Overall
- Santa Fe
- 98.8
Diff -2.2 RPP
Charleston-North Charleston vs Santa Fe
Cost of living comparison based on BEA Regional Price Parities. Santa Fe is 2.2% less expensive than Charleston-North Charleston.
2.2% less expensive
Santa Fe, NM is 2.2% less expensive than Charleston-North Charleston, SC on BEA Regional Price Parities (overall RPP 98.8 vs 101.0). A $100,000 salary in Charleston-North Charleston buys about the same as $97,826 in Santa Fe; the largest component gap is rents.
- Overall RPP 101.0 (Charleston-North Charleston) vs 98.8 (Santa Fe)
- $100k in Charleston-North Charleston ≈ $97,826 purchasing power in Santa Fe
- Rents drives the gap (-11.8 RPP points)
RPP parity plate
Pair SC:NM 101.0→98.8
TIER-NEAR · CROSS-STATE · RENT-LED · BENCH-CROSS · PP-PAR
- TIER-NEAR Near tier
- CROSS-STATE SC × NM
- RENT-LED Rent-led gap
- BENCH-CROSS Benchmark cross
- 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.
Salary Equivalents
What a salary in Charleston-North Charleston would need to be in Santa Fe for the same purchasing power:
| In Charleston-North Charleston | In Santa Fe | Difference |
|---|---|---|
| $50,000 | $48,913 | $-1,087 |
| $75,000 | $73,369 | $-1,631 |
| $100,000 | $97,826 | $-2,174 |
| $150,000 | $146,739 | $-3,261 |
$ in Charleston-North Charleston = in Santa Fe
Same BEA Regional Price Parity ratio as the table above (101.0 → 98.8), computed live from your number, nothing is sent anywhere.
What This Comparison Actually Tells You
Santa Fe, NM is 2.2% less expensive than Charleston-North Charleston, SC, a meaningful but not extreme shift. The move decision turns on which budget category creates the 2.2-point overall gap.
This route crosses the national benchmark: Charleston-North Charleston is above 100 while Santa Fe is below it. That makes the move a change of price regime, not merely a rank swap.
Rents leads the difference, with Santa Fe 11.8 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.
For a housing-sensitive move, validate the rent gap first: HUD Fair Market Rent and the actual unit size can overturn what the blended index implies. On the BEA ratio alone, $100,000 in Charleston-North Charleston corresponds to $97,826 in Santa Fe.
Category Breakdown
Goods
- Santa Fe
- 96.1
Diff -0.2 RPP
Services
- Santa Fe
- 76.7
Diff -11.5 RPP
Rents
- Santa Fe
- 108.0
Diff -11.8 RPP
| Category | Charleston-North Charleston | Santa Fe | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Overall | 101.0 | 98.8 | -2.2 |
| Goods | 96.3 | 96.1 | -0.2 |
| Services | 88.2 | 76.7 | -11.5 |
| Rents | 119.8 | 108.0 | -11.8 |
Visual Comparison
Overall
Charleston-North Charleston 101.0
Santa Fe 98.8
Goods
Charleston-North Charleston 96.3
Santa Fe 96.1
Services
Charleston-North Charleston 88.2
Santa Fe 76.7
Rents
Charleston-North Charleston 119.8
Santa Fe 108.0
Vertical line = national average (100)
Charleston-North Charleston
101.0
Cost Index
Santa Fe
98.8
Cost Index
How the Price Gap Changed
Charleston-North Charleston and Santa Fe share 17 published annual releases from 2008 through 2024. Their overall gap widened, moving from 0.6 to 2.2 RPP points. Charleston-North Charleston remained the higher-index metro in the latest release.
Rents changed the most within this pair: its gap moved 18.0 points between the first and latest shared releases (6.2 to 11.8 points). This describes a relative price-index history, not a forecast or a household budget.
| Release Year | Charleston-North Charleston RPP | Santa Fe RPP | Relative Gap |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2008 | 97.4 | 98.0 | 0.6 points Santa Fe higher |
| 2012 | 100.3 | 102.1 | 1.8 points Santa Fe higher |
| 2016 | 99.7 | 98.4 | 1.3 points Charleston-North Charleston higher |
| 2020 | 98.0 | 96.6 | 1.4 points Charleston-North Charleston higher |
| 2024 | 101.0 | 98.8 | 2.2 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.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Santa Fe more expensive than Charleston-North Charleston?
Santa Fe is 2.2% less expensive than Charleston-North Charleston. The overall cost index is 98.8 vs 101.0 (national average = 100).
What salary in Santa Fe equals $100K in Charleston-North Charleston?
A $100,000 salary in Charleston-North Charleston has the same purchasing power as $97,826 in Santa Fe. This is based on the BEA Regional Price Parity indexes.
How do rents compare between Charleston-North Charleston and Santa Fe?
Rents in Charleston-North Charleston are indexed at 119.8 while Santa Fe is at 108.0 (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.