaga RPP | Salisbury RPP | Relative Gap |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2008 | 97.0 | 93.8 | 3.2 points Buffalo-Cheektowaga higher |
| 2012 | 96.2 | 92.8 | 3.4 points Buffalo-Cheektowaga higher |
| 2016 | 97.5 | 91.4 | 6.1 points Buffalo-Cheektowaga higher |
| 2020 | 94.2 | 91.0 | 3.2 points Buffalo-Cheektowaga higher |
| 2024 | 95.8 | 95.6 | 0.2 points Buffalo-Cheektowaga 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 Salisbury for the same purchasing power:
| In Buffalo-Cheektowaga | In Salisbury | Difference |
|---|---|---|
| $50,000 | $49,882 | $-118 |
| $75,000 | $74,822 | $-178 |
| $100,000 | $99,763 | $-237 |
| $150,000 | $149,645 | $-355 |
$ in Buffalo-Cheektowaga = in Salisbury
Same BEA Regional Price Parity ratio as the table above (95.8 → 95.6), computed live from your number, nothing is sent anywhere.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Salisbury more expensive than Buffalo-Cheektowaga?
Salisbury is 0.2% less expensive than Buffalo-Cheektowaga. The overall cost index is 95.6 vs 95.8 (national average = 100).
What salary in Salisbury equals $100K in Buffalo-Cheektowaga?
A $100,000 salary in Buffalo-Cheektowaga has the same purchasing power as $99,763 in Salisbury. This is based on the BEA Regional Price Parity indexes.
How do rents compare between Buffalo-Cheektowaga and Salisbury?
Rents in Buffalo-Cheektowaga are indexed at 81.0 while Salisbury is at 87.2 (national average = 100). Salisbury 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.