Overall
Diff +0.3 RPP
Crestview-Fort Walton Beach-Destin vs Charlotte-Concord-Gastonia
Cost of living comparison based on BEA Regional Price Parities. Charlotte-Concord-Gastonia is 0.3% more expensive than Crestview-Fort Walton Beach-Destin.
0.3% more expensive
Charlotte-Concord-Gastonia, NC-SC is 0.3% more expensive than Crestview-Fort Walton Beach-Destin, FL on BEA Regional Price Parities (overall RPP 97.3 vs 97.0). A $100,000 salary in Crestview-Fort Walton Beach-Destin buys about the same as $100,327 in Charlotte-Concord-Gastonia; the largest component gap is rents.
- Overall RPP 97.0 (Crestview-Fort Walton Beach-Destin) vs 97.3 (Charlotte-Concord-Gastonia)
- $100k in Crestview-Fort Walton Beach-Destin ≈ $100,327 purchasing power in Charlotte-Concord-Gastonia
- Rents drives the gap (+2.7 RPP points)
RPP parity plate
Pair FL:NC 97.0→97.3
PHOTO-FINISH · CROSS-STATE · RENT-LED · BOTH-BELOW · PP-PAR
- PHOTO-FINISH Photo finish
- CROSS-STATE FL × NC
- RENT-LED Rent-led gap
- 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.
Crestview-Fort Walton Beach-Destin
97.0
Cost Index
Charlotte-Concord-Gastonia
97.3
Cost Index
What This Comparison Actually Tells You
Crestview-Fort Walton Beach-Destin, FL and Charlotte-Concord-Gastonia, NC-SC are a photo finish on overall price level, only 0.3 RPP points apart. A salary conversion is therefore a fine adjustment, not evidence of a fundamentally different cost regime.
Rents leads the difference, with Charlotte-Concord-Gastonia 2.7 points higher than Crestview-Fort Walton Beach-Destin. 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.
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 Crestview-Fort Walton Beach-Destin corresponds to $100,327 in Charlotte-Concord-Gastonia.
Category Breakdown
Goods
Diff +0.3 RPP
Services
Diff +0.1 RPP
Rents
Diff +2.7 RPP
| Category | Crestview-Fort Walton Beach-Destin | Charlotte-Concord-Gastonia | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Overall | 97.0 | 97.3 | +0.3 |
| Goods | 96.2 | 96.6 | +0.3 |
| Services | 89.0 | 89.2 | +0.1 |
| Rents | 94.9 | 97.6 | +2.7 |
Visual Comparison
Overall
Crestview-Fort Walton Beach-Destin 97.0
Charlotte-Concord-Gastonia 97.3
Goods
Crestview-Fort Walton Beach-Destin 96.2
Charlotte-Concord-Gastonia 96.6
Services
Crestview-Fort Walton Beach-Destin 89.0
Charlotte-Concord-Gastonia 89.2
Rents
Crestview-Fort Walton Beach-Destin 94.9
Charlotte-Concord-Gastonia 97.6
Vertical line = national average (100)
How the Price Gap Changed
Crestview-Fort Walton Beach-Destin and Charlotte-Concord-Gastonia share 17 published annual releases from 2008 through 2024. Their overall gap held broadly steady, moving from 0.5 to 0.3 RPP points. Charlotte-Concord-Gastonia remained the higher-index metro in the latest release.
Services changed the most within this pair: its gap moved 8.6 points between the first and latest shared releases (8.4 to 0.1 points). This describes a relative price-index history, not a forecast or a household budget.
| Release Year | Crestview-Fort Walton Beach-Destin RPP | Charlotte-Concord-Gastonia RPP | Relative Gap |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2008 | 95.8 | 95.3 | 0.5 points Crestview-Fort Walton Beach-Destin higher |
| 2012 | 98.0 | 96.1 | 1.8 points Crestview-Fort Walton Beach-Destin higher |
| 2016 | 96.8 | 96.9 | 0.2 points Charlotte-Concord-Gastonia higher |
| 2020 | 94.9 | 94.2 | 0.7 points Crestview-Fort Walton Beach-Destin higher |
| 2024 | 97.0 | 97.3 | 0.3 points Charlotte-Concord-Gastonia 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 Crestview-Fort Walton Beach-Destin would need to be in Charlotte-Concord-Gastonia for the same purchasing power:
| In Crestview-Fort Walton Beach-Destin | In Charlotte-Concord-Gastonia | Difference |
|---|---|---|
| $50,000 | $50,163 | +$163 |
| $75,000 | $75,245 | +$245 |
| $100,000 | $100,327 | +$327 |
| $150,000 | $150,490 | +$490 |
$ in Crestview-Fort Walton Beach-Destin = in Charlotte-Concord-Gastonia
Same BEA Regional Price Parity ratio as the table above (97.0 → 97.3), computed live from your number, nothing is sent anywhere.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Charlotte-Concord-Gastonia more expensive than Crestview-Fort Walton Beach-Destin?
Charlotte-Concord-Gastonia is 0.3% more expensive than Crestview-Fort Walton Beach-Destin. The overall cost index is 97.3 vs 97.0 (national average = 100).
What salary in Charlotte-Concord-Gastonia equals $100K in Crestview-Fort Walton Beach-Destin?
A $100,000 salary in Crestview-Fort Walton Beach-Destin has the same purchasing power as $100,327 in Charlotte-Concord-Gastonia. This is based on the BEA Regional Price Parity indexes.
How do rents compare between Crestview-Fort Walton Beach-Destin and Charlotte-Concord-Gastonia?
Rents in Crestview-Fort Walton Beach-Destin are indexed at 94.9 while Charlotte-Concord-Gastonia is at 97.6 (national average = 100). Charlotte-Concord-Gastonia 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.