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Erie vs Lincoln

Cost of living comparison based on BEA Regional Price Parities. Lincoln is 0.7% more expensive than Erie.

0.7% more expensive

Lincoln, NE is 0.7% more expensive than Erie, PA on BEA Regional Price Parities (overall RPP 91.6 vs 91.0). A $100,000 salary in Erie buys about the same as $100,694 in Lincoln; the largest component gap is services.

  • Overall RPP 91.0 (Erie) vs 91.6 (Lincoln)
  • $100k in Erie ≈ $100,694 purchasing power in Lincoln
  • Services drives the gap (-30.0 RPP points)

RPP parity plate

Pair PA:NE 91.0→91.6

PHOTO-FINISH · CROSS-STATE · SPLIT-BUDGET · BOTH-BELOW · PP-PAR

  • PHOTO-FINISH Photo finish
  • CROSS-STATE PA × NE
  • 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.

Erie
91.0
Cost Index
Lincoln
91.6
Cost Index

What This Comparison Actually Tells You

Erie, PA and Lincoln, NE are a photo finish on overall price level, only 0.6 RPP points apart. A salary conversion is therefore a fine adjustment, not evidence of a fundamentally different cost regime.

Services creates the largest separation: Lincoln is 30.0 points lower. But services and 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 Erie to $100,694 in Lincoln, but it is not a personal spending weight.

Category Breakdown

Visual Comparison

Overall
Erie
91.0
Lincoln
91.6
Goods
Erie
100.7
Lincoln
94.1
Services
Erie
106.8
Lincoln
76.8
Rents
Erie
56.8
Lincoln
84.2

Vertical line = national average (100)

Salary Equivalents

What a salary in Erie would need to be in Lincoln for the same purchasing power:

In Erie In Lincoln Difference
$50,000 $50,347 +$347
$75,000 $75,520 +$520
$100,000 $100,694 +$694
$150,000 $151,041 +$1,041
$ in Erie = – in Lincoln

Same BEA Regional Price Parity ratio as the table above (91.0 → 91.6), computed live from your number, nothing is sent anywhere.

Reverse: Lincoln → Erie Erie Details Lincoln Details

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Frequently Asked Questions

Is Lincoln more expensive than Erie?

Lincoln is 0.7% more expensive than Erie. The overall cost index is 91.6 vs 91.0 (national average = 100).

What salary in Lincoln equals $100K in Erie?

A $100,000 salary in Erie has the same purchasing power as $100,694 in Lincoln. This is based on the BEA Regional Price Parity indexes.

How do rents compare between Erie and Lincoln?

Rents in Erie are indexed at 56.8 while Lincoln is at 84.2 (national average = 100). Lincoln has higher rents.

Data sources

Data sourced from official public datasets, Regional Price Parities (2024), index where national average = 100. Retrieved and formatted by PlainCost. See our methodology for details.

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.