Overall
- Cape Coral-Fort Myers
- 102.3
- Barnstable Town
- 98.4
Diff -4.0 RPP
Cape Coral-Fort Myers vs Barnstable Town
Cost of living comparison based on BEA Regional Price Parities. Barnstable Town is 3.9% less expensive than Cape Coral-Fort Myers.
3.9% less expensive
Barnstable Town, MA is 3.9% less expensive than Cape Coral-Fort Myers, FL on BEA Regional Price Parities (overall RPP 98.4 vs 102.3). A $100,000 salary in Cape Coral-Fort Myers buys about the same as $96,094 in Barnstable Town; the largest component gap is services.
- Overall RPP 102.3 (Cape Coral-Fort Myers) vs 98.4 (Barnstable Town)
- $100k in Cape Coral-Fort Myers ≈ $96,094 purchasing power in Barnstable Town
- Services drives the gap (+71.5 RPP points)
RPP parity plate
Pair FL:MA 102.3→98.4
TIER-NEAR · CROSS-STATE · SPLIT-BUDGET · BENCH-CROSS · PP-SHIFT
- TIER-NEAR Near tier
- CROSS-STATE FL × MA
- SPLIT-BUDGET Split budget
- BENCH-CROSS Benchmark cross
- PP-SHIFT PP shift
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.
Category Breakdown
Goods
- Barnstable Town
- 97.0
Diff +0.8 RPP
Services
- Barnstable Town
- 158.4
Diff +71.5 RPP
Rents
- Cape Coral-Fort Myers
- 125.1
- Barnstable Town
- 90.0
Diff -35.1 RPP
| Category | Cape Coral-Fort Myers | Barnstable Town | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Overall | 102.3 | 98.4 | -4.0 |
| Goods | 96.2 | 97.0 | +0.8 |
| Services | 86.9 | 158.4 | +71.5 |
| Rents | 125.1 | 90.0 | -35.1 |
Visual Comparison
Overall
Cape Coral-Fort Myers 102.3
Barnstable Town 98.4
Goods
Cape Coral-Fort Myers 96.2
Barnstable Town 97.0
Services
Cape Coral-Fort Myers 86.9
Barnstable Town 158.4
Rents
Cape Coral-Fort Myers 125.1
Barnstable Town 90.0
Vertical line = national average (100)
What This Comparison Actually Tells You
Services creates the largest separation: Barnstable Town is 71.5 points higher. But services and goods move against the overall direction, so this is a split budget rather than a clean across-the-board winner.
Barnstable Town, MA is 3.9% less expensive than Cape Coral-Fort Myers, FL, a meaningful but not extreme shift. The move decision turns on which budget category creates the 4.0-point overall gap.
This route crosses the national benchmark: Cape Coral-Fort Myers is above 100 while Barnstable Town is below it. That makes the move a change of price regime, not merely a rank swap.
Comparable population context is incomplete for this pair, so no market-scale explanation is inferred from the price indexes.
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 Cape Coral-Fort Myers to $96,094 in Barnstable Town, but it is not a personal spending weight.
Cape Coral-Fort Myers
102.3
Cost Index
Barnstable Town
98.4
Cost Index
Salary Equivalents
What a salary in Cape Coral-Fort Myers would need to be in Barnstable Town for the same purchasing power:
| In Cape Coral-Fort Myers | In Barnstable Town | Difference |
|---|---|---|
| $50,000 | $48,047 | $-1,953 |
| $75,000 | $72,070 | $-2,930 |
| $100,000 | $96,094 | $-3,906 |
| $150,000 | $144,141 | $-5,859 |
$ in Cape Coral-Fort Myers = in Barnstable Town
Same BEA Regional Price Parity ratio as the table above (102.3 → 98.4), computed live from your number, nothing is sent anywhere.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Barnstable Town more expensive than Cape Coral-Fort Myers?
Barnstable Town is 3.9% less expensive than Cape Coral-Fort Myers. The overall cost index is 98.4 vs 102.3 (national average = 100).
What salary in Barnstable Town equals $100K in Cape Coral-Fort Myers?
A $100,000 salary in Cape Coral-Fort Myers has the same purchasing power as $96,094 in Barnstable Town. This is based on the BEA Regional Price Parity indexes.
How do rents compare between Cape Coral-Fort Myers and Barnstable Town?
Rents in Cape Coral-Fort Myers are indexed at 125.1 while Barnstable Town is at 90.0 (national average = 100). Cape Coral-Fort Myers 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.