Overall
- Colorado Springs
- 100.7
Diff -0.3 RPP
Charleston-North Charleston vs Colorado Springs
Cost of living comparison based on BEA Regional Price Parities. Colorado Springs is 0.3% less expensive than Charleston-North Charleston.
0.3% less expensive
Colorado Springs, CO is 0.3% less expensive than Charleston-North Charleston, SC on BEA Regional Price Parities (overall RPP 100.7 vs 101.0). A $100,000 salary in Charleston-North Charleston buys about the same as $99,747 in Colorado Springs; the largest component gap is services.
- Overall RPP 101.0 (Charleston-North Charleston) vs 100.7 (Colorado Springs)
- $100k in Charleston-North Charleston ≈ $99,747 purchasing power in Colorado Springs
- Services drives the gap (-5.0 RPP points)
RPP parity plate
Pair SC:CO 101.0→100.7
PHOTO-FINISH · CROSS-STATE · SERVICES-LED · BOTH-ABOVE · PP-PAR
- PHOTO-FINISH Photo finish
- CROSS-STATE SC × CO
- SERVICES-LED Services-led gap
- 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.
Charleston-North Charleston
101.0
Cost Index
Colorado Springs
100.7
Cost Index
What This Comparison Actually Tells You
Charleston-North Charleston, SC and Colorado Springs, CO 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 Colorado Springs 5.0 points lower than Charleston-North Charleston. 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 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 Charleston-North Charleston to $99,747 in Colorado Springs, but it is not a personal spending weight.
Category Breakdown
Goods
- Colorado Springs
- 96.1
Diff -0.3 RPP
Services
- Colorado Springs
- 83.2
Diff -5.0 RPP
Rents
- Colorado Springs
- 116.2
Diff -3.6 RPP
| Category | Charleston-North Charleston | Colorado Springs | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Overall | 101.0 | 100.7 | -0.3 |
| Goods | 96.3 | 96.1 | -0.3 |
| Services | 88.2 | 83.2 | -5.0 |
| Rents | 119.8 | 116.2 | -3.6 |
Visual Comparison
Overall
Charleston-North Charleston 101.0
Colorado Springs 100.7
Goods
Charleston-North Charleston 96.3
Colorado Springs 96.1
Services
Charleston-North Charleston 88.2
Colorado Springs 83.2
Rents
Charleston-North Charleston 119.8
Colorado Springs 116.2
Vertical line = national average (100)
How the Price Gap Changed
Charleston-North Charleston and Colorado Springs share 17 published annual releases from 2008 through 2024. Their overall gap held broadly steady, moving from 0.6 to 0.3 RPP points. Charleston-North Charleston remained the higher-index metro in the latest release.
Rents changed the most within this pair: its gap moved 10.1 points between the first and latest shared releases (6.5 to 3.6 points). This describes a relative price-index history, not a forecast or a household budget.
| Release Year | Charleston-North Charleston RPP | Colorado Springs RPP | Relative Gap |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2008 | 97.4 | 98.0 | 0.6 points Colorado Springs higher |
| 2012 | 100.3 | 102.2 | 1.9 points Colorado Springs higher |
| 2016 | 99.7 | 99.0 | 0.8 points Charleston-North Charleston higher |
| 2020 | 98.0 | 98.6 | 0.6 points Colorado Springs higher |
| 2024 | 101.0 | 100.7 | 0.3 points Charleston-North Charleston 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 Charleston-North Charleston would need to be in Colorado Springs for the same purchasing power:
| In Charleston-North Charleston | In Colorado Springs | Difference |
|---|---|---|
| $50,000 | $49,874 | $-126 |
| $75,000 | $74,811 | $-189 |
| $100,000 | $99,747 | $-253 |
| $150,000 | $149,621 | $-379 |
$ in Charleston-North Charleston = in Colorado Springs
Same BEA Regional Price Parity ratio as the table above (101.0 → 100.7), computed live from your number, nothing is sent anywhere.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Colorado Springs more expensive than Charleston-North Charleston?
Colorado Springs is 0.3% less expensive than Charleston-North Charleston. The overall cost index is 100.7 vs 101.0 (national average = 100).
What salary in Colorado Springs equals $100K in Charleston-North Charleston?
A $100,000 salary in Charleston-North Charleston has the same purchasing power as $99,747 in Colorado Springs. This is based on the BEA Regional Price Parity indexes.
How do rents compare between Charleston-North Charleston and Colorado Springs?
Rents in Charleston-North Charleston are indexed at 119.8 while Colorado Springs is at 116.2 (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.