Overall
- Champaign-Urbana
- 92.7
- Wausau
- 92.7
Diff -0.1 RPP
Champaign-Urbana vs Wausau
Cost of living comparison based on BEA Regional Price Parities. Wausau is 0.1% less expensive than Champaign-Urbana.
0.1% less expensive
Wausau, WI is 0.1% less expensive than Champaign-Urbana, IL on BEA Regional Price Parities (overall RPP 92.7 vs 92.7). A $100,000 salary in Champaign-Urbana buys about the same as $99,943 in Wausau; the largest component gap is services.
- Overall RPP 92.7 (Champaign-Urbana) vs 92.7 (Wausau)
- $100k in Champaign-Urbana ≈ $99,943 purchasing power in Wausau
- Services drives the gap (-0.5 RPP points)
RPP parity plate
Pair IL:WI 92.7→92.7
PHOTO-FINISH · CROSS-STATE · SPLIT-BUDGET · BOTH-BELOW · PP-PAR
- PHOTO-FINISH Photo finish
- CROSS-STATE IL × WI
- 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.
Champaign-Urbana
92.7
Cost Index
Wausau
92.7
Cost Index
What This Comparison Actually Tells You
Champaign-Urbana, IL and Wausau, WI 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: Wausau is 0.5 points lower. But goods 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 Champaign-Urbana to $99,943 in Wausau, but it is not a personal spending weight.
Category Breakdown
Goods
- Champaign-Urbana
- 93.6
- Wausau
- 93.8
Diff +0.1 RPP
Services
- Champaign-Urbana
- 90.5
- Wausau
- 90.0
Diff -0.5 RPP
Rents
- Champaign-Urbana
- 71.6
- Wausau
- 71.5
Diff -0.1 RPP
| Category | Champaign-Urbana | Wausau | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Overall | 92.7 | 92.7 | -0.1 |
| Goods | 93.6 | 93.8 | +0.1 |
| Services | 90.5 | 90.0 | -0.5 |
| Rents | 71.6 | 71.5 | -0.1 |
Visual Comparison
Overall
Champaign-Urbana 92.7
Wausau 92.7
Goods
Champaign-Urbana 93.6
Wausau 93.8
Services
Champaign-Urbana 90.5
Wausau 90.0
Rents
Champaign-Urbana 71.6
Wausau 71.5
Vertical line = national average (100)
How the Price Gap Changed
Champaign-Urbana and Wausau share 17 published annual releases from 2008 through 2024. Their overall gap narrowed, moving from 1.4 to 0.1 RPP points. Champaign-Urbana remained the higher-index metro in the latest release.
Rents changed the most within this pair: its gap moved 18.2 points between the first and latest shared releases (18.4 to 0.1 points). This describes a relative price-index history, not a forecast or a household budget.
| Release Year | Champaign-Urbana RPP | Wausau RPP | Relative Gap |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2008 | 96.2 | 94.8 | 1.4 points Champaign-Urbana higher |
| 2012 | 94.2 | 94.1 | 0.1 points Champaign-Urbana higher |
| 2016 | 93.7 | 92.0 | 1.7 points Champaign-Urbana higher |
| 2020 | 91.9 | 90.2 | 1.7 points Champaign-Urbana higher |
| 2024 | 92.7 | 92.7 | 0.1 points Champaign-Urbana 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 Champaign-Urbana would need to be in Wausau for the same purchasing power:
| In Champaign-Urbana | In Wausau | Difference |
|---|---|---|
| $50,000 | $49,971 | $-29 |
| $75,000 | $74,957 | $-43 |
| $100,000 | $99,943 | $-57 |
| $150,000 | $149,914 | $-86 |
$ in Champaign-Urbana = in Wausau
Same BEA Regional Price Parity ratio as the table above (92.7 → 92.7), computed live from your number, nothing is sent anywhere.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Wausau more expensive than Champaign-Urbana?
Wausau is 0.1% less expensive than Champaign-Urbana. The overall cost index is 92.7 vs 92.7 (national average = 100).
What salary in Wausau equals $100K in Champaign-Urbana?
A $100,000 salary in Champaign-Urbana has the same purchasing power as $99,943 in Wausau. This is based on the BEA Regional Price Parity indexes.
How do rents compare between Champaign-Urbana and Wausau?
Rents in Champaign-Urbana are indexed at 71.6 while Wausau is at 71.5 (national average = 100). Champaign-Urbana 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.