Overall
- Chicago-Naperville-Elgin
- 103.6
- Barnstable Town
- 98.4
Diff -5.2 RPP
Chicago-Naperville-Elgin vs Barnstable Town
Cost of living comparison based on BEA Regional Price Parities. Barnstable Town is 5.1% less expensive than Chicago-Naperville-Elgin.
5.1% less expensive
Barnstable Town, MA is 5.1% less expensive than Chicago-Naperville-Elgin, IL-IN on BEA Regional Price Parities (overall RPP 98.4 vs 103.6). A $100,000 salary in Chicago-Naperville-Elgin buys about the same as $94,938 in Barnstable Town; the largest component gap is services.
- Overall RPP 103.6 (Chicago-Naperville-Elgin) vs 98.4 (Barnstable Town)
- $100k in Chicago-Naperville-Elgin ≈ $94,938 purchasing power in Barnstable Town
- Services drives the gap (+74.9 RPP points)
RPP parity plate
Pair IL:MA 103.6→98.4
TIER-NEAR · CROSS-STATE · SPLIT-BUDGET · BENCH-CROSS · PP-SHIFT
- TIER-NEAR Near tier
- CROSS-STATE IL × MA
- 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
- Barnstable Town
- 97.0
Diff -10.2 RPP
Services
- Barnstable Town
- 158.4
Diff +74.9 RPP
Rents
- Chicago-Naperville-Elgin
- 112.0
- Barnstable Town
- 90.0
Diff -22.0 RPP
| Category | Chicago-Naperville-Elgin | Barnstable Town | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Overall | 103.6 | 98.4 | -5.2 |
| Goods | 107.3 | 97.0 | -10.2 |
| Services | 83.6 | 158.4 | +74.9 |
| Rents | 112.0 | 90.0 | -22.0 |
Visual Comparison
Overall
Chicago-Naperville-Elgin 103.6
Barnstable Town 98.4
Goods
Chicago-Naperville-Elgin 107.3
Barnstable Town 97.0
Services
Chicago-Naperville-Elgin 83.6
Barnstable Town 158.4
Rents
Chicago-Naperville-Elgin 112.0
Barnstable Town 90.0
Vertical line = national average (100)
What This Comparison Actually Tells You
Services creates the largest separation: Barnstable Town is 74.9 points higher. But services move against the overall direction, so this is a split budget rather than a clean across-the-board winner.
Barnstable Town, MA is 5.1% less expensive than Chicago-Naperville-Elgin, IL-IN, a meaningful but not extreme shift. The move decision turns on which budget category creates the 5.2-point overall gap.
This route crosses the national benchmark: Chicago-Naperville-Elgin is above 100 while Barnstable Town 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 $94,938 in Barnstable Town, but it is not a personal spending weight.
Chicago-Naperville-Elgin
103.6
Cost Index
Barnstable Town
98.4
Cost Index
Salary Equivalents
What a salary in Chicago-Naperville-Elgin would need to be in Barnstable Town for the same purchasing power:
| In Chicago-Naperville-Elgin | In Barnstable Town | Difference |
|---|---|---|
| $50,000 | $47,469 | $-2,531 |
| $75,000 | $71,203 | $-3,797 |
| $100,000 | $94,938 | $-5,062 |
| $150,000 | $142,407 | $-7,593 |
$ in Chicago-Naperville-Elgin = in Barnstable Town
Same BEA Regional Price Parity ratio as the table above (103.6 → 98.4), computed live from your number, nothing is sent anywhere.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Barnstable Town more expensive than Chicago-Naperville-Elgin?
Barnstable Town is 5.1% less expensive than Chicago-Naperville-Elgin. The overall cost index is 98.4 vs 103.6 (national average = 100).
What salary in Barnstable Town equals $100K in Chicago-Naperville-Elgin?
A $100,000 salary in Chicago-Naperville-Elgin has the same purchasing power as $94,938 in Barnstable Town. This is based on the BEA Regional Price Parity indexes.
How do rents compare between Chicago-Naperville-Elgin and Barnstable Town?
Rents in Chicago-Naperville-Elgin are indexed at 112.0 while Barnstable Town is at 90.0 (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.