Overall
- Chicago-Naperville-Elgin
- 103.6
- Cape Girardeau
- 86.1
Diff -17.5 RPP
Chicago-Naperville-Elgin vs Cape Girardeau
Cost of living comparison based on BEA Regional Price Parities. Cape Girardeau is 16.9% less expensive than Chicago-Naperville-Elgin.
16.9% less expensive
Cape Girardeau, MO-IL is 16.9% less expensive than Chicago-Naperville-Elgin, IL-IN on BEA Regional Price Parities (overall RPP 86.1 vs 103.6). A $100,000 salary in Chicago-Naperville-Elgin buys about the same as $83,091 in Cape Girardeau; the largest component gap is rents.
- Overall RPP 103.6 (Chicago-Naperville-Elgin) vs 86.1 (Cape Girardeau)
- $100k in Chicago-Naperville-Elgin ≈ $83,091 purchasing power in Cape Girardeau
- Rents drives the gap (-55.6 RPP points)
RPP parity plate
Pair IL:MO 103.6→86.1
TIER-GAP · CROSS-STATE · SPLIT-BUDGET · BENCH-CROSS · PP-STEEP
- TIER-GAP Clear tier gap
- CROSS-STATE IL × MO
- SPLIT-BUDGET Split budget
- BENCH-CROSS Benchmark cross
- PP-STEEP Steep PP convert
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
- Cape Girardeau
- 94.2
Diff -13.0 RPP
Services
- Cape Girardeau
- 85.6
Diff +2.0 RPP
Rents
- Chicago-Naperville-Elgin
- 112.0
- Cape Girardeau
- 56.4
Diff -55.6 RPP
| Category | Chicago-Naperville-Elgin | Cape Girardeau | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Overall | 103.6 | 86.1 | -17.5 |
| Goods | 107.3 | 94.2 | -13.0 |
| Services | 83.6 | 85.6 | +2.0 |
| Rents | 112.0 | 56.4 | -55.6 |
Visual Comparison
Overall
Chicago-Naperville-Elgin 103.6
Cape Girardeau 86.1
Goods
Chicago-Naperville-Elgin 107.3
Cape Girardeau 94.2
Services
Chicago-Naperville-Elgin 83.6
Cape Girardeau 85.6
Rents
Chicago-Naperville-Elgin 112.0
Cape Girardeau 56.4
Vertical line = national average (100)
What This Comparison Actually Tells You
Rents creates the largest separation: Cape Girardeau is 55.6 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 Cape Girardeau, MO-IL sit in clearly different price tiers, separated by 17.5 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 Cape Girardeau 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 $83,091 in Cape Girardeau.
Chicago-Naperville-Elgin
103.6
Cost Index
Cape Girardeau
86.1
Cost Index
Salary Equivalents
What a salary in Chicago-Naperville-Elgin would need to be in Cape Girardeau for the same purchasing power:
| In Chicago-Naperville-Elgin | In Cape Girardeau | Difference |
|---|---|---|
| $50,000 | $41,545 | $-8,455 |
| $75,000 | $62,318 | $-12,682 |
| $100,000 | $83,091 | $-16,909 |
| $150,000 | $124,636 | $-25,364 |
$ in Chicago-Naperville-Elgin = in Cape Girardeau
Same BEA Regional Price Parity ratio as the table above (103.6 → 86.1), computed live from your number, nothing is sent anywhere.
How the Price Gap Changed
Chicago-Naperville-Elgin and Cape Girardeau share 17 published annual releases from 2008 through 2024. Their overall gap narrowed, moving from 24.2 to 17.5 RPP points. Chicago-Naperville-Elgin remained the higher-index metro in the latest release.
Services changed the most within this pair: its gap moved 22.0 points between the first and latest shared releases (20.0 to 2.0 points). This describes a relative price-index history, not a forecast or a household budget.
| Release Year | Chicago-Naperville-Elgin RPP | Cape Girardeau RPP | Relative Gap |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2008 | 105.4 | 81.3 | 24.2 points Chicago-Naperville-Elgin higher |
| 2012 | 105.1 | 88.5 | 16.6 points Chicago-Naperville-Elgin higher |
| 2016 | 103.8 | 86.1 | 17.7 points Chicago-Naperville-Elgin higher |
| 2020 | 104.5 | 88.9 | 15.6 points Chicago-Naperville-Elgin higher |
| 2024 | 103.6 | 86.1 | 17.5 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 Cape Girardeau more expensive than Chicago-Naperville-Elgin?
Cape Girardeau is 16.9% less expensive than Chicago-Naperville-Elgin. The overall cost index is 86.1 vs 103.6 (national average = 100).
What salary in Cape Girardeau equals $100K in Chicago-Naperville-Elgin?
A $100,000 salary in Chicago-Naperville-Elgin has the same purchasing power as $83,091 in Cape Girardeau. This is based on the BEA Regional Price Parity indexes.
How do rents compare between Chicago-Naperville-Elgin and Cape Girardeau?
Rents in Chicago-Naperville-Elgin are indexed at 112.0 while Cape Girardeau is at 56.4 (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.