Overall
- Charlottesville
- 99.1
Diff +0.9 RPP
Charlottesville vs Palm Bay-Melbourne-Titusville
Cost of living comparison based on BEA Regional Price Parities. Palm Bay-Melbourne-Titusville is 0.9% more expensive than Charlottesville.
0.9% more expensive
Palm Bay-Melbourne-Titusville, FL is 0.9% more expensive than Charlottesville, VA on BEA Regional Price Parities (overall RPP 100.0 vs 99.1). A $100,000 salary in Charlottesville buys about the same as $100,866 in Palm Bay-Melbourne-Titusville; the largest component gap is rents.
- Overall RPP 99.1 (Charlottesville) vs 100.0 (Palm Bay-Melbourne-Titusville)
- $100k in Charlottesville ≈ $100,866 purchasing power in Palm Bay-Melbourne-Titusville
- Rents drives the gap (+4.7 RPP points)
RPP parity plate
Pair VA:FL 99.1→100.0
PHOTO-FINISH · CROSS-STATE · SPLIT-BUDGET · BENCH-CROSS · PP-PAR
- PHOTO-FINISH Photo finish
- CROSS-STATE VA × FL
- SPLIT-BUDGET Split budget
- 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.
Charlottesville
99.1
Cost Index
Palm Bay-Melbourne-Titusville
100.0
Cost Index
What This Comparison Actually Tells You
Charlottesville, VA and Palm Bay-Melbourne-Titusville, FL 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.
Rents creates the largest separation: Palm Bay-Melbourne-Titusville is 4.7 points higher. 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.
This route crosses the national benchmark: Palm Bay-Melbourne-Titusville is above 100 while Charlottesville is below it. That makes the move a change of price regime, not merely a rank swap.
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 Charlottesville corresponds to $100,866 in Palm Bay-Melbourne-Titusville.
Category Breakdown
Goods
- Charlottesville
- 96.8
Diff -0.5 RPP
Services
- Charlottesville
- 89.0
Diff -0.9 RPP
Rents
- Charlottesville
- 107.0
Diff +4.7 RPP
| Category | Charlottesville | Palm Bay-Melbourne-Titusville | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Overall | 99.1 | 100.0 | +0.9 |
| Goods | 96.8 | 96.2 | -0.5 |
| Services | 89.0 | 88.1 | -0.9 |
| Rents | 107.0 | 111.7 | +4.7 |
Visual Comparison
Overall
Charlottesville 99.1
Palm Bay-Melbourne-Titusville 100.0
Goods
Charlottesville 96.8
Palm Bay-Melbourne-Titusville 96.2
Services
Charlottesville 89.0
Palm Bay-Melbourne-Titusville 88.1
Rents
Charlottesville 107.0
Palm Bay-Melbourne-Titusville 111.7
Vertical line = national average (100)
Salary Equivalents
What a salary in Charlottesville would need to be in Palm Bay-Melbourne-Titusville for the same purchasing power:
| In Charlottesville | In Palm Bay-Melbourne-Titusville | Difference |
|---|---|---|
| $50,000 | $50,433 | +$433 |
| $75,000 | $75,650 | +$650 |
| $100,000 | $100,866 | +$866 |
| $150,000 | $151,300 | +$1,300 |
$ in Charlottesville = in Palm Bay-Melbourne-Titusville
Same BEA Regional Price Parity ratio as the table above (99.1 → 100.0), computed live from your number, nothing is sent anywhere.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Palm Bay-Melbourne-Titusville more expensive than Charlottesville?
Palm Bay-Melbourne-Titusville is 0.9% more expensive than Charlottesville. The overall cost index is 100.0 vs 99.1 (national average = 100).
What salary in Palm Bay-Melbourne-Titusville equals $100K in Charlottesville?
A $100,000 salary in Charlottesville has the same purchasing power as $100,866 in Palm Bay-Melbourne-Titusville. This is based on the BEA Regional Price Parity indexes.
How do rents compare between Charlottesville and Palm Bay-Melbourne-Titusville?
Rents in Charlottesville are indexed at 107.0 while Palm Bay-Melbourne-Titusville is at 111.7 (national average = 100). Palm Bay-Melbourne-Titusville 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.