Overall
- Chicago-Naperville-Elgin
- 103.6
Diff -2.6 RPP
Chicago-Naperville-Elgin vs Charleston-North Charleston
Cost of living comparison based on BEA Regional Price Parities. Charleston-North Charleston is 2.5% less expensive than Chicago-Naperville-Elgin.
2.5% less expensive
Charleston-North Charleston, SC is 2.5% less expensive than Chicago-Naperville-Elgin, IL-IN on BEA Regional Price Parities (overall RPP 101.0 vs 103.6). A $100,000 salary in Chicago-Naperville-Elgin buys about the same as $97,458 in Charleston-North Charleston; the largest component gap is goods.
- Overall RPP 103.6 (Chicago-Naperville-Elgin) vs 101.0 (Charleston-North Charleston)
- $100k in Chicago-Naperville-Elgin ≈ $97,458 purchasing power in Charleston-North Charleston
- Goods drives the gap (-10.9 RPP points)
RPP parity plate
Pair IL:SC 103.6→101.0
TIER-NEAR · CROSS-STATE · SPLIT-BUDGET · BOTH-ABOVE · PP-SHIFT
- TIER-NEAR Near tier
- CROSS-STATE IL × SC
- SPLIT-BUDGET Split budget
- BOTH-ABOVE Both above 100
- 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 -10.9 RPP
Services
Diff +4.6 RPP
Rents
- Chicago-Naperville-Elgin
- 112.0
Diff +7.8 RPP
| Category | Chicago-Naperville-Elgin | Charleston-North Charleston | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Overall | 103.6 | 101.0 | -2.6 |
| Goods | 107.3 | 96.3 | -10.9 |
| Services | 83.6 | 88.2 | +4.6 |
| Rents | 112.0 | 119.8 | +7.8 |
Visual Comparison
Overall
Chicago-Naperville-Elgin 103.6
Charleston-North Charleston 101.0
Goods
Chicago-Naperville-Elgin 107.3
Charleston-North Charleston 96.3
Services
Chicago-Naperville-Elgin 83.6
Charleston-North Charleston 88.2
Rents
Chicago-Naperville-Elgin 112.0
Charleston-North Charleston 119.8
Vertical line = national average (100)
What This Comparison Actually Tells You
Goods creates the largest separation: Charleston-North Charleston is 10.9 points lower. But rents and services move against the overall direction, so this is a split budget rather than a clean across-the-board winner.
Charleston-North Charleston, SC is 2.5% less expensive than Chicago-Naperville-Elgin, IL-IN, a meaningful but not extreme shift. The move decision turns on which budget category creates the 2.6-point overall gap.
Both metros exceed the U.S. benchmark of 100. The choice is between two national premiums, so local wages need to clear the higher baseline in either market.
Comparable population context is incomplete for this pair, so no market-scale explanation is inferred from the price indexes.
For a goods-led difference, remember that many tradable prices vary less by address than housing or labor-priced services. Use $97,458 in Charleston-North Charleston as the BEA equivalent of $100,000 in Chicago-Naperville-Elgin, then replace the national basket with your own.
Chicago-Naperville-Elgin
103.6
Cost Index
Charleston-North Charleston
101.0
Cost Index
Salary Equivalents
What a salary in Chicago-Naperville-Elgin would need to be in Charleston-North Charleston for the same purchasing power:
| In Chicago-Naperville-Elgin | In Charleston-North Charleston | Difference |
|---|---|---|
| $50,000 | $48,729 | $-1,271 |
| $75,000 | $73,094 | $-1,906 |
| $100,000 | $97,458 | $-2,542 |
| $150,000 | $146,188 | $-3,812 |
$ in Chicago-Naperville-Elgin = in Charleston-North Charleston
Same BEA Regional Price Parity ratio as the table above (103.6 → 101.0), computed live from your number, nothing is sent anywhere.
How the Price Gap Changed
Chicago-Naperville-Elgin and Charleston-North Charleston share 17 published annual releases from 2008 through 2024. Their overall gap narrowed, moving from 8.0 to 2.6 RPP points. Chicago-Naperville-Elgin remained the higher-index metro in the latest release.
Rents changed the most within this pair: its gap moved 34.8 points between the first and latest shared releases (27.0 to 7.8 points). This describes a relative price-index history, not a forecast or a household budget.
| Release Year | Chicago-Naperville-Elgin RPP | Charleston-North Charleston RPP | Relative Gap |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2008 | 105.4 | 97.4 | 8.0 points Chicago-Naperville-Elgin higher |
| 2012 | 105.1 | 100.3 | 4.8 points Chicago-Naperville-Elgin higher |
| 2016 | 103.8 | 99.7 | 4.1 points Chicago-Naperville-Elgin higher |
| 2020 | 104.5 | 98.0 | 6.5 points Chicago-Naperville-Elgin higher |
| 2024 | 103.6 | 101.0 | 2.6 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 Charleston-North Charleston more expensive than Chicago-Naperville-Elgin?
Charleston-North Charleston is 2.5% less expensive than Chicago-Naperville-Elgin. The overall cost index is 101.0 vs 103.6 (national average = 100).
What salary in Charleston-North Charleston equals $100K in Chicago-Naperville-Elgin?
A $100,000 salary in Chicago-Naperville-Elgin has the same purchasing power as $97,458 in Charleston-North Charleston. This is based on the BEA Regional Price Parity indexes.
How do rents compare between Chicago-Naperville-Elgin and Charleston-North Charleston?
Rents in Chicago-Naperville-Elgin are indexed at 112.0 while Charleston-North Charleston is at 119.8 (national average = 100). Charleston-North Charleston 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.