Overall
- Chicago-Naperville-Elgin
- 103.6
Diff -7.3 RPP
Chicago-Naperville-Elgin vs Nashville-Davidson--Murfreesboro--Franklin
Cost of living comparison based on BEA Regional Price Parities. Nashville-Davidson--Murfreesboro--Franklin is 7% less expensive than Chicago-Naperville-Elgin.
7% less expensive
Nashville-Davidson--Murfreesboro--Franklin, TN is 7% less expensive than Chicago-Naperville-Elgin, IL-IN on BEA Regional Price Parities (overall RPP 96.3 vs 103.6). A $100,000 salary in Chicago-Naperville-Elgin buys about the same as $92,995 in Nashville-Davidson--Murfreesboro--Franklin; the largest component gap is services.
- Overall RPP 103.6 (Chicago-Naperville-Elgin) vs 96.3 (Nashville-Davidson--Murfreesboro--Franklin)
- $100k in Chicago-Naperville-Elgin ≈ $92,995 purchasing power in Nashville-Davidson--Murfreesboro--Franklin
- Services drives the gap (-11.6 RPP points)
RPP parity plate
Pair IL:TN 103.6→96.3
TIER-NEAR · CROSS-STATE · SERVICES-LED · BENCH-CROSS · PP-SHIFT
- TIER-NEAR Near tier
- CROSS-STATE IL × TN
- SERVICES-LED Services-led gap
- 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.
What This Comparison Actually Tells You
Nashville-Davidson--Murfreesboro--Franklin, TN is 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 7.3-point overall gap.
This route crosses the national benchmark: Chicago-Naperville-Elgin is above 100 while Nashville-Davidson--Murfreesboro--Franklin is below it. That makes the move a change of price regime, not merely a rank swap.
Services leads the difference, with Nashville-Davidson--Murfreesboro--Franklin 11.6 points lower than Chicago-Naperville-Elgin. Goods, services, and rents all point in the same broad direction, making the headline comparison more transferable across household types.
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 $92,995 in Nashville-Davidson--Murfreesboro--Franklin, but it is not a personal spending weight.
How the Price Gap Changed
Chicago-Naperville-Elgin and Nashville-Davidson--Murfreesboro--Franklin share 17 published annual releases from 2008 through 2024. Their overall gap narrowed, moving from 9.7 to 7.3 RPP points. Chicago-Naperville-Elgin remained the higher-index metro in the latest release.
Rents changed the most within this pair: its gap moved 27.1 points between the first and latest shared releases (34.5 to 7.4 points). This describes a relative price-index history, not a forecast or a household budget.
| Release Year | Chicago-Naperville-Elgin RPP | Nashville-Davidson--Murfreesboro--Franklin RPP | Relative Gap |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2008 | 105.4 | 95.7 | 9.7 points Chicago-Naperville-Elgin higher |
| 2012 | 105.1 | 97.4 | 7.8 points Chicago-Naperville-Elgin higher |
| 2016 | 103.8 | 99.3 | 4.5 points Chicago-Naperville-Elgin higher |
| 2020 | 104.5 | 95.9 | 8.5 points Chicago-Naperville-Elgin higher |
| 2024 | 103.6 | 96.3 | 7.3 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.
Category Breakdown
Goods
- Chicago-Naperville-Elgin
- 107.3
Diff -11.0 RPP
Services
Diff -11.6 RPP
Rents
- Chicago-Naperville-Elgin
- 112.0
Diff -7.4 RPP
| Category | Chicago-Naperville-Elgin | Nashville-Davidson--Murfreesboro--Franklin | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Overall | 103.6 | 96.3 | -7.3 |
| Goods | 107.3 | 96.2 | -11.0 |
| Services | 83.6 | 72.0 | -11.6 |
| Rents | 112.0 | 104.6 | -7.4 |
Visual Comparison
Overall
Chicago-Naperville-Elgin 103.6
Nashville-Davidson--Murfreesboro--Franklin 96.3
Goods
Chicago-Naperville-Elgin 107.3
Nashville-Davidson--Murfreesboro--Franklin 96.2
Services
Chicago-Naperville-Elgin 83.6
Nashville-Davidson--Murfreesboro--Franklin 72.0
Rents
Chicago-Naperville-Elgin 112.0
Nashville-Davidson--Murfreesboro--Franklin 104.6
Vertical line = national average (100)
Salary Equivalents
What a salary in Chicago-Naperville-Elgin would need to be in Nashville-Davidson--Murfreesboro--Franklin for the same purchasing power:
| In Chicago-Naperville-Elgin | In Nashville-Davidson--Murfreesboro--Franklin | Difference |
|---|---|---|
| $50,000 | $46,497 | $-3,503 |
| $75,000 | $69,746 | $-5,254 |
| $100,000 | $92,995 | $-7,005 |
| $150,000 | $139,492 | $-10,508 |
$ in Chicago-Naperville-Elgin = in Nashville-Davidson--Murfreesboro--Franklin
Same BEA Regional Price Parity ratio as the table above (103.6 → 96.3), computed live from your number, nothing is sent anywhere.
Chicago-Naperville-Elgin
103.6
Cost Index
Nashville-Davidson--Murfreesboro--Franklin
96.3
Cost Index
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Nashville-Davidson--Murfreesboro--Franklin more expensive than Chicago-Naperville-Elgin?
Nashville-Davidson--Murfreesboro--Franklin is 7% less expensive than Chicago-Naperville-Elgin. The overall cost index is 96.3 vs 103.6 (national average = 100).
What salary in Nashville-Davidson--Murfreesboro--Franklin equals $100K in Chicago-Naperville-Elgin?
A $100,000 salary in Chicago-Naperville-Elgin has the same purchasing power as $92,995 in Nashville-Davidson--Murfreesboro--Franklin. This is based on the BEA Regional Price Parity indexes.
How do rents compare between Chicago-Naperville-Elgin and Nashville-Davidson--Murfreesboro--Franklin?
Rents in Chicago-Naperville-Elgin are indexed at 112.0 while Nashville-Davidson--Murfreesboro--Franklin is at 104.6 (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.