Overall
- Chicago-Naperville-Elgin
- 103.6
Diff -5.7 RPP
Chicago-Naperville-Elgin vs Virginia Beach-Chesapeake-Norfolk
Cost of living comparison based on BEA Regional Price Parities. Virginia Beach-Chesapeake-Norfolk is 5.5% less expensive than Chicago-Naperville-Elgin.
5.5% less expensive
Virginia Beach-Chesapeake-Norfolk, VA-NC is 5.5% less expensive than Chicago-Naperville-Elgin, IL-IN on BEA Regional Price Parities (overall RPP 97.9 vs 103.6). A $100,000 salary in Chicago-Naperville-Elgin buys about the same as $94,542 in Virginia Beach-Chesapeake-Norfolk; the largest component gap is rents.
- Overall RPP 103.6 (Chicago-Naperville-Elgin) vs 97.9 (Virginia Beach-Chesapeake-Norfolk)
- $100k in Chicago-Naperville-Elgin ≈ $94,542 purchasing power in Virginia Beach-Chesapeake-Norfolk
- Rents drives the gap (-12.2 RPP points)
RPP parity plate
Pair IL:VA 103.6→97.9
TIER-NEAR · CROSS-STATE · SPLIT-BUDGET · BENCH-CROSS · PP-SHIFT
- TIER-NEAR Near tier
- CROSS-STATE IL × VA
- SPLIT-BUDGET Split budget
- 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.
Category Breakdown
Goods
- Chicago-Naperville-Elgin
- 107.3
Diff -10.5 RPP
Services
Diff +6.0 RPP
Rents
- Chicago-Naperville-Elgin
- 112.0
Diff -12.2 RPP
| Category | Chicago-Naperville-Elgin | Virginia Beach-Chesapeake-Norfolk | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Overall | 103.6 | 97.9 | -5.7 |
| Goods | 107.3 | 96.8 | -10.5 |
| Services | 83.6 | 89.6 | +6.0 |
| Rents | 112.0 | 99.8 | -12.2 |
Visual Comparison
Overall
Chicago-Naperville-Elgin 103.6
Virginia Beach-Chesapeake-Norfolk 97.9
Goods
Chicago-Naperville-Elgin 107.3
Virginia Beach-Chesapeake-Norfolk 96.8
Services
Chicago-Naperville-Elgin 83.6
Virginia Beach-Chesapeake-Norfolk 89.6
Rents
Chicago-Naperville-Elgin 112.0
Virginia Beach-Chesapeake-Norfolk 99.8
Vertical line = national average (100)
What This Comparison Actually Tells You
Rents creates the largest separation: Virginia Beach-Chesapeake-Norfolk is 12.2 points lower. But services move against the overall direction, so this is a split budget rather than a clean across-the-board winner.
Virginia Beach-Chesapeake-Norfolk, VA-NC is 5.5% less expensive than Chicago-Naperville-Elgin, IL-IN, a meaningful but not extreme shift. The move decision turns on which budget category creates the 5.7-point overall gap.
This route crosses the national benchmark: Chicago-Naperville-Elgin is above 100 while Virginia Beach-Chesapeake-Norfolk is below it. That makes the move a change of price regime, not merely a rank swap.
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 $94,542 in Virginia Beach-Chesapeake-Norfolk.
Chicago-Naperville-Elgin
103.6
Cost Index
Virginia Beach-Chesapeake-Norfolk
97.9
Cost Index
Salary Equivalents
What a salary in Chicago-Naperville-Elgin would need to be in Virginia Beach-Chesapeake-Norfolk for the same purchasing power:
| In Chicago-Naperville-Elgin | In Virginia Beach-Chesapeake-Norfolk | Difference |
|---|---|---|
| $50,000 | $47,271 | $-2,729 |
| $75,000 | $70,907 | $-4,093 |
| $100,000 | $94,542 | $-5,458 |
| $150,000 | $141,813 | $-8,187 |
$ in Chicago-Naperville-Elgin = in Virginia Beach-Chesapeake-Norfolk
Same BEA Regional Price Parity ratio as the table above (103.6 → 97.9), computed live from your number, nothing is sent anywhere.
How the Price Gap Changed
Chicago-Naperville-Elgin and Virginia Beach-Chesapeake-Norfolk share 17 published annual releases from 2008 through 2024. Their overall gap held broadly steady, moving from 5.4 to 5.7 RPP points. Chicago-Naperville-Elgin remained the higher-index metro in the latest release.
Services changed the most within this pair: its gap moved 14.5 points between the first and latest shared releases (8.5 to 6.0 points). This describes a relative price-index history, not a forecast or a household budget.
| Release Year | Chicago-Naperville-Elgin RPP | Virginia Beach-Chesapeake-Norfolk RPP | Relative Gap |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2008 | 105.4 | 100.1 | 5.4 points Chicago-Naperville-Elgin higher |
| 2012 | 105.1 | 100.1 | 5.0 points Chicago-Naperville-Elgin higher |
| 2016 | 103.8 | 101.0 | 2.8 points Chicago-Naperville-Elgin higher |
| 2020 | 104.5 | 95.6 | 8.9 points Chicago-Naperville-Elgin higher |
| 2024 | 103.6 | 97.9 | 5.7 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 Virginia Beach-Chesapeake-Norfolk more expensive than Chicago-Naperville-Elgin?
Virginia Beach-Chesapeake-Norfolk is 5.5% less expensive than Chicago-Naperville-Elgin. The overall cost index is 97.9 vs 103.6 (national average = 100).
What salary in Virginia Beach-Chesapeake-Norfolk equals $100K in Chicago-Naperville-Elgin?
A $100,000 salary in Chicago-Naperville-Elgin has the same purchasing power as $94,542 in Virginia Beach-Chesapeake-Norfolk. This is based on the BEA Regional Price Parity indexes.
How do rents compare between Chicago-Naperville-Elgin and Virginia Beach-Chesapeake-Norfolk?
Rents in Chicago-Naperville-Elgin are indexed at 112.0 while Virginia Beach-Chesapeake-Norfolk is at 99.8 (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.