Overall
- Chicago-Naperville-Elgin
- 103.6
Diff +10.0 RPP
Chicago-Naperville-Elgin vs Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim
Cost of living comparison based on BEA Regional Price Parities. Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim is 9.6% more expensive than Chicago-Naperville-Elgin.
9.6% more expensive
Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim, CA is 9.6% more expensive than Chicago-Naperville-Elgin, IL-IN on BEA Regional Price Parities (overall RPP 113.6 vs 103.6). A $100,000 salary in Chicago-Naperville-Elgin buys about the same as $109,625 in Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim; the largest component gap is services.
- Overall RPP 103.6 (Chicago-Naperville-Elgin) vs 113.6 (Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim)
- $100k in Chicago-Naperville-Elgin ≈ $109,625 purchasing power in Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim
- Services drives the gap (+75.0 RPP points)
RPP parity plate
Pair IL:CA 103.6→113.6
TIER-GAP · CROSS-STATE · SPLIT-BUDGET · BOTH-ABOVE · PP-SHIFT
- TIER-GAP Clear tier gap
- CROSS-STATE IL × CA
- 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 -0.6 RPP
Services
Diff +75.0 RPP
Rents
- Chicago-Naperville-Elgin
- 112.0
Diff +58.4 RPP
| Category | Chicago-Naperville-Elgin | Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Overall | 103.6 | 113.6 | +10.0 |
| Goods | 107.3 | 106.6 | -0.6 |
| Services | 83.6 | 158.6 | +75.0 |
| Rents | 112.0 | 170.4 | +58.4 |
Visual Comparison
Overall
Chicago-Naperville-Elgin 103.6
Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim 113.6
Goods
Chicago-Naperville-Elgin 107.3
Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim 106.6
Services
Chicago-Naperville-Elgin 83.6
Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim 158.6
Rents
Chicago-Naperville-Elgin 112.0
Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim 170.4
Vertical line = national average (100)
What This Comparison Actually Tells You
Services creates the largest separation: Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim is 75.0 points higher. But goods 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 Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim, CA sit in clearly different price tiers, separated by 10.0 RPP points. At this distance, treating the same nominal salary as equivalent would materially change purchasing power.
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 $109,625 in Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim, but it is not a personal spending weight.
Chicago-Naperville-Elgin
103.6
Cost Index
Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim
113.6
Cost Index
Salary Equivalents
What a salary in Chicago-Naperville-Elgin would need to be in Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim for the same purchasing power:
| In Chicago-Naperville-Elgin | In Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim | Difference |
|---|---|---|
| $50,000 | $54,812 | +$4,812 |
| $75,000 | $82,219 | +$7,219 |
| $100,000 | $109,625 | +$9,625 |
| $150,000 | $164,437 | +$14,437 |
$ in Chicago-Naperville-Elgin = in Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim
Same BEA Regional Price Parity ratio as the table above (103.6 → 113.6), computed live from your number, nothing is sent anywhere.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim more expensive than Chicago-Naperville-Elgin?
Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim is 9.6% more expensive than Chicago-Naperville-Elgin. The overall cost index is 113.6 vs 103.6 (national average = 100).
What salary in Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim equals $100K in Chicago-Naperville-Elgin?
A $100,000 salary in Chicago-Naperville-Elgin has the same purchasing power as $109,625 in Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim. This is based on the BEA Regional Price Parity indexes.
How do rents compare between Chicago-Naperville-Elgin and Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim?
Rents in Chicago-Naperville-Elgin are indexed at 112.0 while Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim is at 170.4 (national average = 100). Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim 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.