Overall
- Chicago-Naperville-Elgin
- 103.6
Diff -3.4 RPP
Chicago-Naperville-Elgin vs Las Vegas-Henderson-North Las Vegas
Cost of living comparison based on BEA Regional Price Parities. Las Vegas-Henderson-North Las Vegas is 3.3% less expensive than Chicago-Naperville-Elgin.
3.3% less expensive
Las Vegas-Henderson-North Las Vegas, NV is 3.3% less expensive than Chicago-Naperville-Elgin, IL-IN on BEA Regional Price Parities (overall RPP 100.2 vs 103.6). A $100,000 salary in Chicago-Naperville-Elgin buys about the same as $96,737 in Las Vegas-Henderson-North Las Vegas; the largest component gap is goods.
- Overall RPP 103.6 (Chicago-Naperville-Elgin) vs 100.2 (Las Vegas-Henderson-North Las Vegas)
- $100k in Chicago-Naperville-Elgin ≈ $96,737 purchasing power in Las Vegas-Henderson-North Las Vegas
- Goods drives the gap (-11.0 RPP points)
RPP parity plate
Pair IL:NV 103.6→100.2
TIER-NEAR · CROSS-STATE · SPLIT-BUDGET · BOTH-ABOVE · PP-SHIFT
- TIER-NEAR Near tier
- CROSS-STATE IL × NV
- 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 -11.0 RPP
Services
Diff +7.1 RPP
Rents
- Chicago-Naperville-Elgin
- 112.0
Diff +3.5 RPP
| Category | Chicago-Naperville-Elgin | Las Vegas-Henderson-North Las Vegas | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Overall | 103.6 | 100.2 | -3.4 |
| Goods | 107.3 | 96.3 | -11.0 |
| Services | 83.6 | 90.6 | +7.1 |
| Rents | 112.0 | 115.5 | +3.5 |
Visual Comparison
Overall
Chicago-Naperville-Elgin 103.6
Las Vegas-Henderson-North Las Vegas 100.2
Goods
Chicago-Naperville-Elgin 107.3
Las Vegas-Henderson-North Las Vegas 96.3
Services
Chicago-Naperville-Elgin 83.6
Las Vegas-Henderson-North Las Vegas 90.6
Rents
Chicago-Naperville-Elgin 112.0
Las Vegas-Henderson-North Las Vegas 115.5
Vertical line = national average (100)
What This Comparison Actually Tells You
Goods creates the largest separation: Las Vegas-Henderson-North Las Vegas is 11.0 points lower. But services and rents move against the overall direction, so this is a split budget rather than a clean across-the-board winner.
Las Vegas-Henderson-North Las Vegas, NV is 3.3% less expensive than Chicago-Naperville-Elgin, IL-IN, a meaningful but not extreme shift. The move decision turns on which budget category creates the 3.4-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 $96,737 in Las Vegas-Henderson-North Las Vegas 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
Las Vegas-Henderson-North Las Vegas
100.2
Cost Index
Salary Equivalents
What a salary in Chicago-Naperville-Elgin would need to be in Las Vegas-Henderson-North Las Vegas for the same purchasing power:
| In Chicago-Naperville-Elgin | In Las Vegas-Henderson-North Las Vegas | Difference |
|---|---|---|
| $50,000 | $48,369 | $-1,631 |
| $75,000 | $72,553 | $-2,447 |
| $100,000 | $96,737 | $-3,263 |
| $150,000 | $145,106 | $-4,894 |
$ in Chicago-Naperville-Elgin = in Las Vegas-Henderson-North Las Vegas
Same BEA Regional Price Parity ratio as the table above (103.6 → 100.2), computed live from your number, nothing is sent anywhere.
How the Price Gap Changed
Chicago-Naperville-Elgin and Las Vegas-Henderson-North Las Vegas share 17 published annual releases from 2008 through 2024. Their overall gap held broadly steady, moving from 3.8 to 3.4 RPP points. Chicago-Naperville-Elgin remained the higher-index metro in the latest release.
Services changed the most within this pair: its gap moved 6.5 points between the first and latest shared releases (0.5 to 7.1 points). This describes a relative price-index history, not a forecast or a household budget.
| Release Year | Chicago-Naperville-Elgin RPP | Las Vegas-Henderson-North Las Vegas RPP | Relative Gap |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2008 | 105.4 | 101.6 | 3.8 points Chicago-Naperville-Elgin higher |
| 2012 | 105.1 | 102.3 | 2.8 points Chicago-Naperville-Elgin higher |
| 2016 | 103.8 | 97.5 | 6.3 points Chicago-Naperville-Elgin higher |
| 2020 | 104.5 | 97.8 | 6.7 points Chicago-Naperville-Elgin higher |
| 2024 | 103.6 | 100.2 | 3.4 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 Las Vegas-Henderson-North Las Vegas more expensive than Chicago-Naperville-Elgin?
Las Vegas-Henderson-North Las Vegas is 3.3% less expensive than Chicago-Naperville-Elgin. The overall cost index is 100.2 vs 103.6 (national average = 100).
What salary in Las Vegas-Henderson-North Las Vegas equals $100K in Chicago-Naperville-Elgin?
A $100,000 salary in Chicago-Naperville-Elgin has the same purchasing power as $96,737 in Las Vegas-Henderson-North Las Vegas. This is based on the BEA Regional Price Parity indexes.
How do rents compare between Chicago-Naperville-Elgin and Las Vegas-Henderson-North Las Vegas?
Rents in Chicago-Naperville-Elgin are indexed at 112.0 while Las Vegas-Henderson-North Las Vegas is at 115.5 (national average = 100). Las Vegas-Henderson-North Las Vegas 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.