Overall
- Durham-Chapel Hill
- 97.6
Diff +1.3 RPP
Durham-Chapel Hill vs Atlantic City-Hammonton
Cost of living comparison based on BEA Regional Price Parities. Atlantic City-Hammonton is 1.3% more expensive than Durham-Chapel Hill.
1.3% more expensive
Atlantic City-Hammonton, NJ is 1.3% more expensive than Durham-Chapel Hill, NC on BEA Regional Price Parities (overall RPP 98.9 vs 97.6). A $100,000 salary in Durham-Chapel Hill buys about the same as $101,317 in Atlantic City-Hammonton; the largest component gap is services.
- Overall RPP 97.6 (Durham-Chapel Hill) vs 98.9 (Atlantic City-Hammonton)
- $100k in Durham-Chapel Hill ≈ $101,317 purchasing power in Atlantic City-Hammonton
- Services drives the gap (+19.9 RPP points)
RPP parity plate
Pair NC:NJ 97.6→98.9
PHOTO-FINISH · CROSS-STATE · SPLIT-BUDGET · BOTH-BELOW · PP-PAR
- PHOTO-FINISH Photo finish
- CROSS-STATE NC × NJ
- 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.
Durham-Chapel Hill
97.6
Cost Index
Atlantic City-Hammonton
98.9
Cost Index
What This Comparison Actually Tells You
Durham-Chapel Hill, NC and Atlantic City-Hammonton, NJ are a photo finish on overall price level, only 1.3 RPP points apart. A salary conversion is therefore a fine adjustment, not evidence of a fundamentally different cost regime.
Services creates the largest separation: Atlantic City-Hammonton is 19.9 points higher. 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 service-heavy household, test childcare, health, and other locally supplied costs before relying on rent alone. The BEA ratio converts $100,000 in Durham-Chapel Hill to $101,317 in Atlantic City-Hammonton, but it is not a personal spending weight.
Category Breakdown
Goods
- Durham-Chapel Hill
- 96.6
Diff +3.2 RPP
Services
- Durham-Chapel Hill
- 89.3
- Atlantic City-Hammonton
- 109.2
Diff +19.9 RPP
Rents
- Durham-Chapel Hill
- 98.9
Diff -0.3 RPP
| Category | Durham-Chapel Hill | Atlantic City-Hammonton | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Overall | 97.6 | 98.9 | +1.3 |
| Goods | 96.6 | 99.8 | +3.2 |
| Services | 89.3 | 109.2 | +19.9 |
| Rents | 98.9 | 98.7 | -0.3 |
Visual Comparison
Overall
Durham-Chapel Hill 97.6
Atlantic City-Hammonton 98.9
Goods
Durham-Chapel Hill 96.6
Atlantic City-Hammonton 99.8
Services
Durham-Chapel Hill 89.3
Atlantic City-Hammonton 109.2
Rents
Durham-Chapel Hill 98.9
Atlantic City-Hammonton 98.7
Vertical line = national average (100)
How the Price Gap Changed
Durham-Chapel Hill and Atlantic City-Hammonton share 17 published annual releases from 2008 through 2024. Their overall gap narrowed, moving from 13.4 to 1.3 RPP points. Atlantic City-Hammonton remained the higher-index metro in the latest release.
Rents changed the most within this pair: its gap moved 37.5 points between the first and latest shared releases (37.3 to 0.3 points). This describes a relative price-index history, not a forecast or a household budget.
| Release Year | Durham-Chapel Hill RPP | Atlantic City-Hammonton RPP | Relative Gap |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2008 | 97.3 | 110.7 | 13.4 points Atlantic City-Hammonton higher |
| 2012 | 96.7 | 104.6 | 7.9 points Atlantic City-Hammonton higher |
| 2016 | 97.5 | 102.6 | 5.1 points Atlantic City-Hammonton higher |
| 2020 | 94.8 | 101.2 | 6.3 points Atlantic City-Hammonton higher |
| 2024 | 97.6 | 98.9 | 1.3 points Atlantic City-Hammonton 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 Durham-Chapel Hill would need to be in Atlantic City-Hammonton for the same purchasing power:
| In Durham-Chapel Hill | In Atlantic City-Hammonton | Difference |
|---|---|---|
| $50,000 | $50,658 | +$658 |
| $75,000 | $75,988 | +$988 |
| $100,000 | $101,317 | +$1,317 |
| $150,000 | $151,975 | +$1,975 |
$ in Durham-Chapel Hill = in Atlantic City-Hammonton
Same BEA Regional Price Parity ratio as the table above (97.6 → 98.9), computed live from your number, nothing is sent anywhere.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Atlantic City-Hammonton more expensive than Durham-Chapel Hill?
Atlantic City-Hammonton is 1.3% more expensive than Durham-Chapel Hill. The overall cost index is 98.9 vs 97.6 (national average = 100).
What salary in Atlantic City-Hammonton equals $100K in Durham-Chapel Hill?
A $100,000 salary in Durham-Chapel Hill has the same purchasing power as $101,317 in Atlantic City-Hammonton. This is based on the BEA Regional Price Parity indexes.
How do rents compare between Durham-Chapel Hill and Atlantic City-Hammonton?
Rents in Durham-Chapel Hill are indexed at 98.9 while Atlantic City-Hammonton is at 98.7 (national average = 100). Durham-Chapel Hill 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.