Overall
- Chicago-Naperville-Elgin
- 103.6
Diff -8.9 RPP
Chicago-Naperville-Elgin vs San Antonio-New Braunfels
Cost of living comparison based on BEA Regional Price Parities. San Antonio-New Braunfels is 8.6% less expensive than Chicago-Naperville-Elgin.
8.6% less expensive
San Antonio-New Braunfels, TX is 8.6% less expensive than Chicago-Naperville-Elgin, IL-IN on BEA Regional Price Parities (overall RPP 94.7 vs 103.6). A $100,000 salary in Chicago-Naperville-Elgin buys about the same as $91,429 in San Antonio-New Braunfels; the largest component gap is rents.
- Overall RPP 103.6 (Chicago-Naperville-Elgin) vs 94.7 (San Antonio-New Braunfels)
- $100k in Chicago-Naperville-Elgin ≈ $91,429 purchasing power in San Antonio-New Braunfels
- Rents drives the gap (-17.4 RPP points)
RPP parity plate
Pair IL:TX 103.6→94.7
TIER-GAP · CROSS-STATE · RENT-LED · BENCH-CROSS · PP-SHIFT
- TIER-GAP Clear tier gap
- CROSS-STATE IL × TX
- RENT-LED Rent-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.
Salary Equivalents
What a salary in Chicago-Naperville-Elgin would need to be in San Antonio-New Braunfels for the same purchasing power:
| In Chicago-Naperville-Elgin | In San Antonio-New Braunfels | Difference |
|---|---|---|
| $50,000 | $45,715 | $-4,285 |
| $75,000 | $68,572 | $-6,428 |
| $100,000 | $91,429 | $-8,571 |
| $150,000 | $137,144 | $-12,856 |
$ in Chicago-Naperville-Elgin = in San Antonio-New Braunfels
Same BEA Regional Price Parity ratio as the table above (103.6 → 94.7), computed live from your number, nothing is sent anywhere.
What This Comparison Actually Tells You
Chicago-Naperville-Elgin, IL-IN and San Antonio-New Braunfels, TX sit in clearly different price tiers, separated by 8.9 RPP points. At this distance, treating the same nominal salary as equivalent would materially change purchasing power.
This route crosses the national benchmark: Chicago-Naperville-Elgin is above 100 while San Antonio-New Braunfels is below it. That makes the move a change of price regime, not merely a rank swap.
Rents leads the difference, with San Antonio-New Braunfels 17.4 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 housing-sensitive move, validate the rent gap first: HUD Fair Market Rent and the actual unit size can overturn what the blended index implies. On the BEA ratio alone, $100,000 in Chicago-Naperville-Elgin corresponds to $91,429 in San Antonio-New Braunfels.
Category Breakdown
Goods
- Chicago-Naperville-Elgin
- 107.3
Diff -13.5 RPP
Services
Diff -1.4 RPP
Rents
- Chicago-Naperville-Elgin
- 112.0
Diff -17.4 RPP
| Category | Chicago-Naperville-Elgin | San Antonio-New Braunfels | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Overall | 103.6 | 94.7 | -8.9 |
| Goods | 107.3 | 93.8 | -13.5 |
| Services | 83.6 | 82.2 | -1.4 |
| Rents | 112.0 | 94.6 | -17.4 |
Visual Comparison
Overall
Chicago-Naperville-Elgin 103.6
San Antonio-New Braunfels 94.7
Goods
Chicago-Naperville-Elgin 107.3
San Antonio-New Braunfels 93.8
Services
Chicago-Naperville-Elgin 83.6
San Antonio-New Braunfels 82.2
Rents
Chicago-Naperville-Elgin 112.0
San Antonio-New Braunfels 94.6
Vertical line = national average (100)
Chicago-Naperville-Elgin
103.6
Cost Index
San Antonio-New Braunfels
94.7
Cost Index
How the Price Gap Changed
Chicago-Naperville-Elgin and San Antonio-New Braunfels share 17 published annual releases from 2008 through 2024. Their overall gap held broadly steady, moving from 9.3 to 8.9 RPP points. Chicago-Naperville-Elgin remained the higher-index metro in the latest release.
Rents changed the most within this pair: its gap moved 18.6 points between the first and latest shared releases (36.0 to 17.4 points). This describes a relative price-index history, not a forecast or a household budget.
| Release Year | Chicago-Naperville-Elgin RPP | San Antonio-New Braunfels RPP | Relative Gap |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2008 | 105.4 | 96.1 | 9.3 points Chicago-Naperville-Elgin higher |
| 2012 | 105.1 | 97.4 | 7.7 points Chicago-Naperville-Elgin higher |
| 2016 | 103.8 | 98.3 | 5.5 points Chicago-Naperville-Elgin higher |
| 2020 | 104.5 | 96.8 | 7.7 points Chicago-Naperville-Elgin higher |
| 2024 | 103.6 | 94.7 | 8.9 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 San Antonio-New Braunfels more expensive than Chicago-Naperville-Elgin?
San Antonio-New Braunfels is 8.6% less expensive than Chicago-Naperville-Elgin. The overall cost index is 94.7 vs 103.6 (national average = 100).
What salary in San Antonio-New Braunfels equals $100K in Chicago-Naperville-Elgin?
A $100,000 salary in Chicago-Naperville-Elgin has the same purchasing power as $91,429 in San Antonio-New Braunfels. This is based on the BEA Regional Price Parity indexes.
How do rents compare between Chicago-Naperville-Elgin and San Antonio-New Braunfels?
Rents in Chicago-Naperville-Elgin are indexed at 112.0 while San Antonio-New Braunfels is at 94.6 (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.