Overall
- Casper
- 93.8
- Bloomington
- 93.5
Diff -0.3 RPP
Casper vs Bloomington
Cost of living comparison based on BEA Regional Price Parities. Bloomington is 0.3% less expensive than Casper.
0.3% less expensive
Bloomington, IL is 0.3% less expensive than Casper, WY on BEA Regional Price Parities (overall RPP 93.5 vs 93.8). A $100,000 salary in Casper buys about the same as $99,689 in Bloomington; the largest component gap is services.
- Overall RPP 93.8 (Casper) vs 93.5 (Bloomington)
- $100k in Casper ≈ $99,689 purchasing power in Bloomington
- Services drives the gap (+10.7 RPP points)
RPP parity plate
Pair WY:IL 93.8→93.5
PHOTO-FINISH · CROSS-STATE · SPLIT-BUDGET · BOTH-BELOW · PP-PAR
- PHOTO-FINISH Photo finish
- CROSS-STATE WY × 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.
Casper
93.8
Cost Index
Bloomington
93.5
Cost Index
What This Comparison Actually Tells You
Casper, WY and Bloomington, IL are a photo finish on overall price level, only 0.3 RPP points apart. A salary conversion is therefore a fine adjustment, not evidence of a fundamentally different cost regime.
Services creates the largest separation: Bloomington is 10.7 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 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 Casper to $99,689 in Bloomington, but it is not a personal spending weight.
Category Breakdown
Goods
- Casper
- 95.4
- Bloomington
- 93.6
Diff -1.7 RPP
Services
- Casper
- 78.9
- Bloomington
- 89.6
Diff +10.7 RPP
Rents
- Casper
- 74.2
- Bloomington
- 74.7
Diff +0.5 RPP
| Category | Casper | Bloomington | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Overall | 93.8 | 93.5 | -0.3 |
| Goods | 95.4 | 93.6 | -1.7 |
| Services | 78.9 | 89.6 | +10.7 |
| Rents | 74.2 | 74.7 | +0.5 |
Visual Comparison
Overall
Casper 93.8
Bloomington 93.5
Goods
Casper 95.4
Bloomington 93.6
Services
Casper 78.9
Bloomington 89.6
Rents
Casper 74.2
Bloomington 74.7
Vertical line = national average (100)
How the Price Gap Changed
Casper and Bloomington share 17 published annual releases from 2008 through 2024. Their overall gap narrowed, moving from 4.5 to 0.3 RPP points. Casper remained the higher-index metro in the latest release.
Rents changed the most within this pair: its gap moved 13.6 points between the first and latest shared releases (14.2 to 0.5 points). This describes a relative price-index history, not a forecast or a household budget.
| Release Year | Casper RPP | Bloomington RPP | Relative Gap |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2008 | 92.3 | 96.9 | 4.5 points Bloomington higher |
| 2012 | 99.2 | 96.4 | 2.9 points Casper higher |
| 2016 | 97.6 | 93.8 | 3.8 points Casper higher |
| 2020 | 93.3 | 92.7 | 0.6 points Casper higher |
| 2024 | 93.8 | 93.5 | 0.3 points Casper 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 Casper would need to be in Bloomington for the same purchasing power:
| In Casper | In Bloomington | Difference |
|---|---|---|
| $50,000 | $49,844 | $-156 |
| $75,000 | $74,767 | $-233 |
| $100,000 | $99,689 | $-311 |
| $150,000 | $149,533 | $-467 |
$ in Casper = in Bloomington
Same BEA Regional Price Parity ratio as the table above (93.8 → 93.5), computed live from your number, nothing is sent anywhere.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Bloomington more expensive than Casper?
Bloomington is 0.3% less expensive than Casper. The overall cost index is 93.5 vs 93.8 (national average = 100).
What salary in Bloomington equals $100K in Casper?
A $100,000 salary in Casper has the same purchasing power as $99,689 in Bloomington. This is based on the BEA Regional Price Parity indexes.
How do rents compare between Casper and Bloomington?
Rents in Casper are indexed at 74.2 while Bloomington is at 74.7 (national average = 100). Bloomington 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.