Overall
- El Centro
- 95.2
- Pittsfield
- 95.1
Diff -0.1 RPP
El Centro vs Pittsfield
Cost of living comparison based on BEA Regional Price Parities. Pittsfield is 0.1% less expensive than El Centro.
0.1% less expensive
Pittsfield, MA is 0.1% less expensive than El Centro, CA on BEA Regional Price Parities (overall RPP 95.1 vs 95.2). A $100,000 salary in El Centro buys about the same as $99,929 in Pittsfield; the largest component gap is goods.
- Overall RPP 95.2 (El Centro) vs 95.1 (Pittsfield)
- $100k in El Centro ≈ $99,929 purchasing power in Pittsfield
- Goods drives the gap (-8.2 RPP points)
RPP parity plate
Pair CA:MA 95.2→95.1
PHOTO-FINISH · CROSS-STATE · SPLIT-BUDGET · BOTH-BELOW · PP-PAR
- PHOTO-FINISH Photo finish
- CROSS-STATE CA × MA
- 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.
El Centro
95.2
Cost Index
Pittsfield
95.1
Cost Index
What This Comparison Actually Tells You
El Centro, CA and Pittsfield, MA are a photo finish on overall price level, only 0.1 RPP points apart. A salary conversion is therefore a fine adjustment, not evidence of a fundamentally different cost regime.
Goods creates the largest separation: Pittsfield is 8.2 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 goods-led difference, remember that many tradable prices vary less by address than housing or labor-priced services. Use $99,929 in Pittsfield as the BEA equivalent of $100,000 in El Centro, then replace the national basket with your own.
Category Breakdown
Goods
- El Centro
- 105.2
- Pittsfield
- 97.0
Diff -8.2 RPP
Services
- El Centro
- 157.2
- Pittsfield
- 153.7
Diff -3.5 RPP
Rents
- El Centro
- 66.3
- Pittsfield
- 73.5
Diff +7.2 RPP
| Category | El Centro | Pittsfield | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Overall | 95.2 | 95.1 | -0.1 |
| Goods | 105.2 | 97.0 | -8.2 |
| Services | 157.2 | 153.7 | -3.5 |
| Rents | 66.3 | 73.5 | +7.2 |
Visual Comparison
Overall
El Centro 95.2
Pittsfield 95.1
Goods
El Centro 105.2
Pittsfield 97.0
Services
El Centro 157.2
Pittsfield 153.7
Rents
El Centro 66.3
Pittsfield 73.5
Vertical line = national average (100)
How the Price Gap Changed
El Centro and Pittsfield share 17 published annual releases from 2008 through 2024. Their overall gap narrowed, moving from 4.4 to 0.1 RPP points. El Centro remained the higher-index metro in the latest release.
Services changed the most within this pair: its gap moved 54.8 points between the first and latest shared releases (51.3 to 3.5 points). This describes a relative price-index history, not a forecast or a household budget.
| Release Year | El Centro RPP | Pittsfield RPP | Relative Gap |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2008 | 95.3 | 99.6 | 4.4 points Pittsfield higher |
| 2012 | 94.0 | 97.8 | 3.8 points Pittsfield higher |
| 2016 | 95.7 | 100.5 | 4.8 points Pittsfield higher |
| 2020 | 96.9 | 99.5 | 2.6 points Pittsfield higher |
| 2024 | 95.2 | 95.1 | 0.1 points El Centro 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 El Centro would need to be in Pittsfield for the same purchasing power:
| In El Centro | In Pittsfield | Difference |
|---|---|---|
| $50,000 | $49,964 | $-36 |
| $75,000 | $74,946 | $-54 |
| $100,000 | $99,929 | $-71 |
| $150,000 | $149,893 | $-107 |
$ in El Centro = in Pittsfield
Same BEA Regional Price Parity ratio as the table above (95.2 → 95.1), computed live from your number, nothing is sent anywhere.
Also Compare
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Pittsfield more expensive than El Centro?
Pittsfield is 0.1% less expensive than El Centro. The overall cost index is 95.1 vs 95.2 (national average = 100).
What salary in Pittsfield equals $100K in El Centro?
A $100,000 salary in El Centro has the same purchasing power as $99,929 in Pittsfield. This is based on the BEA Regional Price Parity indexes.
How do rents compare between El Centro and Pittsfield?
Rents in El Centro are indexed at 66.3 while Pittsfield is at 73.5 (national average = 100). Pittsfield 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.