Overall
- Chicago-Naperville-Elgin
- 103.6
- Bangor
- 96.5
Diff -7.1 RPP
Chicago-Naperville-Elgin vs Bangor
Cost of living comparison based on BEA Regional Price Parities. Bangor is 6.8% less expensive than Chicago-Naperville-Elgin.
6.8% less expensive
Bangor, ME is 6.8% less expensive than Chicago-Naperville-Elgin, IL-IN on BEA Regional Price Parities (overall RPP 96.5 vs 103.6). A $100,000 salary in Chicago-Naperville-Elgin buys about the same as $93,159 in Bangor; the largest component gap is services.
- Overall RPP 103.6 (Chicago-Naperville-Elgin) vs 96.5 (Bangor)
- $100k in Chicago-Naperville-Elgin ≈ $93,159 purchasing power in Bangor
- Services drives the gap (+51.2 RPP points)
RPP parity plate
Pair IL:ME 103.6→96.5
TIER-NEAR · CROSS-STATE · SPLIT-BUDGET · BENCH-CROSS · PP-SHIFT
- TIER-NEAR Near tier
- CROSS-STATE IL × ME
- SPLIT-BUDGET Split budget
- BENCH-CROSS Benchmark cross
- 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
- Bangor
- 97.2
Diff -10.1 RPP
Services
- Bangor
- 134.8
Diff +51.2 RPP
Rents
- Chicago-Naperville-Elgin
- 112.0
- Bangor
- 77.7
Diff -34.3 RPP
| Category | Chicago-Naperville-Elgin | Bangor | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Overall | 103.6 | 96.5 | -7.1 |
| Goods | 107.3 | 97.2 | -10.1 |
| Services | 83.6 | 134.8 | +51.2 |
| Rents | 112.0 | 77.7 | -34.3 |
Visual Comparison
Overall
Chicago-Naperville-Elgin 103.6
Bangor 96.5
Goods
Chicago-Naperville-Elgin 107.3
Bangor 97.2
Services
Chicago-Naperville-Elgin 83.6
Bangor 134.8
Rents
Chicago-Naperville-Elgin 112.0
Bangor 77.7
Vertical line = national average (100)
What This Comparison Actually Tells You
Services creates the largest separation: Bangor is 51.2 points higher. But services move against the overall direction, so this is a split budget rather than a clean across-the-board winner.
Bangor, ME is 6.8% less expensive than Chicago-Naperville-Elgin, IL-IN, a meaningful but not extreme shift. The move decision turns on which budget category creates the 7.1-point overall gap.
This route crosses the national benchmark: Chicago-Naperville-Elgin is above 100 while Bangor is below it. That makes the move a change of price regime, not merely a rank swap.
Comparable population context is incomplete for this pair, so no market-scale explanation is inferred from the price indexes.
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 Chicago-Naperville-Elgin to $93,159 in Bangor, but it is not a personal spending weight.
Chicago-Naperville-Elgin
103.6
Cost Index
Bangor
96.5
Cost Index
Salary Equivalents
What a salary in Chicago-Naperville-Elgin would need to be in Bangor for the same purchasing power:
| In Chicago-Naperville-Elgin | In Bangor | Difference |
|---|---|---|
| $50,000 | $46,579 | $-3,421 |
| $75,000 | $69,869 | $-5,131 |
| $100,000 | $93,159 | $-6,841 |
| $150,000 | $139,738 | $-10,262 |
$ in Chicago-Naperville-Elgin = in Bangor
Same BEA Regional Price Parity ratio as the table above (103.6 → 96.5), computed live from your number, nothing is sent anywhere.
How the Price Gap Changed
Chicago-Naperville-Elgin and Bangor share 17 published annual releases from 2008 through 2024. Their overall gap narrowed, moving from 11.5 to 7.1 RPP points. Chicago-Naperville-Elgin remained the higher-index metro in the latest release.
Rents changed the most within this pair: its gap moved 26.6 points between the first and latest shared releases (61.0 to 34.3 points). This describes a relative price-index history, not a forecast or a household budget.
| Release Year | Chicago-Naperville-Elgin RPP | Bangor RPP | Relative Gap |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2008 | 105.4 | 93.9 | 11.5 points Chicago-Naperville-Elgin higher |
| 2012 | 105.1 | 96.3 | 8.8 points Chicago-Naperville-Elgin higher |
| 2016 | 103.8 | 93.4 | 10.4 points Chicago-Naperville-Elgin higher |
| 2020 | 104.5 | 97.5 | 6.9 points Chicago-Naperville-Elgin higher |
| 2024 | 103.6 | 96.5 | 7.1 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 Bangor more expensive than Chicago-Naperville-Elgin?
Bangor is 6.8% less expensive than Chicago-Naperville-Elgin. The overall cost index is 96.5 vs 103.6 (national average = 100).
What salary in Bangor equals $100K in Chicago-Naperville-Elgin?
A $100,000 salary in Chicago-Naperville-Elgin has the same purchasing power as $93,159 in Bangor. This is based on the BEA Regional Price Parity indexes.
How do rents compare between Chicago-Naperville-Elgin and Bangor?
Rents in Chicago-Naperville-Elgin are indexed at 112.0 while Bangor is at 77.7 (national average = 100). Chicago-Naperville-Elgin 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.