Overall
- Chicago-Naperville-Elgin
- 103.6
Diff +2.6 RPP
Charleston-North Charleston vs Chicago-Naperville-Elgin
Cost of living comparison based on BEA Regional Price Parities. Chicago-Naperville-Elgin is 2.6% more expensive than Charleston-North Charleston.
2.6% more expensive
Chicago-Naperville-Elgin, IL-IN is 2.6% more expensive than Charleston-North Charleston, SC on BEA Regional Price Parities (overall RPP 103.6 vs 101.0). A $100,000 salary in Charleston-North Charleston buys about the same as $102,608 in Chicago-Naperville-Elgin; the largest component gap is goods.
- Overall RPP 101.0 (Charleston-North Charleston) vs 103.6 (Chicago-Naperville-Elgin)
- $100k in Charleston-North Charleston ≈ $102,608 purchasing power in Chicago-Naperville-Elgin
- Goods drives the gap (+10.9 RPP points)
RPP parity plate
Pair SC:IL 101.0→103.6
TIER-NEAR · CROSS-STATE · SPLIT-BUDGET · BOTH-ABOVE · PP-SHIFT
- TIER-NEAR Near tier
- CROSS-STATE SC × IL
- SPLIT-BUDGET Split budget
- BOTH-ABOVE Both above 100
- 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
- Chicago-Naperville-Elgin
- 107.3
Diff +10.9 RPP
Services
Diff -4.6 RPP
Rents
- Chicago-Naperville-Elgin
- 112.0
Diff -7.8 RPP
| Category | Charleston-North Charleston | Chicago-Naperville-Elgin | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Overall | 101.0 | 103.6 | +2.6 |
| Goods | 96.3 | 107.3 | +10.9 |
| Services | 88.2 | 83.6 | -4.6 |
| Rents | 119.8 | 112.0 | -7.8 |
Visual Comparison
Overall
Charleston-North Charleston 101.0
Chicago-Naperville-Elgin 103.6
Goods
Charleston-North Charleston 96.3
Chicago-Naperville-Elgin 107.3
Services
Charleston-North Charleston 88.2
Chicago-Naperville-Elgin 83.6
Rents
Charleston-North Charleston 119.8
Chicago-Naperville-Elgin 112.0
Vertical line = national average (100)
What This Comparison Actually Tells You
Goods creates the largest separation: Chicago-Naperville-Elgin is 10.9 points higher. But rents and services move against the overall direction, so this is a split budget rather than a clean across-the-board winner.
Chicago-Naperville-Elgin, IL-IN is 2.6% more expensive than Charleston-North Charleston, SC, a meaningful but not extreme shift. The move decision turns on which budget category creates the 2.6-point overall gap.
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.
Comparable population context is incomplete for this pair, so no market-scale explanation is inferred from the price indexes.
For a goods-led difference, remember that many tradable prices vary less by address than housing or labor-priced services. Use $102,608 in Chicago-Naperville-Elgin as the BEA equivalent of $100,000 in Charleston-North Charleston, then replace the national basket with your own.
Charleston-North Charleston
101.0
Cost Index
Chicago-Naperville-Elgin
103.6
Cost Index
Salary Equivalents
What a salary in Charleston-North Charleston would need to be in Chicago-Naperville-Elgin for the same purchasing power:
| In Charleston-North Charleston | In Chicago-Naperville-Elgin | Difference |
|---|---|---|
| $50,000 | $51,304 | +$1,304 |
| $75,000 | $76,956 | +$1,956 |
| $100,000 | $102,608 | +$2,608 |
| $150,000 | $153,912 | +$3,912 |
$ in Charleston-North Charleston = in Chicago-Naperville-Elgin
Same BEA Regional Price Parity ratio as the table above (101.0 → 103.6), computed live from your number, nothing is sent anywhere.
How the Price Gap Changed
Charleston-North Charleston and Chicago-Naperville-Elgin share 17 published annual releases from 2008 through 2024. Their overall gap narrowed, moving from 8.0 to 2.6 RPP points. Chicago-Naperville-Elgin remained the higher-index metro in the latest release.
Rents changed the most within this pair: its gap moved 34.8 points between the first and latest shared releases (27.0 to 7.8 points). This describes a relative price-index history, not a forecast or a household budget.
| Release Year | Charleston-North Charleston RPP | Chicago-Naperville-Elgin RPP | Relative Gap |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2008 | 97.4 | 105.4 | 8.0 points Chicago-Naperville-Elgin higher |
| 2012 | 100.3 | 105.1 | 4.8 points Chicago-Naperville-Elgin higher |
| 2016 | 99.7 | 103.8 | 4.1 points Chicago-Naperville-Elgin higher |
| 2020 | 98.0 | 104.5 | 6.5 points Chicago-Naperville-Elgin higher |
| 2024 | 101.0 | 103.6 | 2.6 points Chicago-Naperville-Elgin 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.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Chicago-Naperville-Elgin more expensive than Charleston-North Charleston?
Chicago-Naperville-Elgin is 2.6% more expensive than Charleston-North Charleston. The overall cost index is 103.6 vs 101.0 (national average = 100).
What salary in Chicago-Naperville-Elgin equals $100K in Charleston-North Charleston?
A $100,000 salary in Charleston-North Charleston has the same purchasing power as $102,608 in Chicago-Naperville-Elgin. This is based on the BEA Regional Price Parity indexes.
How do rents compare between Charleston-North Charleston and Chicago-Naperville-Elgin?
Rents in Charleston-North Charleston are indexed at 119.8 while Chicago-Naperville-Elgin is at 112.0 (national average = 100). Charleston-North Charleston 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.