Overall
- Chicago-Naperville-Elgin
- 103.6
Diff -18.8 RPP
Chicago-Naperville-Elgin vs Florence-Muscle Shoals
Cost of living comparison based on BEA Regional Price Parities. Florence-Muscle Shoals is 18.1% less expensive than Chicago-Naperville-Elgin.
18.1% less expensive
Florence-Muscle Shoals, AL is 18.1% less expensive than Chicago-Naperville-Elgin, IL-IN on BEA Regional Price Parities (overall RPP 84.8 vs 103.6). A $100,000 salary in Chicago-Naperville-Elgin buys about the same as $81,874 in Florence-Muscle Shoals; the largest component gap is rents.
- Overall RPP 103.6 (Chicago-Naperville-Elgin) vs 84.8 (Florence-Muscle Shoals)
- $100k in Chicago-Naperville-Elgin ≈ $81,874 purchasing power in Florence-Muscle Shoals
- Rents drives the gap (-64.3 RPP points)
RPP parity plate
Pair IL:AL 103.6→84.8
TIER-GAP · CROSS-STATE · SPLIT-BUDGET · BENCH-CROSS · PP-STEEP
- TIER-GAP Clear tier gap
- CROSS-STATE IL × AL
- 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
Diff -10.9 RPP
Services
Diff +2.2 RPP
Rents
- Chicago-Naperville-Elgin
- 112.0
Diff -64.3 RPP
| Category | Chicago-Naperville-Elgin | Florence-Muscle Shoals | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Overall | 103.6 | 84.8 | -18.8 |
| Goods | 107.3 | 96.4 | -10.9 |
| Services | 83.6 | 85.8 | +2.2 |
| Rents | 112.0 | 47.7 | -64.3 |
Visual Comparison
Overall
Chicago-Naperville-Elgin 103.6
Florence-Muscle Shoals 84.8
Goods
Chicago-Naperville-Elgin 107.3
Florence-Muscle Shoals 96.4
Services
Chicago-Naperville-Elgin 83.6
Florence-Muscle Shoals 85.8
Rents
Chicago-Naperville-Elgin 112.0
Florence-Muscle Shoals 47.7
Vertical line = national average (100)
What This Comparison Actually Tells You
Rents creates the largest separation: Florence-Muscle Shoals is 64.3 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 Florence-Muscle Shoals, AL sit in clearly different price tiers, separated by 18.8 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 Florence-Muscle Shoals 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 $81,874 in Florence-Muscle Shoals.
Chicago-Naperville-Elgin
103.6
Cost Index
Florence-Muscle Shoals
84.8
Cost Index
Salary Equivalents
What a salary in Chicago-Naperville-Elgin would need to be in Florence-Muscle Shoals for the same purchasing power:
| In Chicago-Naperville-Elgin | In Florence-Muscle Shoals | Difference |
|---|---|---|
| $50,000 | $40,937 | $-9,063 |
| $75,000 | $61,405 | $-13,595 |
| $100,000 | $81,874 | $-18,126 |
| $150,000 | $122,810 | $-27,190 |
$ in Chicago-Naperville-Elgin = in Florence-Muscle Shoals
Same BEA Regional Price Parity ratio as the table above (103.6 → 84.8), computed live from your number, nothing is sent anywhere.
How the Price Gap Changed
Chicago-Naperville-Elgin and Florence-Muscle Shoals share 17 published annual releases from 2008 through 2024. Their overall gap narrowed, moving from 22.2 to 18.8 RPP points. Chicago-Naperville-Elgin remained the higher-index metro in the latest release.
Rents changed the most within this pair: its gap moved 15.0 points between the first and latest shared releases (79.4 to 64.3 points). This describes a relative price-index history, not a forecast or a household budget.
| Release Year | Chicago-Naperville-Elgin RPP | Florence-Muscle Shoals RPP | Relative Gap |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2008 | 105.4 | 83.3 | 22.2 points Chicago-Naperville-Elgin higher |
| 2012 | 105.1 | 88.6 | 16.5 points Chicago-Naperville-Elgin higher |
| 2016 | 103.8 | 85.9 | 17.9 points Chicago-Naperville-Elgin higher |
| 2020 | 104.5 | 82.8 | 21.7 points Chicago-Naperville-Elgin higher |
| 2024 | 103.6 | 84.8 | 18.8 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 Florence-Muscle Shoals more expensive than Chicago-Naperville-Elgin?
Florence-Muscle Shoals is 18.1% less expensive than Chicago-Naperville-Elgin. The overall cost index is 84.8 vs 103.6 (national average = 100).
What salary in Florence-Muscle Shoals equals $100K in Chicago-Naperville-Elgin?
A $100,000 salary in Chicago-Naperville-Elgin has the same purchasing power as $81,874 in Florence-Muscle Shoals. This is based on the BEA Regional Price Parity indexes.
How do rents compare between Chicago-Naperville-Elgin and Florence-Muscle Shoals?
Rents in Chicago-Naperville-Elgin are indexed at 112.0 while Florence-Muscle Shoals is at 47.7 (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.