Overall
- Chicago-Naperville-Elgin
- 103.6
- Port St. Lucie
- 100.2
Diff -3.4 RPP
Chicago-Naperville-Elgin vs Port St. Lucie
Cost of living comparison based on BEA Regional Price Parities. Port St. Lucie is 3.3% less expensive than Chicago-Naperville-Elgin.
3.3% less expensive
Port St. Lucie, FL 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 $96,750 in Port St. Lucie; the largest component gap is goods.
- Overall RPP 103.6 (Chicago-Naperville-Elgin) vs 100.2 (Port St. Lucie)
- $100k in Chicago-Naperville-Elgin ≈ $96,750 purchasing power in Port St. Lucie
- Goods drives the gap (-11.0 RPP points)
RPP parity plate
Pair IL:FL 103.6→100.2
TIER-NEAR · CROSS-STATE · SPLIT-BUDGET · BOTH-ABOVE · PP-SHIFT
- TIER-NEAR Near tier
- CROSS-STATE IL × FL
- 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
- Port St. Lucie
- 96.2
Diff -11.0 RPP
Services
- Port St. Lucie
- 87.0
Diff +3.5 RPP
Rents
- Chicago-Naperville-Elgin
- 112.0
- Port St. Lucie
- 113.6
Diff +1.6 RPP
| Category | Chicago-Naperville-Elgin | Port St. Lucie | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Overall | 103.6 | 100.2 | -3.4 |
| Goods | 107.3 | 96.2 | -11.0 |
| Services | 83.6 | 87.0 | +3.5 |
| Rents | 112.0 | 113.6 | +1.6 |
Visual Comparison
Overall
Chicago-Naperville-Elgin 103.6
Port St. Lucie 100.2
Goods
Chicago-Naperville-Elgin 107.3
Port St. Lucie 96.2
Services
Chicago-Naperville-Elgin 83.6
Port St. Lucie 87.0
Rents
Chicago-Naperville-Elgin 112.0
Port St. Lucie 113.6
Vertical line = national average (100)
What This Comparison Actually Tells You
Goods creates the largest separation: Port St. Lucie 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.
Port St. Lucie, FL 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 $96,750 in Port St. Lucie 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
Port St. Lucie
100.2
Cost Index
Salary Equivalents
What a salary in Chicago-Naperville-Elgin would need to be in Port St. Lucie for the same purchasing power:
| In Chicago-Naperville-Elgin | In Port St. Lucie | Difference |
|---|---|---|
| $50,000 | $48,375 | $-1,625 |
| $75,000 | $72,562 | $-2,438 |
| $100,000 | $96,750 | $-3,250 |
| $150,000 | $145,125 | $-4,875 |
$ in Chicago-Naperville-Elgin = in Port St. Lucie
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 Port St. Lucie share 17 published annual releases from 2008 through 2024. Their overall gap held broadly steady, moving from 4.3 to 3.4 RPP points. Chicago-Naperville-Elgin remained the higher-index metro in the latest release.
Rents changed the most within this pair: its gap moved 12.9 points between the first and latest shared releases (11.3 to 1.6 points). This describes a relative price-index history, not a forecast or a household budget.
| Release Year | Chicago-Naperville-Elgin RPP | Port St. Lucie RPP | Relative Gap |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2008 | 105.4 | 101.1 | 4.3 points Chicago-Naperville-Elgin higher |
| 2012 | 105.1 | 99.2 | 6.0 points Chicago-Naperville-Elgin higher |
| 2016 | 103.8 | 100.5 | 3.3 points Chicago-Naperville-Elgin higher |
| 2020 | 104.5 | 98.6 | 5.9 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 Port St. Lucie more expensive than Chicago-Naperville-Elgin?
Port St. Lucie 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 Port St. Lucie equals $100K in Chicago-Naperville-Elgin?
A $100,000 salary in Chicago-Naperville-Elgin has the same purchasing power as $96,750 in Port St. Lucie. This is based on the BEA Regional Price Parity indexes.
How do rents compare between Chicago-Naperville-Elgin and Port St. Lucie?
Rents in Chicago-Naperville-Elgin are indexed at 112.0 while Port St. Lucie is at 113.6 (national average = 100). Port St. Lucie 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.