Overall
- Provo-Orem-Lehi
- 98.2
Diff +0.9 RPP
Charlotte-Concord-Gastonia vs Provo-Orem-Lehi
Cost of living comparison based on BEA Regional Price Parities. Provo-Orem-Lehi is 0.9% more expensive than Charlotte-Concord-Gastonia.
0.9% more expensive
Provo-Orem-Lehi, UT is 0.9% more expensive than Charlotte-Concord-Gastonia, NC-SC on BEA Regional Price Parities (overall RPP 98.2 vs 97.3). A $100,000 salary in Charlotte-Concord-Gastonia buys about the same as $100,908 in Provo-Orem-Lehi; the largest component gap is services.
- Overall RPP 97.3 (Charlotte-Concord-Gastonia) vs 98.2 (Provo-Orem-Lehi)
- $100k in Charlotte-Concord-Gastonia ≈ $100,908 purchasing power in Provo-Orem-Lehi
- Services drives the gap (-10.5 RPP points)
RPP parity plate
Pair NC:UT 97.3→98.2
PHOTO-FINISH · CROSS-STATE · SPLIT-BUDGET · BOTH-BELOW · PP-PAR
- PHOTO-FINISH Photo finish
- CROSS-STATE NC × UT
- 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.
Charlotte-Concord-Gastonia
97.3
Cost Index
Provo-Orem-Lehi
98.2
Cost Index
What This Comparison Actually Tells You
Charlotte-Concord-Gastonia, NC-SC and Provo-Orem-Lehi, UT are a photo finish on overall price level, only 0.9 RPP points apart. A salary conversion is therefore a fine adjustment, not evidence of a fundamentally different cost regime.
Services creates the largest separation: Provo-Orem-Lehi is 10.5 points lower. But services and 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 Charlotte-Concord-Gastonia to $100,908 in Provo-Orem-Lehi, but it is not a personal spending weight.
Category Breakdown
Goods
- Provo-Orem-Lehi
- 96.4
Diff -0.1 RPP
Services
- Provo-Orem-Lehi
- 78.6
Diff -10.5 RPP
Rents
- Provo-Orem-Lehi
- 104.1
Diff +6.4 RPP
| Category | Charlotte-Concord-Gastonia | Provo-Orem-Lehi | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Overall | 97.3 | 98.2 | +0.9 |
| Goods | 96.6 | 96.4 | -0.1 |
| Services | 89.2 | 78.6 | -10.5 |
| Rents | 97.6 | 104.1 | +6.4 |
Visual Comparison
Overall
Charlotte-Concord-Gastonia 97.3
Provo-Orem-Lehi 98.2
Goods
Charlotte-Concord-Gastonia 96.6
Provo-Orem-Lehi 96.4
Services
Charlotte-Concord-Gastonia 89.2
Provo-Orem-Lehi 78.6
Rents
Charlotte-Concord-Gastonia 97.6
Provo-Orem-Lehi 104.1
Vertical line = national average (100)
How the Price Gap Changed
Charlotte-Concord-Gastonia and Provo-Orem-Lehi share 17 published annual releases from 2008 through 2024. Their overall gap held broadly steady, moving from 1.8 to 0.9 RPP points. Provo-Orem-Lehi remained the higher-index metro in the latest release.
Rents changed the most within this pair: its gap moved 12.1 points between the first and latest shared releases (18.5 to 6.4 points). This describes a relative price-index history, not a forecast or a household budget.
| Release Year | Charlotte-Concord-Gastonia RPP | Provo-Orem-Lehi RPP | Relative Gap |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2008 | 95.3 | 97.1 | 1.8 points Provo-Orem-Lehi higher |
| 2012 | 96.1 | 100.4 | 4.2 points Provo-Orem-Lehi higher |
| 2016 | 96.9 | 97.0 | 0.1 points Provo-Orem-Lehi higher |
| 2020 | 94.2 | 94.8 | 0.6 points Provo-Orem-Lehi higher |
| 2024 | 97.3 | 98.2 | 0.9 points Provo-Orem-Lehi 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 Charlotte-Concord-Gastonia would need to be in Provo-Orem-Lehi for the same purchasing power:
| In Charlotte-Concord-Gastonia | In Provo-Orem-Lehi | Difference |
|---|---|---|
| $50,000 | $50,454 | +$454 |
| $75,000 | $75,681 | +$681 |
| $100,000 | $100,908 | +$908 |
| $150,000 | $151,362 | +$1,362 |
$ in Charlotte-Concord-Gastonia = in Provo-Orem-Lehi
Same BEA Regional Price Parity ratio as the table above (97.3 → 98.2), computed live from your number, nothing is sent anywhere.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Provo-Orem-Lehi more expensive than Charlotte-Concord-Gastonia?
Provo-Orem-Lehi is 0.9% more expensive than Charlotte-Concord-Gastonia. The overall cost index is 98.2 vs 97.3 (national average = 100).
What salary in Provo-Orem-Lehi equals $100K in Charlotte-Concord-Gastonia?
A $100,000 salary in Charlotte-Concord-Gastonia has the same purchasing power as $100,908 in Provo-Orem-Lehi. This is based on the BEA Regional Price Parity indexes.
How do rents compare between Charlotte-Concord-Gastonia and Provo-Orem-Lehi?
Rents in Charlotte-Concord-Gastonia are indexed at 97.6 while Provo-Orem-Lehi is at 104.1 (national average = 100). Provo-Orem-Lehi 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.