Overall
- Chicago-Naperville-Elgin
- 103.6
Diff -10.9 RPP
Chicago-Naperville-Elgin vs Blacksburg-Christiansburg-Radford
Cost of living comparison based on BEA Regional Price Parities. Blacksburg-Christiansburg-Radford is 10.5% less expensive than Chicago-Naperville-Elgin.
10.5% less expensive
Blacksburg-Christiansburg-Radford, VA is 10.5% less expensive than Chicago-Naperville-Elgin, IL-IN on BEA Regional Price Parities (overall RPP 92.7 vs 103.6). A $100,000 salary in Chicago-Naperville-Elgin buys about the same as $89,493 in Blacksburg-Christiansburg-Radford; the largest component gap is rents.
- Overall RPP 103.6 (Chicago-Naperville-Elgin) vs 92.7 (Blacksburg-Christiansburg-Radford)
- $100k in Chicago-Naperville-Elgin ≈ $89,493 purchasing power in Blacksburg-Christiansburg-Radford
- Rents drives the gap (-37.6 RPP points)
RPP parity plate
Pair IL:VA 103.6→92.7
TIER-GAP · CROSS-STATE · SPLIT-BUDGET · BENCH-CROSS · PP-SHIFT
- TIER-GAP Clear tier gap
- CROSS-STATE IL × VA
- 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
Diff -10.5 RPP
Services
Diff +4.5 RPP
Rents
- Chicago-Naperville-Elgin
- 112.0
Diff -37.6 RPP
| Category | Chicago-Naperville-Elgin | Blacksburg-Christiansburg-Radford | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Overall | 103.6 | 92.7 | -10.9 |
| Goods | 107.3 | 96.8 | -10.5 |
| Services | 83.6 | 88.1 | +4.5 |
| Rents | 112.0 | 74.4 | -37.6 |
Visual Comparison
Overall
Chicago-Naperville-Elgin 103.6
Blacksburg-Christiansburg-Radford 92.7
Goods
Chicago-Naperville-Elgin 107.3
Blacksburg-Christiansburg-Radford 96.8
Services
Chicago-Naperville-Elgin 83.6
Blacksburg-Christiansburg-Radford 88.1
Rents
Chicago-Naperville-Elgin 112.0
Blacksburg-Christiansburg-Radford 74.4
Vertical line = national average (100)
What This Comparison Actually Tells You
Rents creates the largest separation: Blacksburg-Christiansburg-Radford is 37.6 points lower. But services move against the overall direction, so this is a split budget rather than a clean across-the-board winner.
Chicago-Naperville-Elgin, IL-IN and Blacksburg-Christiansburg-Radford, VA sit in clearly different price tiers, separated by 10.9 RPP points. At this distance, treating the same nominal salary as equivalent would materially change purchasing power.
This route crosses the national benchmark: Chicago-Naperville-Elgin is above 100 while Blacksburg-Christiansburg-Radford 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 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 Chicago-Naperville-Elgin corresponds to $89,493 in Blacksburg-Christiansburg-Radford.
Chicago-Naperville-Elgin
103.6
Cost Index
Blacksburg-Christiansburg-Radford
92.7
Cost Index
Salary Equivalents
What a salary in Chicago-Naperville-Elgin would need to be in Blacksburg-Christiansburg-Radford for the same purchasing power:
| In Chicago-Naperville-Elgin | In Blacksburg-Christiansburg-Radford | Difference |
|---|---|---|
| $50,000 | $44,746 | $-5,254 |
| $75,000 | $67,120 | $-7,880 |
| $100,000 | $89,493 | $-10,507 |
| $150,000 | $134,239 | $-15,761 |
$ in Chicago-Naperville-Elgin = in Blacksburg-Christiansburg-Radford
Same BEA Regional Price Parity ratio as the table above (103.6 → 92.7), computed live from your number, nothing is sent anywhere.
How the Price Gap Changed
Chicago-Naperville-Elgin and Blacksburg-Christiansburg-Radford share 17 published annual releases from 2008 through 2024. Their overall gap narrowed, moving from 17.5 to 10.9 RPP points. Chicago-Naperville-Elgin remained the higher-index metro in the latest release.
Services changed the most within this pair: its gap moved 22.4 points between the first and latest shared releases (17.8 to 4.5 points). This describes a relative price-index history, not a forecast or a household budget.
| Release Year | Chicago-Naperville-Elgin RPP | Blacksburg-Christiansburg-Radford RPP | Relative Gap |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2008 | 105.4 | 87.9 | 17.5 points Chicago-Naperville-Elgin higher |
| 2012 | 105.1 | 88.6 | 16.5 points Chicago-Naperville-Elgin higher |
| 2016 | 103.8 | 88.4 | 15.4 points Chicago-Naperville-Elgin higher |
| 2020 | 104.5 | 91.0 | 13.5 points Chicago-Naperville-Elgin higher |
| 2024 | 103.6 | 92.7 | 10.9 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 Blacksburg-Christiansburg-Radford more expensive than Chicago-Naperville-Elgin?
Blacksburg-Christiansburg-Radford is 10.5% less expensive than Chicago-Naperville-Elgin. The overall cost index is 92.7 vs 103.6 (national average = 100).
What salary in Blacksburg-Christiansburg-Radford equals $100K in Chicago-Naperville-Elgin?
A $100,000 salary in Chicago-Naperville-Elgin has the same purchasing power as $89,493 in Blacksburg-Christiansburg-Radford. This is based on the BEA Regional Price Parity indexes.
How do rents compare between Chicago-Naperville-Elgin and Blacksburg-Christiansburg-Radford?
Rents in Chicago-Naperville-Elgin are indexed at 112.0 while Blacksburg-Christiansburg-Radford is at 74.4 (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.