Overall
- Chicago-Naperville-Elgin
- 103.6
- Durham-Chapel Hill
- 97.6
Diff -6.0 RPP
Chicago-Naperville-Elgin vs Durham-Chapel Hill
Cost of living comparison based on BEA Regional Price Parities. Durham-Chapel Hill is 5.8% less expensive than Chicago-Naperville-Elgin.
5.8% less expensive
Durham-Chapel Hill, NC is 5.8% less expensive than Chicago-Naperville-Elgin, IL-IN on BEA Regional Price Parities (overall RPP 97.6 vs 103.6). A $100,000 salary in Chicago-Naperville-Elgin buys about the same as $94,186 in Durham-Chapel Hill; the largest component gap is rents.
- Overall RPP 103.6 (Chicago-Naperville-Elgin) vs 97.6 (Durham-Chapel Hill)
- $100k in Chicago-Naperville-Elgin ≈ $94,186 purchasing power in Durham-Chapel Hill
- Rents drives the gap (-13.1 RPP points)
RPP parity plate
Pair IL:NC 103.6→97.6
TIER-NEAR · CROSS-STATE · SPLIT-BUDGET · BENCH-CROSS · PP-SHIFT
- TIER-NEAR Near tier
- CROSS-STATE IL × NC
- 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
- Durham-Chapel Hill
- 96.6
Diff -10.6 RPP
Services
- Durham-Chapel Hill
- 89.3
Diff +5.7 RPP
Rents
- Chicago-Naperville-Elgin
- 112.0
- Durham-Chapel Hill
- 98.9
Diff -13.1 RPP
| Category | Chicago-Naperville-Elgin | Durham-Chapel Hill | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Overall | 103.6 | 97.6 | -6.0 |
| Goods | 107.3 | 96.6 | -10.6 |
| Services | 83.6 | 89.3 | +5.7 |
| Rents | 112.0 | 98.9 | -13.1 |
Visual Comparison
Overall
Chicago-Naperville-Elgin 103.6
Durham-Chapel Hill 97.6
Goods
Chicago-Naperville-Elgin 107.3
Durham-Chapel Hill 96.6
Services
Chicago-Naperville-Elgin 83.6
Durham-Chapel Hill 89.3
Rents
Chicago-Naperville-Elgin 112.0
Durham-Chapel Hill 98.9
Vertical line = national average (100)
What This Comparison Actually Tells You
Rents creates the largest separation: Durham-Chapel Hill is 13.1 points lower. But services move against the overall direction, so this is a split budget rather than a clean across-the-board winner.
Durham-Chapel Hill, NC is 5.8% less expensive than Chicago-Naperville-Elgin, IL-IN, a meaningful but not extreme shift. The move decision turns on which budget category creates the 6.0-point overall gap.
This route crosses the national benchmark: Chicago-Naperville-Elgin is above 100 while Durham-Chapel Hill 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 $94,186 in Durham-Chapel Hill.
Chicago-Naperville-Elgin
103.6
Cost Index
Durham-Chapel Hill
97.6
Cost Index
Salary Equivalents
What a salary in Chicago-Naperville-Elgin would need to be in Durham-Chapel Hill for the same purchasing power:
| In Chicago-Naperville-Elgin | In Durham-Chapel Hill | Difference |
|---|---|---|
| $50,000 | $47,093 | $-2,907 |
| $75,000 | $70,640 | $-4,360 |
| $100,000 | $94,186 | $-5,814 |
| $150,000 | $141,279 | $-8,721 |
$ in Chicago-Naperville-Elgin = in Durham-Chapel Hill
Same BEA Regional Price Parity ratio as the table above (103.6 → 97.6), computed live from your number, nothing is sent anywhere.
How the Price Gap Changed
Chicago-Naperville-Elgin and Durham-Chapel Hill share 17 published annual releases from 2008 through 2024. Their overall gap narrowed, moving from 8.1 to 6.0 RPP points. Chicago-Naperville-Elgin remained the higher-index metro in the latest release.
Rents changed the most within this pair: its gap moved 15.2 points between the first and latest shared releases (28.3 to 13.1 points). This describes a relative price-index history, not a forecast or a household budget.
| Release Year | Chicago-Naperville-Elgin RPP | Durham-Chapel Hill RPP | Relative Gap |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2008 | 105.4 | 97.3 | 8.1 points Chicago-Naperville-Elgin higher |
| 2012 | 105.1 | 96.7 | 8.4 points Chicago-Naperville-Elgin higher |
| 2016 | 103.8 | 97.5 | 6.3 points Chicago-Naperville-Elgin higher |
| 2020 | 104.5 | 94.8 | 9.6 points Chicago-Naperville-Elgin higher |
| 2024 | 103.6 | 97.6 | 6.0 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 Durham-Chapel Hill more expensive than Chicago-Naperville-Elgin?
Durham-Chapel Hill is 5.8% less expensive than Chicago-Naperville-Elgin. The overall cost index is 97.6 vs 103.6 (national average = 100).
What salary in Durham-Chapel Hill equals $100K in Chicago-Naperville-Elgin?
A $100,000 salary in Chicago-Naperville-Elgin has the same purchasing power as $94,186 in Durham-Chapel Hill. This is based on the BEA Regional Price Parity indexes.
How do rents compare between Chicago-Naperville-Elgin and Durham-Chapel Hill?
Rents in Chicago-Naperville-Elgin are indexed at 112.0 while Durham-Chapel Hill is at 98.9 (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.