Overall
- Cape Coral-Fort Myers
- 102.3
Diff -1.5 RPP
Cape Coral-Fort Myers vs Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater
Cost of living comparison based on BEA Regional Price Parities. Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater is 1.4% less expensive than Cape Coral-Fort Myers.
1.4% less expensive
Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater, FL is 1.4% less expensive than Cape Coral-Fort Myers, FL on BEA Regional Price Parities (overall RPP 100.9 vs 102.3). A $100,000 salary in Cape Coral-Fort Myers buys about the same as $98,574 in Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater; the largest component gap is services.
- Overall RPP 102.3 (Cape Coral-Fort Myers) vs 100.9 (Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater)
- $100k in Cape Coral-Fort Myers ≈ $98,574 purchasing power in Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater
- Services drives the gap (+1.6 RPP points)
RPP parity plate
Pair FL:FL 102.3→100.9
PHOTO-FINISH · SAME-STATE · SPLIT-BUDGET · BOTH-ABOVE · PP-PAR
- PHOTO-FINISH Photo finish
- SAME-STATE Same state · 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.
Cape Coral-Fort Myers
102.3
Cost Index
Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater
100.9
Cost Index
What This Comparison Actually Tells You
Cape Coral-Fort Myers, FL and Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater, FL are a photo finish on overall price level, only 1.5 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 1.6 points higher. But services and 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 Cape Coral-Fort Myers to $98,574 in Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater, but it is not a personal spending weight.
Category Breakdown
Goods
Diff -0.8 RPP
Services
Diff +1.6 RPP
Rents
- Cape Coral-Fort Myers
- 125.1
Diff +0.7 RPP
| Category | Cape Coral-Fort Myers | Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Overall | 102.3 | 100.9 | -1.5 |
| Goods | 96.2 | 95.5 | -0.8 |
| Services | 86.9 | 88.5 | +1.6 |
| Rents | 125.1 | 125.8 | +0.7 |
Visual Comparison
Overall
Cape Coral-Fort Myers 102.3
Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater 100.9
Goods
Cape Coral-Fort Myers 96.2
Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater 95.5
Services
Cape Coral-Fort Myers 86.9
Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater 88.5
Rents
Cape Coral-Fort Myers 125.1
Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater 125.8
Vertical line = national average (100)
Salary Equivalents
What a salary in Cape Coral-Fort Myers would need to be in Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater for the same purchasing power:
| In Cape Coral-Fort Myers | In Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater | Difference |
|---|---|---|
| $50,000 | $49,287 | $-713 |
| $75,000 | $73,931 | $-1,069 |
| $100,000 | $98,574 | $-1,426 |
| $150,000 | $147,862 | $-2,138 |
$ in Cape Coral-Fort Myers = in Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater
Same BEA Regional Price Parity ratio as the table above (102.3 → 100.9), computed live from your number, nothing is sent anywhere.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater more expensive than Cape Coral-Fort Myers?
Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater is 1.4% less expensive than Cape Coral-Fort Myers. The overall cost index is 100.9 vs 102.3 (national average = 100).
What salary in Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater equals $100K in Cape Coral-Fort Myers?
A $100,000 salary in Cape Coral-Fort Myers has the same purchasing power as $98,574 in Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater. This is based on the BEA Regional Price Parity indexes.
How do rents compare between Cape Coral-Fort Myers and Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater?
Rents in Cape Coral-Fort Myers are indexed at 125.1 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.