Overall
- Wausau
- 92.7
Diff -0.0 RPP
Dayton-Kettering-Beavercreek vs Wausau
Cost of living comparison based on BEA Regional Price Parities. Wausau is 0% less expensive than Dayton-Kettering-Beavercreek.
0% less expensive
Wausau, WI is 0% less expensive than Dayton-Kettering-Beavercreek, OH on BEA Regional Price Parities (overall RPP 92.7 vs 92.7). A $100,000 salary in Dayton-Kettering-Beavercreek buys about the same as $99,954 in Wausau; the largest component gap is services.
- Overall RPP 92.7 (Dayton-Kettering-Beavercreek) vs 92.7 (Wausau)
- $100k in Dayton-Kettering-Beavercreek ≈ $99,954 purchasing power in Wausau
- Services drives the gap (-5.4 RPP points)
RPP parity plate
Pair OH:WI 92.7→92.7
PHOTO-FINISH · CROSS-STATE · SPLIT-BUDGET · BOTH-BELOW · PP-PAR
- PHOTO-FINISH Photo finish
- CROSS-STATE OH × 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.
Dayton-Kettering-Beavercreek
92.7
Cost Index
Wausau
92.7
Cost Index
What This Comparison Actually Tells You
Dayton-Kettering-Beavercreek, OH and Wausau, WI are a photo finish on overall price level, only 0.0 RPP points apart. A salary conversion is therefore a fine adjustment, not evidence of a fundamentally different cost regime.
Services creates the largest separation: Wausau is 5.4 points lower. But goods 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 service-heavy household, test childcare, health, and other locally supplied costs before relying on rent alone. The BEA ratio converts $100,000 in Dayton-Kettering-Beavercreek to $99,954 in Wausau, but it is not a personal spending weight.
Category Breakdown
Goods
- Wausau
- 93.8
Diff +0.2 RPP
Services
- Wausau
- 90.0
Diff -5.4 RPP
Rents
- Wausau
- 71.5
Diff -1.2 RPP
| Category | Dayton-Kettering-Beavercreek | Wausau | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Overall | 92.7 | 92.7 | -0.0 |
| Goods | 93.6 | 93.8 | +0.2 |
| Services | 95.4 | 90.0 | -5.4 |
| Rents | 72.7 | 71.5 | -1.2 |
Visual Comparison
Overall
Dayton-Kettering-Beavercreek 92.7
Wausau 92.7
Goods
Dayton-Kettering-Beavercreek 93.6
Wausau 93.8
Services
Dayton-Kettering-Beavercreek 95.4
Wausau 90.0
Rents
Dayton-Kettering-Beavercreek 72.7
Wausau 71.5
Vertical line = national average (100)
How the Price Gap Changed
Dayton-Kettering-Beavercreek and Wausau share 17 published annual releases from 2008 through 2024. Their overall gap narrowed, moving from 1.3 to 0.0 RPP points. Dayton-Kettering-Beavercreek remained the higher-index metro in the latest release.
Rents changed the most within this pair: its gap moved 7.2 points between the first and latest shared releases (8.5 to 1.2 points). This describes a relative price-index history, not a forecast or a household budget.
| Release Year | Dayton-Kettering-Beavercreek RPP | Wausau RPP | Relative Gap |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2008 | 96.0 | 94.8 | 1.3 points Dayton-Kettering-Beavercreek higher |
| 2012 | 93.1 | 94.1 | 1.0 points Wausau higher |
| 2016 | 92.7 | 92.0 | 0.7 points Dayton-Kettering-Beavercreek higher |
| 2020 | 91.8 | 90.2 | 1.7 points Dayton-Kettering-Beavercreek higher |
| 2024 | 92.7 | 92.7 | 0.0 points Dayton-Kettering-Beavercreek 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 Dayton-Kettering-Beavercreek would need to be in Wausau for the same purchasing power:
| In Dayton-Kettering-Beavercreek | In Wausau | Difference |
|---|---|---|
| $50,000 | $49,977 | $-23 |
| $75,000 | $74,965 | $-35 |
| $100,000 | $99,954 | $-46 |
| $150,000 | $149,930 | $-70 |
$ in Dayton-Kettering-Beavercreek = in Wausau
Same BEA Regional Price Parity ratio as the table above (92.7 → 92.7), computed live from your number, nothing is sent anywhere.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Wausau more expensive than Dayton-Kettering-Beavercreek?
Wausau is 0% less expensive than Dayton-Kettering-Beavercreek. The overall cost index is 92.7 vs 92.7 (national average = 100).
What salary in Wausau equals $100K in Dayton-Kettering-Beavercreek?
A $100,000 salary in Dayton-Kettering-Beavercreek has the same purchasing power as $99,954 in Wausau. This is based on the BEA Regional Price Parity indexes.
How do rents compare between Dayton-Kettering-Beavercreek and Wausau?
Rents in Dayton-Kettering-Beavercreek are indexed at 72.7 while Wausau is at 71.5 (national average = 100). Dayton-Kettering-Beavercreek 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.