Overall
- Fond du Lac
- 91.6
Diff +0.7 RPP
College Station-Bryan vs Fond du Lac
Cost of living comparison based on BEA Regional Price Parities. Fond du Lac is 0.8% more expensive than College Station-Bryan.
0.8% more expensive
Fond du Lac, WI is 0.8% more expensive than College Station-Bryan, TX on BEA Regional Price Parities (overall RPP 91.6 vs 91.0). A $100,000 salary in College Station-Bryan buys about the same as $100,761 in Fond du Lac; the largest component gap is rents.
- Overall RPP 91.0 (College Station-Bryan) vs 91.6 (Fond du Lac)
- $100k in College Station-Bryan ≈ $100,761 purchasing power in Fond du Lac
- Rents drives the gap (-7.8 RPP points)
RPP parity plate
Pair TX:WI 91.0→91.6
PHOTO-FINISH · CROSS-STATE · SPLIT-BUDGET · BOTH-BELOW · PP-PAR
- PHOTO-FINISH Photo finish
- CROSS-STATE TX × WI
- SPLIT-BUDGET Split budget
- BOTH-BELOW Both below 100
- PP-PAR PP near-par
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.
College Station-Bryan
91.0
Cost Index
Fond du Lac
91.6
Cost Index
What This Comparison Actually Tells You
College Station-Bryan, TX and Fond du Lac, WI are a photo finish on overall price level, only 0.7 RPP points apart. A salary conversion is therefore a fine adjustment, not evidence of a fundamentally different cost regime.
Rents creates the largest separation: Fond du Lac is 7.8 points lower. But rents move against the overall direction, so this is a split budget rather than a clean across-the-board winner.
Comparable population context is incomplete for this pair, so no market-scale explanation is inferred from the price indexes.
Both metros remain below the U.S. benchmark of 100. This comparison chooses between two below-average price levels; “more expensive” here does not mean nationally expensive.
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 College Station-Bryan corresponds to $100,761 in Fond du Lac.
Category Breakdown
Goods
- Fond du Lac
- 93.8
Diff +0.0 RPP
Services
- Fond du Lac
- 91.1
Diff +6.7 RPP
Rents
- Fond du Lac
- 67.3
Diff -7.8 RPP
| Category | College Station-Bryan | Fond du Lac | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Overall | 91.0 | 91.6 | +0.7 |
| Goods | 93.8 | 93.8 | +0.0 |
| Services | 84.4 | 91.1 | +6.7 |
| Rents | 75.1 | 67.3 | -7.8 |
Visual Comparison
Overall
College Station-Bryan 91.0
Fond du Lac 91.6
Goods
College Station-Bryan 93.8
Fond du Lac 93.8
Services
College Station-Bryan 84.4
Fond du Lac 91.1
Rents
College Station-Bryan 75.1
Fond du Lac 67.3
Vertical line = national average (100)
How the Price Gap Changed
College Station-Bryan and Fond du Lac share 17 published annual releases from 2008 through 2024. Their overall gap narrowed, moving from 11.7 to 0.7 RPP points. Fond du Lac remained the higher-index metro in the latest release.
Goods changed the most within this pair: its gap moved 19.2 points between the first and latest shared releases (19.1 to 0.0 points). This describes a relative price-index history, not a forecast or a household budget.
| Release Year | College Station-Bryan RPP | Fond du Lac RPP | Relative Gap |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2008 | 95.1 | 83.4 | 11.7 points College Station-Bryan higher |
| 2012 | 96.5 | 91.0 | 5.5 points College Station-Bryan higher |
| 2016 | 96.4 | 88.2 | 8.3 points College Station-Bryan higher |
| 2020 | 95.1 | 91.2 | 3.9 points College Station-Bryan higher |
| 2024 | 91.0 | 91.6 | 0.7 points Fond du Lac 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.
Salary Equivalents
What a salary in College Station-Bryan would need to be in Fond du Lac for the same purchasing power:
| In College Station-Bryan | In Fond du Lac | Difference |
|---|---|---|
| $50,000 | $50,380 | +$380 |
| $75,000 | $75,571 | +$571 |
| $100,000 | $100,761 | +$761 |
| $150,000 | $151,141 | +$1,141 |
$ in College Station-Bryan = in Fond du Lac
Same BEA Regional Price Parity ratio as the table above (91.0 → 91.6), computed live from your number, nothing is sent anywhere.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Fond du Lac more expensive than College Station-Bryan?
Fond du Lac is 0.8% more expensive than College Station-Bryan. The overall cost index is 91.6 vs 91.0 (national average = 100).
What salary in Fond du Lac equals $100K in College Station-Bryan?
A $100,000 salary in College Station-Bryan has the same purchasing power as $100,761 in Fond du Lac. This is based on the BEA Regional Price Parity indexes.
How do rents compare between College Station-Bryan and Fond du Lac?
Rents in College Station-Bryan are indexed at 75.1 while Fond du Lac is at 67.3 (national average = 100). College Station-Bryan 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.