Overall
- Chicago-Naperville-Elgin
- 103.6
- Lexington Park
- 100.8
Diff -2.8 RPP
Chicago-Naperville-Elgin vs Lexington Park
Cost of living comparison based on BEA Regional Price Parities. Lexington Park is 2.7% less expensive than Chicago-Naperville-Elgin.
2.7% less expensive
Lexington Park, MD is 2.7% less expensive than Chicago-Naperville-Elgin, IL-IN on BEA Regional Price Parities (overall RPP 100.8 vs 103.6). A $100,000 salary in Chicago-Naperville-Elgin buys about the same as $97,263 in Lexington Park; the largest component gap is services.
- Overall RPP 103.6 (Chicago-Naperville-Elgin) vs 100.8 (Lexington Park)
- $100k in Chicago-Naperville-Elgin ≈ $97,263 purchasing power in Lexington Park
- Services drives the gap (+22.8 RPP points)
RPP parity plate
Pair IL:MD 103.6→100.8
TIER-NEAR · CROSS-STATE · SPLIT-BUDGET · BOTH-ABOVE · PP-SHIFT
- TIER-NEAR Near tier
- CROSS-STATE IL × MD
- 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
- Lexington Park
- 99.7
Diff -7.6 RPP
Services
- Lexington Park
- 106.4
Diff +22.8 RPP
Rents
- Chicago-Naperville-Elgin
- 112.0
- Lexington Park
- 103.8
Diff -8.2 RPP
| Category | Chicago-Naperville-Elgin | Lexington Park | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Overall | 103.6 | 100.8 | -2.8 |
| Goods | 107.3 | 99.7 | -7.6 |
| Services | 83.6 | 106.4 | +22.8 |
| Rents | 112.0 | 103.8 | -8.2 |
Visual Comparison
Overall
Chicago-Naperville-Elgin 103.6
Lexington Park 100.8
Goods
Chicago-Naperville-Elgin 107.3
Lexington Park 99.7
Services
Chicago-Naperville-Elgin 83.6
Lexington Park 106.4
Rents
Chicago-Naperville-Elgin 112.0
Lexington Park 103.8
Vertical line = national average (100)
What This Comparison Actually Tells You
Services creates the largest separation: Lexington Park is 22.8 points higher. But services move against the overall direction, so this is a split budget rather than a clean across-the-board winner.
Lexington Park, MD is 2.7% less expensive than Chicago-Naperville-Elgin, IL-IN, a meaningful but not extreme shift. The move decision turns on which budget category creates the 2.8-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 service-heavy household, test childcare, health, and other locally supplied costs before relying on rent alone. The BEA ratio converts $100,000 in Chicago-Naperville-Elgin to $97,263 in Lexington Park, but it is not a personal spending weight.
Chicago-Naperville-Elgin
103.6
Cost Index
Lexington Park
100.8
Cost Index
Salary Equivalents
What a salary in Chicago-Naperville-Elgin would need to be in Lexington Park for the same purchasing power:
| In Chicago-Naperville-Elgin | In Lexington Park | Difference |
|---|---|---|
| $50,000 | $48,632 | $-1,368 |
| $75,000 | $72,948 | $-2,052 |
| $100,000 | $97,263 | $-2,737 |
| $150,000 | $145,895 | $-4,105 |
$ in Chicago-Naperville-Elgin = in Lexington Park
Same BEA Regional Price Parity ratio as the table above (103.6 → 100.8), computed live from your number, nothing is sent anywhere.
How the Price Gap Changed
Chicago-Naperville-Elgin and Lexington Park share 17 published annual releases from 2008 through 2024. Their overall gap held broadly steady, moving from 2.5 to 2.8 RPP points. Chicago-Naperville-Elgin remained the higher-index metro in the latest release.
Goods changed the most within this pair: its gap moved 4.0 points between the first and latest shared releases (3.6 to 7.6 points). This describes a relative price-index history, not a forecast or a household budget.
| Release Year | Chicago-Naperville-Elgin RPP | Lexington Park RPP | Relative Gap |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2008 | 105.4 | 103.0 | 2.5 points Chicago-Naperville-Elgin higher |
| 2012 | 105.1 | 102.6 | 2.5 points Chicago-Naperville-Elgin higher |
| 2016 | 103.8 | 103.3 | 0.5 points Chicago-Naperville-Elgin higher |
| 2020 | 104.5 | 101.4 | 3.1 points Chicago-Naperville-Elgin higher |
| 2024 | 103.6 | 100.8 | 2.8 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 Lexington Park more expensive than Chicago-Naperville-Elgin?
Lexington Park is 2.7% less expensive than Chicago-Naperville-Elgin. The overall cost index is 100.8 vs 103.6 (national average = 100).
What salary in Lexington Park equals $100K in Chicago-Naperville-Elgin?
A $100,000 salary in Chicago-Naperville-Elgin has the same purchasing power as $97,263 in Lexington Park. This is based on the BEA Regional Price Parity indexes.
How do rents compare between Chicago-Naperville-Elgin and Lexington Park?
Rents in Chicago-Naperville-Elgin are indexed at 112.0 while Lexington Park is at 103.8 (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.