Overall
- Harrisonburg
- 94.9
Diff +0.2 RPP
Daphne-Fairhope-Foley vs Harrisonburg
Cost of living comparison based on BEA Regional Price Parities. Harrisonburg is 0.2% more expensive than Daphne-Fairhope-Foley.
0.2% more expensive
Harrisonburg, VA is 0.2% more expensive than Daphne-Fairhope-Foley, AL on BEA Regional Price Parities (overall RPP 94.9 vs 94.7). A $100,000 salary in Daphne-Fairhope-Foley buys about the same as $100,213 in Harrisonburg; the largest component gap is rents.
- Overall RPP 94.7 (Daphne-Fairhope-Foley) vs 94.9 (Harrisonburg)
- $100k in Daphne-Fairhope-Foley ≈ $100,213 purchasing power in Harrisonburg
- Rents drives the gap (-6.9 RPP points)
RPP parity plate
Pair AL:VA 94.7→94.9
PHOTO-FINISH · CROSS-STATE · SPLIT-BUDGET · BOTH-BELOW · PP-PAR
- PHOTO-FINISH Photo finish
- CROSS-STATE AL × VA
- 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.
Daphne-Fairhope-Foley
94.7
Cost Index
Harrisonburg
94.9
Cost Index
What This Comparison Actually Tells You
Daphne-Fairhope-Foley, AL and Harrisonburg, VA are a photo finish on overall price level, only 0.2 RPP points apart. A salary conversion is therefore a fine adjustment, not evidence of a fundamentally different cost regime.
Rents creates the largest separation: Harrisonburg is 6.9 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 Daphne-Fairhope-Foley corresponds to $100,213 in Harrisonburg.
Category Breakdown
Goods
- Harrisonburg
- 96.8
Diff +0.4 RPP
Services
- Harrisonburg
- 88.5
Diff +5.3 RPP
Rents
- Harrisonburg
- 82.3
Diff -6.9 RPP
| Category | Daphne-Fairhope-Foley | Harrisonburg | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Overall | 94.7 | 94.9 | +0.2 |
| Goods | 96.4 | 96.8 | +0.4 |
| Services | 83.3 | 88.5 | +5.3 |
| Rents | 89.2 | 82.3 | -6.9 |
Visual Comparison
Overall
Daphne-Fairhope-Foley 94.7
Harrisonburg 94.9
Goods
Daphne-Fairhope-Foley 96.4
Harrisonburg 96.8
Services
Daphne-Fairhope-Foley 83.3
Harrisonburg 88.5
Rents
Daphne-Fairhope-Foley 89.2
Harrisonburg 82.3
Vertical line = national average (100)
How the Price Gap Changed
Daphne-Fairhope-Foley and Harrisonburg share 17 published annual releases from 2008 through 2024. Their overall gap narrowed, moving from 3.2 to 0.2 RPP points. Harrisonburg remained the higher-index metro in the latest release.
Services changed the most within this pair: its gap moved 14.3 points between the first and latest shared releases (9.0 to 5.3 points). This describes a relative price-index history, not a forecast or a household budget.
| Release Year | Daphne-Fairhope-Foley RPP | Harrisonburg RPP | Relative Gap |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2008 | 95.3 | 92.1 | 3.2 points Daphne-Fairhope-Foley higher |
| 2012 | 95.9 | 92.4 | 3.4 points Daphne-Fairhope-Foley higher |
| 2016 | 94.8 | 91.2 | 3.6 points Daphne-Fairhope-Foley higher |
| 2020 | 90.8 | 90.4 | 0.3 points Daphne-Fairhope-Foley higher |
| 2024 | 94.7 | 94.9 | 0.2 points Harrisonburg 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 Daphne-Fairhope-Foley would need to be in Harrisonburg for the same purchasing power:
| In Daphne-Fairhope-Foley | In Harrisonburg | Difference |
|---|---|---|
| $50,000 | $50,107 | +$107 |
| $75,000 | $75,160 | +$160 |
| $100,000 | $100,213 | +$213 |
| $150,000 | $150,320 | +$320 |
$ in Daphne-Fairhope-Foley = in Harrisonburg
Same BEA Regional Price Parity ratio as the table above (94.7 → 94.9), computed live from your number, nothing is sent anywhere.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Harrisonburg more expensive than Daphne-Fairhope-Foley?
Harrisonburg is 0.2% more expensive than Daphne-Fairhope-Foley. The overall cost index is 94.9 vs 94.7 (national average = 100).
What salary in Harrisonburg equals $100K in Daphne-Fairhope-Foley?
A $100,000 salary in Daphne-Fairhope-Foley has the same purchasing power as $100,213 in Harrisonburg. This is based on the BEA Regional Price Parity indexes.
How do rents compare between Daphne-Fairhope-Foley and Harrisonburg?
Rents in Daphne-Fairhope-Foley are indexed at 89.2 while Harrisonburg is at 82.3 (national average = 100). Daphne-Fairhope-Foley 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.