Overall
- Evansville
- 91.5
- Spartanburg
- 91.1
Diff -0.5 RPP
Evansville vs Spartanburg
Cost of living comparison based on BEA Regional Price Parities. Spartanburg is 0.5% less expensive than Evansville.
0.5% less expensive
Spartanburg, SC is 0.5% less expensive than Evansville, IN on BEA Regional Price Parities (overall RPP 91.1 vs 91.5). A $100,000 salary in Evansville buys about the same as $99,479 in Spartanburg; the largest component gap is goods.
- Overall RPP 91.5 (Evansville) vs 91.1 (Spartanburg)
- $100k in Evansville ≈ $99,479 purchasing power in Spartanburg
- Goods drives the gap (+2.0 RPP points)
RPP parity plate
Pair IN:SC 91.5→91.1
PHOTO-FINISH · CROSS-STATE · SPLIT-BUDGET · BOTH-BELOW · PP-PAR
- PHOTO-FINISH Photo finish
- CROSS-STATE IN × SC
- 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.
Evansville
91.5
Cost Index
Spartanburg
91.1
Cost Index
What This Comparison Actually Tells You
Evansville, IN and Spartanburg, SC are a photo finish on overall price level, only 0.5 RPP points apart. A salary conversion is therefore a fine adjustment, not evidence of a fundamentally different cost regime.
Goods creates the largest separation: Spartanburg is 2.0 points higher. But goods and services and 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 $99,479 in Spartanburg as the BEA equivalent of $100,000 in Evansville, then replace the national basket with your own.
Category Breakdown
Goods
- Evansville
- 94.3
- Spartanburg
- 96.3
Diff +2.0 RPP
Services
- Evansville
- 86.7
- Spartanburg
- 88.3
Diff +1.6 RPP
Rents
- Evansville
- 66.7
- Spartanburg
- 68.0
Diff +1.3 RPP
| Category | Evansville | Spartanburg | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Overall | 91.5 | 91.1 | -0.5 |
| Goods | 94.3 | 96.3 | +2.0 |
| Services | 86.7 | 88.3 | +1.6 |
| Rents | 66.7 | 68.0 | +1.3 |
Visual Comparison
Overall
Evansville 91.5
Spartanburg 91.1
Goods
Evansville 94.3
Spartanburg 96.3
Services
Evansville 86.7
Spartanburg 88.3
Rents
Evansville 66.7
Spartanburg 68.0
Vertical line = national average (100)
How the Price Gap Changed
Evansville and Spartanburg share 17 published annual releases from 2008 through 2024. Their overall gap narrowed, moving from 2.1 to 0.5 RPP points. Evansville remained the higher-index metro in the latest release.
Rents changed the most within this pair: its gap moved 5.4 points between the first and latest shared releases (4.1 to 1.3 points). This describes a relative price-index history, not a forecast or a household budget.
| Release Year | Evansville RPP | Spartanburg RPP | Relative Gap |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2008 | 93.8 | 91.7 | 2.1 points Evansville higher |
| 2012 | 93.1 | 92.2 | 0.9 points Evansville higher |
| 2016 | 90.9 | 93.3 | 2.5 points Spartanburg higher |
| 2020 | 90.3 | 88.9 | 1.4 points Evansville higher |
| 2024 | 91.5 | 91.1 | 0.5 points Evansville 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 Evansville would need to be in Spartanburg for the same purchasing power:
| In Evansville | In Spartanburg | Difference |
|---|---|---|
| $50,000 | $49,739 | $-261 |
| $75,000 | $74,609 | $-391 |
| $100,000 | $99,479 | $-521 |
| $150,000 | $149,218 | $-782 |
$ in Evansville = in Spartanburg
Same BEA Regional Price Parity ratio as the table above (91.5 → 91.1), computed live from your number, nothing is sent anywhere.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Spartanburg more expensive than Evansville?
Spartanburg is 0.5% less expensive than Evansville. The overall cost index is 91.1 vs 91.5 (national average = 100).
What salary in Spartanburg equals $100K in Evansville?
A $100,000 salary in Evansville has the same purchasing power as $99,479 in Spartanburg. This is based on the BEA Regional Price Parity indexes.
How do rents compare between Evansville and Spartanburg?
Rents in Evansville are indexed at 66.7 while Spartanburg is at 68.0 (national average = 100). Spartanburg 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.