Overall
- Fairbanks-College
- 103.2
Diff -3.2 RPP
Fairbanks-College vs Allentown-Bethlehem-Easton
Cost of living comparison based on BEA Regional Price Parities. Allentown-Bethlehem-Easton is 3.1% less expensive than Fairbanks-College.
3.1% less expensive
Allentown-Bethlehem-Easton, PA-NJ is 3.1% less expensive than Fairbanks-College, AK on BEA Regional Price Parities (overall RPP 100.0 vs 103.2). A $100,000 salary in Fairbanks-College buys about the same as $96,861 in Allentown-Bethlehem-Easton; the largest component gap is rents.
- Overall RPP 103.2 (Fairbanks-College) vs 100.0 (Allentown-Bethlehem-Easton)
- $100k in Fairbanks-College ≈ $96,861 purchasing power in Allentown-Bethlehem-Easton
- Rents drives the gap (+13.0 RPP points)
RPP parity plate
Pair AK:PA 103.2→100.0
TIER-NEAR · CROSS-STATE · SPLIT-BUDGET · BENCH-CROSS · PP-SHIFT
- TIER-NEAR Near tier
- CROSS-STATE AK × PA
- SPLIT-BUDGET Split budget
- BENCH-CROSS Benchmark cross
- 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
- Fairbanks-College
- 107.3
Diff -6.8 RPP
Services
- Fairbanks-College
- 119.8
Diff -12.2 RPP
Rents
- Fairbanks-College
- 92.6
Diff +13.0 RPP
| Category | Fairbanks-College | Allentown-Bethlehem-Easton | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Overall | 103.2 | 100.0 | -3.2 |
| Goods | 107.3 | 100.6 | -6.8 |
| Services | 119.8 | 107.6 | -12.2 |
| Rents | 92.6 | 105.5 | +13.0 |
Visual Comparison
Overall
Fairbanks-College 103.2
Allentown-Bethlehem-Easton 100.0
Goods
Fairbanks-College 107.3
Allentown-Bethlehem-Easton 100.6
Services
Fairbanks-College 119.8
Allentown-Bethlehem-Easton 107.6
Rents
Fairbanks-College 92.6
Allentown-Bethlehem-Easton 105.5
Vertical line = national average (100)
What This Comparison Actually Tells You
Rents creates the largest separation: Allentown-Bethlehem-Easton is 13.0 points higher. But rents move against the overall direction, so this is a split budget rather than a clean across-the-board winner.
Allentown-Bethlehem-Easton, PA-NJ is 3.1% less expensive than Fairbanks-College, AK, a meaningful but not extreme shift. The move decision turns on which budget category creates the 3.2-point overall gap.
This route crosses the national benchmark: Fairbanks-College is above 100 while Allentown-Bethlehem-Easton is below it. That makes the move a change of price regime, not merely a rank swap.
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 Fairbanks-College corresponds to $96,861 in Allentown-Bethlehem-Easton.
Fairbanks-College
103.2
Cost Index
Allentown-Bethlehem-Easton
100.0
Cost Index
Salary Equivalents
What a salary in Fairbanks-College would need to be in Allentown-Bethlehem-Easton for the same purchasing power:
| In Fairbanks-College | In Allentown-Bethlehem-Easton | Difference |
|---|---|---|
| $50,000 | $48,430 | $-1,570 |
| $75,000 | $72,646 | $-2,354 |
| $100,000 | $96,861 | $-3,139 |
| $150,000 | $145,291 | $-4,709 |
$ in Fairbanks-College = in Allentown-Bethlehem-Easton
Same BEA Regional Price Parity ratio as the table above (103.2 → 100.0), computed live from your number, nothing is sent anywhere.
How the Price Gap Changed
Fairbanks-College and Allentown-Bethlehem-Easton share 17 published annual releases from 2008 through 2024. Their overall gap held broadly steady, moving from 3.6 to 3.2 RPP points. Fairbanks-College remained the higher-index metro in the latest release.
Rents changed the most within this pair: its gap moved 33.4 points between the first and latest shared releases (20.4 to 13.0 points). This describes a relative price-index history, not a forecast or a household budget.
| Release Year | Fairbanks-College RPP | Allentown-Bethlehem-Easton RPP | Relative Gap |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2008 | 104.7 | 101.1 | 3.6 points Fairbanks-College higher |
| 2012 | 97.9 | 99.9 | 2.0 points Allentown-Bethlehem-Easton higher |
| 2016 | 100.4 | 101.1 | 0.7 points Allentown-Bethlehem-Easton higher |
| 2020 | 99.4 | 99.7 | 0.3 points Allentown-Bethlehem-Easton higher |
| 2024 | 103.2 | 100.0 | 3.2 points Fairbanks-College 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 Allentown-Bethlehem-Easton more expensive than Fairbanks-College?
Allentown-Bethlehem-Easton is 3.1% less expensive than Fairbanks-College. The overall cost index is 100.0 vs 103.2 (national average = 100).
What salary in Allentown-Bethlehem-Easton equals $100K in Fairbanks-College?
A $100,000 salary in Fairbanks-College has the same purchasing power as $96,861 in Allentown-Bethlehem-Easton. This is based on the BEA Regional Price Parity indexes.
How do rents compare between Fairbanks-College and Allentown-Bethlehem-Easton?
Rents in Fairbanks-College are indexed at 92.6 while Allentown-Bethlehem-Easton is at 105.5 (national average = 100). Allentown-Bethlehem-Easton 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.