Overall
- Casper
- 93.8
Diff +0.3 RPP
Casper vs Lake Havasu City-Kingman
Cost of living comparison based on BEA Regional Price Parities. Lake Havasu City-Kingman is 0.3% more expensive than Casper.
0.3% more expensive
Lake Havasu City-Kingman, AZ is 0.3% more expensive than Casper, WY on BEA Regional Price Parities (overall RPP 94.1 vs 93.8). A $100,000 salary in Casper buys about the same as $100,287 in Lake Havasu City-Kingman; the largest component gap is services.
- Overall RPP 93.8 (Casper) vs 94.1 (Lake Havasu City-Kingman)
- $100k in Casper ≈ $100,287 purchasing power in Lake Havasu City-Kingman
- Services drives the gap (+9.8 RPP points)
RPP parity plate
Pair WY:AZ 93.8→94.1
PHOTO-FINISH · CROSS-STATE · SERVICES-LED · BOTH-BELOW · PP-PAR
- PHOTO-FINISH Photo finish
- CROSS-STATE WY × AZ
- SERVICES-LED Services-led gap
- 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
Lake Havasu City-Kingman
94.1
Cost Index
What This Comparison Actually Tells You
Casper, WY and Lake Havasu City-Kingman, AZ 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 leads the difference, with Lake Havasu City-Kingman 9.8 points higher than Casper. Goods, services, and rents all point in the same broad direction, making the headline comparison more transferable across household types.
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 $100,287 in Lake Havasu City-Kingman, but it is not a personal spending weight.
Category Breakdown
Goods
- Casper
- 95.4
Diff +0.9 RPP
Services
- Casper
- 78.9
Diff +9.8 RPP
Rents
- Casper
- 74.2
Diff +5.6 RPP
| Category | Casper | Lake Havasu City-Kingman | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Overall | 93.8 | 94.1 | +0.3 |
| Goods | 95.4 | 96.2 | +0.9 |
| Services | 78.9 | 88.7 | +9.8 |
| Rents | 74.2 | 79.8 | +5.6 |
Visual Comparison
Overall
Casper 93.8
Lake Havasu City-Kingman 94.1
Goods
Casper 95.4
Lake Havasu City-Kingman 96.2
Services
Casper 78.9
Lake Havasu City-Kingman 88.7
Rents
Casper 74.2
Lake Havasu City-Kingman 79.8
Vertical line = national average (100)
How the Price Gap Changed
Casper and Lake Havasu City-Kingman share 17 published annual releases from 2008 through 2024. Their overall gap narrowed, moving from 1.4 to 0.3 RPP points. Lake Havasu City-Kingman remained the higher-index metro in the latest release.
Rents changed the most within this pair: its gap moved 7.7 points between the first and latest shared releases (13.3 to 5.6 points). This describes a relative price-index history, not a forecast or a household budget.
| Release Year | Casper RPP | Lake Havasu City-Kingman RPP | Relative Gap |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2008 | 92.3 | 93.8 | 1.4 points Lake Havasu City-Kingman higher |
| 2012 | 99.2 | 95.5 | 3.7 points Casper higher |
| 2016 | 97.6 | 93.0 | 4.6 points Casper higher |
| 2020 | 93.3 | 87.7 | 5.7 points Casper higher |
| 2024 | 93.8 | 94.1 | 0.3 points Lake Havasu City-Kingman 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 Lake Havasu City-Kingman for the same purchasing power:
| In Casper | In Lake Havasu City-Kingman | Difference |
|---|---|---|
| $50,000 | $50,143 | +$143 |
| $75,000 | $75,215 | +$215 |
| $100,000 | $100,287 | +$287 |
| $150,000 | $150,430 | +$430 |
$ in Casper = in Lake Havasu City-Kingman
Same BEA Regional Price Parity ratio as the table above (93.8 → 94.1), computed live from your number, nothing is sent anywhere.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Lake Havasu City-Kingman more expensive than Casper?
Lake Havasu City-Kingman is 0.3% more expensive than Casper. The overall cost index is 94.1 vs 93.8 (national average = 100).
What salary in Lake Havasu City-Kingman equals $100K in Casper?
A $100,000 salary in Casper has the same purchasing power as $100,287 in Lake Havasu City-Kingman. This is based on the BEA Regional Price Parity indexes.
How do rents compare between Casper and Lake Havasu City-Kingman?
Rents in Casper are indexed at 74.2 while Lake Havasu City-Kingman is at 79.8 (national average = 100). Lake Havasu City-Kingman 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.