Overall
Diff -0.1 RPP
Burlington-South Burlington vs Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater
Cost of living comparison based on BEA Regional Price Parities. Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater is 0.1% less expensive than Burlington-South Burlington.
0.1% less expensive
Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater, FL is 0.1% less expensive than Burlington-South Burlington, VT on BEA Regional Price Parities (overall RPP 100.9 vs 100.9). A $100,000 salary in Burlington-South Burlington buys about the same as $99,942 in Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater; the largest component gap is services.
- Overall RPP 100.9 (Burlington-South Burlington) vs 100.9 (Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater)
- $100k in Burlington-South Burlington ≈ $99,942 purchasing power in Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater
- Services drives the gap (-37.0 RPP points)
RPP parity plate
Pair VT:FL 100.9→100.9
PHOTO-FINISH · CROSS-STATE · SPLIT-BUDGET · BOTH-ABOVE · PP-PAR
- PHOTO-FINISH Photo finish
- CROSS-STATE VT × FL
- 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.
Burlington-South Burlington
100.9
Cost Index
Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater
100.9
Cost Index
What This Comparison Actually Tells You
Burlington-South Burlington, VT and Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater, FL are a photo finish on overall price level, only 0.1 RPP points apart. A salary conversion is therefore a fine adjustment, not evidence of a fundamentally different cost regime.
Services creates the largest separation: Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater is 37.0 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 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 service-heavy household, test childcare, health, and other locally supplied costs before relying on rent alone. The BEA ratio converts $100,000 in Burlington-South Burlington to $99,942 in Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater, but it is not a personal spending weight.
Category Breakdown
Goods
Diff -1.8 RPP
Services
Diff -37.0 RPP
Rents
Diff +22.0 RPP
| Category | Burlington-South Burlington | Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Overall | 100.9 | 100.9 | -0.1 |
| Goods | 97.3 | 95.5 | -1.8 |
| Services | 125.5 | 88.5 | -37.0 |
| Rents | 103.8 | 125.8 | +22.0 |
Visual Comparison
Overall
Burlington-South Burlington 100.9
Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater 100.9
Goods
Burlington-South Burlington 97.3
Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater 95.5
Services
Burlington-South Burlington 125.5
Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater 88.5
Rents
Burlington-South Burlington 103.8
Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater 125.8
Vertical line = national average (100)
How the Price Gap Changed
Burlington-South Burlington and Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater share 17 published annual releases from 2008 through 2024. Their overall gap held broadly steady, moving from 0.2 to 0.1 RPP points. Burlington-South Burlington remained the higher-index metro in the latest release.
Rents changed the most within this pair: its gap moved 26.3 points between the first and latest shared releases (4.3 to 22.0 points). This describes a relative price-index history, not a forecast or a household budget.
| Release Year | Burlington-South Burlington RPP | Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater RPP | Relative Gap |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2008 | 103.1 | 103.3 | 0.2 points Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater higher |
| 2012 | 102.7 | 100.3 | 2.4 points Burlington-South Burlington higher |
| 2016 | 102.1 | 97.1 | 5.1 points Burlington-South Burlington higher |
| 2020 | 105.1 | 101.3 | 3.7 points Burlington-South Burlington higher |
| 2024 | 100.9 | 100.9 | 0.1 points Burlington-South Burlington 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 Burlington-South Burlington would need to be in Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater for the same purchasing power:
| In Burlington-South Burlington | In Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater | Difference |
|---|---|---|
| $50,000 | $49,971 | $-29 |
| $75,000 | $74,956 | $-44 |
| $100,000 | $99,942 | $-58 |
| $150,000 | $149,912 | $-88 |
$ in Burlington-South Burlington = in Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater
Same BEA Regional Price Parity ratio as the table above (100.9 → 100.9), computed live from your number, nothing is sent anywhere.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater more expensive than Burlington-South Burlington?
Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater is 0.1% less expensive than Burlington-South Burlington. The overall cost index is 100.9 vs 100.9 (national average = 100).
What salary in Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater equals $100K in Burlington-South Burlington?
A $100,000 salary in Burlington-South Burlington has the same purchasing power as $99,942 in Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater. This is based on the BEA Regional Price Parity indexes.
How do rents compare between Burlington-South Burlington and Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater?
Rents in Burlington-South Burlington are indexed at 103.8 while Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater is at 125.8 (national average = 100). Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater 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.