Overall
- Colorado Springs
- 100.7
- Harrisburg-Carlisle
- 98.7
Diff -2.1 RPP
Colorado Springs vs Harrisburg-Carlisle
Cost of living comparison based on BEA Regional Price Parities. Harrisburg-Carlisle is 2% less expensive than Colorado Springs.
2% less expensive
Harrisburg-Carlisle, PA is 2% less expensive than Colorado Springs, CO on BEA Regional Price Parities (overall RPP 98.7 vs 100.7). A $100,000 salary in Colorado Springs buys about the same as $97,957 in Harrisburg-Carlisle; the largest component gap is services.
- Overall RPP 100.7 (Colorado Springs) vs 98.7 (Harrisburg-Carlisle)
- $100k in Colorado Springs ≈ $97,957 purchasing power in Harrisburg-Carlisle
- Services drives the gap (+24.9 RPP points)
RPP parity plate
Pair CO:PA 100.7→98.7
TIER-NEAR · CROSS-STATE · SPLIT-BUDGET · BENCH-CROSS · PP-PAR
- TIER-NEAR Near tier
- CROSS-STATE CO × PA
- SPLIT-BUDGET Split budget
- BENCH-CROSS Benchmark cross
- 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.
Category Breakdown
Goods
- Colorado Springs
- 96.1
- Harrisburg-Carlisle
- 100.7
Diff +4.6 RPP
Services
- Colorado Springs
- 83.2
- Harrisburg-Carlisle
- 108.1
Diff +24.9 RPP
Rents
- Colorado Springs
- 116.2
- Harrisburg-Carlisle
- 96.3
Diff -19.9 RPP
| Category | Colorado Springs | Harrisburg-Carlisle | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Overall | 100.7 | 98.7 | -2.1 |
| Goods | 96.1 | 100.7 | +4.6 |
| Services | 83.2 | 108.1 | +24.9 |
| Rents | 116.2 | 96.3 | -19.9 |
Visual Comparison
Overall
Colorado Springs 100.7
Harrisburg-Carlisle 98.7
Goods
Colorado Springs 96.1
Harrisburg-Carlisle 100.7
Services
Colorado Springs 83.2
Harrisburg-Carlisle 108.1
Rents
Colorado Springs 116.2
Harrisburg-Carlisle 96.3
Vertical line = national average (100)
What This Comparison Actually Tells You
Services creates the largest separation: Harrisburg-Carlisle is 24.9 points higher. But services and goods move against the overall direction, so this is a split budget rather than a clean across-the-board winner.
Harrisburg-Carlisle, PA is 2% less expensive than Colorado Springs, CO, a meaningful but not extreme shift. The move decision turns on which budget category creates the 2.1-point overall gap.
This route crosses the national benchmark: Colorado Springs is above 100 while Harrisburg-Carlisle 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 service-heavy household, test childcare, health, and other locally supplied costs before relying on rent alone. The BEA ratio converts $100,000 in Colorado Springs to $97,957 in Harrisburg-Carlisle, but it is not a personal spending weight.
Colorado Springs
100.7
Cost Index
Harrisburg-Carlisle
98.7
Cost Index
Salary Equivalents
What a salary in Colorado Springs would need to be in Harrisburg-Carlisle for the same purchasing power:
| In Colorado Springs | In Harrisburg-Carlisle | Difference |
|---|---|---|
| $50,000 | $48,979 | $-1,021 |
| $75,000 | $73,468 | $-1,532 |
| $100,000 | $97,957 | $-2,043 |
| $150,000 | $146,936 | $-3,064 |
$ in Colorado Springs = in Harrisburg-Carlisle
Same BEA Regional Price Parity ratio as the table above (100.7 → 98.7), computed live from your number, nothing is sent anywhere.
How the Price Gap Changed
Colorado Springs and Harrisburg-Carlisle share 17 published annual releases from 2008 through 2024. Their overall gap widened, moving from 1.0 to 2.1 RPP points. Colorado Springs remained the higher-index metro in the latest release.
Services changed the most within this pair: its gap moved 6.3 points between the first and latest shared releases (31.2 to 24.9 points). This describes a relative price-index history, not a forecast or a household budget.
| Release Year | Colorado Springs RPP | Harrisburg-Carlisle RPP | Relative Gap |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2008 | 98.0 | 99.0 | 1.0 points Harrisburg-Carlisle higher |
| 2012 | 102.2 | 97.0 | 5.2 points Colorado Springs higher |
| 2016 | 99.0 | 98.2 | 0.8 points Colorado Springs higher |
| 2020 | 98.6 | 96.1 | 2.4 points Colorado Springs higher |
| 2024 | 100.7 | 98.7 | 2.1 points Colorado Springs 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 Harrisburg-Carlisle more expensive than Colorado Springs?
Harrisburg-Carlisle is 2% less expensive than Colorado Springs. The overall cost index is 98.7 vs 100.7 (national average = 100).
What salary in Harrisburg-Carlisle equals $100K in Colorado Springs?
A $100,000 salary in Colorado Springs has the same purchasing power as $97,957 in Harrisburg-Carlisle. This is based on the BEA Regional Price Parity indexes.
How do rents compare between Colorado Springs and Harrisburg-Carlisle?
Rents in Colorado Springs are indexed at 116.2 while Harrisburg-Carlisle is at 96.3 (national average = 100). Colorado Springs 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.