Overall
- El Centro
- 95.2
- Barnstable Town
- 98.4
Diff +3.2 RPP
El Centro vs Barnstable Town
Cost of living comparison based on BEA Regional Price Parities. Barnstable Town is 3.3% more expensive than El Centro.
3.3% more expensive
Barnstable Town, MA is 3.3% more expensive than El Centro, CA on BEA Regional Price Parities (overall RPP 98.4 vs 95.2). A $100,000 salary in El Centro buys about the same as $103,338 in Barnstable Town; the largest component gap is rents.
- Overall RPP 95.2 (El Centro) vs 98.4 (Barnstable Town)
- $100k in El Centro ≈ $103,338 purchasing power in Barnstable Town
- Rents drives the gap (+23.7 RPP points)
RPP parity plate
Pair CA:MA 95.2→98.4
TIER-NEAR · CROSS-STATE · SPLIT-BUDGET · BOTH-BELOW · PP-SHIFT
- TIER-NEAR Near tier
- CROSS-STATE CA × MA
- SPLIT-BUDGET Split budget
- BOTH-BELOW Both below 100
- PP-SHIFT PP shift
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
- El Centro
- 105.2
- Barnstable Town
- 97.0
Diff -8.2 RPP
Services
- El Centro
- 157.2
- Barnstable Town
- 158.4
Diff +1.3 RPP
Rents
- El Centro
- 66.3
- Barnstable Town
- 90.0
Diff +23.7 RPP
| Category | El Centro | Barnstable Town | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Overall | 95.2 | 98.4 | +3.2 |
| Goods | 105.2 | 97.0 | -8.2 |
| Services | 157.2 | 158.4 | +1.3 |
| Rents | 66.3 | 90.0 | +23.7 |
Visual Comparison
Overall
El Centro 95.2
Barnstable Town 98.4
Goods
El Centro 105.2
Barnstable Town 97.0
Services
El Centro 157.2
Barnstable Town 158.4
Rents
El Centro 66.3
Barnstable Town 90.0
Vertical line = national average (100)
What This Comparison Actually Tells You
Rents creates the largest separation: Barnstable Town is 23.7 points higher. But goods move against the overall direction, so this is a split budget rather than a clean across-the-board winner.
Barnstable Town, MA is 3.3% more expensive than El Centro, CA, a meaningful but not extreme shift. The move decision turns on which budget category creates the 3.2-point overall gap.
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.
Comparable population context is incomplete for this pair, so no market-scale explanation is inferred from the price indexes.
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 El Centro corresponds to $103,338 in Barnstable Town.
El Centro
95.2
Cost Index
Barnstable Town
98.4
Cost Index
Salary Equivalents
What a salary in El Centro would need to be in Barnstable Town for the same purchasing power:
| In El Centro | In Barnstable Town | Difference |
|---|---|---|
| $50,000 | $51,669 | +$1,669 |
| $75,000 | $77,504 | +$2,504 |
| $100,000 | $103,338 | +$3,338 |
| $150,000 | $155,007 | +$5,007 |
$ in El Centro = in Barnstable Town
Same BEA Regional Price Parity ratio as the table above (95.2 → 98.4), computed live from your number, nothing is sent anywhere.
How the Price Gap Changed
El Centro and Barnstable Town share 17 published annual releases from 2008 through 2024. Their overall gap narrowed, moving from 7.5 to 3.2 RPP points. Barnstable Town remained the higher-index metro in the latest release.
Services changed the most within this pair: its gap moved 50.2 points between the first and latest shared releases (51.4 to 1.3 points). This describes a relative price-index history, not a forecast or a household budget.
| Release Year | El Centro RPP | Barnstable Town RPP | Relative Gap |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2008 | 95.3 | 102.8 | 7.5 points Barnstable Town higher |
| 2012 | 94.0 | 100.9 | 6.9 points Barnstable Town higher |
| 2016 | 95.7 | 105.8 | 10.0 points Barnstable Town higher |
| 2020 | 96.9 | 101.3 | 4.3 points Barnstable Town higher |
| 2024 | 95.2 | 98.4 | 3.2 points Barnstable Town 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 Barnstable Town more expensive than El Centro?
Barnstable Town is 3.3% more expensive than El Centro. The overall cost index is 98.4 vs 95.2 (national average = 100).
What salary in Barnstable Town equals $100K in El Centro?
A $100,000 salary in El Centro has the same purchasing power as $103,338 in Barnstable Town. This is based on the BEA Regional Price Parity indexes.
How do rents compare between El Centro and Barnstable Town?
Rents in El Centro are indexed at 66.3 while Barnstable Town is at 90.0 (national average = 100). Barnstable Town 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.