Overall
- Colorado Springs
- 100.7
- Lancaster
- 98.3
Diff -2.4 RPP
Colorado Springs vs Lancaster
Cost of living comparison based on BEA Regional Price Parities. Lancaster is 2.4% less expensive than Colorado Springs.
2.4% less expensive
Lancaster, PA is 2.4% less expensive than Colorado Springs, CO on BEA Regional Price Parities (overall RPP 98.3 vs 100.7). A $100,000 salary in Colorado Springs buys about the same as $97,567 in Lancaster; the largest component gap is services.
- Overall RPP 100.7 (Colorado Springs) vs 98.3 (Lancaster)
- $100k in Colorado Springs ≈ $97,567 purchasing power in Lancaster
- Services drives the gap (+24.1 RPP points)
RPP parity plate
Pair CO:PA 100.7→98.3
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
- Lancaster
- 100.7
Diff +4.6 RPP
Services
- Colorado Springs
- 83.2
- Lancaster
- 107.3
Diff +24.1 RPP
Rents
- Colorado Springs
- 116.2
- Lancaster
- 93.8
Diff -22.4 RPP
| Category | Colorado Springs | Lancaster | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Overall | 100.7 | 98.3 | -2.4 |
| Goods | 96.1 | 100.7 | +4.6 |
| Services | 83.2 | 107.3 | +24.1 |
| Rents | 116.2 | 93.8 | -22.4 |
Visual Comparison
Overall
Colorado Springs 100.7
Lancaster 98.3
Goods
Colorado Springs 96.1
Lancaster 100.7
Services
Colorado Springs 83.2
Lancaster 107.3
Rents
Colorado Springs 116.2
Lancaster 93.8
Vertical line = national average (100)
What This Comparison Actually Tells You
Services creates the largest separation: Lancaster is 24.1 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.
Lancaster, PA is 2.4% less expensive than Colorado Springs, CO, a meaningful but not extreme shift. The move decision turns on which budget category creates the 2.4-point overall gap.
This route crosses the national benchmark: Colorado Springs is above 100 while Lancaster 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 $97,567 in Lancaster, but it is not a personal spending weight.
Colorado Springs
100.7
Cost Index
Lancaster
98.3
Cost Index
Salary Equivalents
What a salary in Colorado Springs would need to be in Lancaster for the same purchasing power:
| In Colorado Springs | In Lancaster | Difference |
|---|---|---|
| $50,000 | $48,784 | $-1,216 |
| $75,000 | $73,175 | $-1,825 |
| $100,000 | $97,567 | $-2,433 |
| $150,000 | $146,351 | $-3,649 |
$ in Colorado Springs = in Lancaster
Same BEA Regional Price Parity ratio as the table above (100.7 → 98.3), computed live from your number, nothing is sent anywhere.
How the Price Gap Changed
Colorado Springs and Lancaster share 17 published annual releases from 2008 through 2024. Their overall gap widened, moving from 2.2 to 2.4 RPP points. Colorado Springs remained the higher-index metro in the latest release.
Rents changed the most within this pair: its gap moved 12.5 points between the first and latest shared releases (9.9 to 22.4 points). This describes a relative price-index history, not a forecast or a household budget.
| Release Year | Colorado Springs RPP | Lancaster RPP | Relative Gap |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2008 | 98.0 | 100.2 | 2.2 points Lancaster higher |
| 2012 | 102.2 | 97.8 | 4.4 points Colorado Springs higher |
| 2016 | 99.0 | 99.4 | 0.4 points Lancaster higher |
| 2020 | 98.6 | 97.9 | 0.7 points Colorado Springs higher |
| 2024 | 100.7 | 98.3 | 2.4 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 Lancaster more expensive than Colorado Springs?
Lancaster is 2.4% less expensive than Colorado Springs. The overall cost index is 98.3 vs 100.7 (national average = 100).
What salary in Lancaster equals $100K in Colorado Springs?
A $100,000 salary in Colorado Springs has the same purchasing power as $97,567 in Lancaster. This is based on the BEA Regional Price Parity indexes.
How do rents compare between Colorado Springs and Lancaster?
Rents in Colorado Springs are indexed at 116.2 while Lancaster is at 93.8 (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.