Overall
- Fairbanks-College
- 103.2
- Barnstable Town
- 98.4
Diff -4.9 RPP
Fairbanks-College vs Barnstable Town
Cost of living comparison based on BEA Regional Price Parities. Barnstable Town is 4.7% less expensive than Fairbanks-College.
4.7% less expensive
Barnstable Town, MA is 4.7% less expensive than Fairbanks-College, AK on BEA Regional Price Parities (overall RPP 98.4 vs 103.2). A $100,000 salary in Fairbanks-College buys about the same as $95,294 in Barnstable Town; the largest component gap is services.
- Overall RPP 103.2 (Fairbanks-College) vs 98.4 (Barnstable Town)
- $100k in Fairbanks-College ≈ $95,294 purchasing power in Barnstable Town
- Services drives the gap (+38.7 RPP points)
RPP parity plate
Pair AK:MA 103.2→98.4
TIER-NEAR · CROSS-STATE · SPLIT-BUDGET · BENCH-CROSS · PP-SHIFT
- TIER-NEAR Near tier
- CROSS-STATE AK × MA
- 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
- Barnstable Town
- 97.0
Diff -10.3 RPP
Services
- Fairbanks-College
- 119.8
- Barnstable Town
- 158.4
Diff +38.7 RPP
Rents
- Fairbanks-College
- 92.6
- Barnstable Town
- 90.0
Diff -2.5 RPP
| Category | Fairbanks-College | Barnstable Town | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Overall | 103.2 | 98.4 | -4.9 |
| Goods | 107.3 | 97.0 | -10.3 |
| Services | 119.8 | 158.4 | +38.7 |
| Rents | 92.6 | 90.0 | -2.5 |
Visual Comparison
Overall
Fairbanks-College 103.2
Barnstable Town 98.4
Goods
Fairbanks-College 107.3
Barnstable Town 97.0
Services
Fairbanks-College 119.8
Barnstable Town 158.4
Rents
Fairbanks-College 92.6
Barnstable Town 90.0
Vertical line = national average (100)
What This Comparison Actually Tells You
Services creates the largest separation: Barnstable Town is 38.7 points higher. But services move against the overall direction, so this is a split budget rather than a clean across-the-board winner.
Barnstable Town, MA is 4.7% less expensive than Fairbanks-College, AK, a meaningful but not extreme shift. The move decision turns on which budget category creates the 4.9-point overall gap.
This route crosses the national benchmark: Fairbanks-College is above 100 while Barnstable Town 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 service-heavy household, test childcare, health, and other locally supplied costs before relying on rent alone. The BEA ratio converts $100,000 in Fairbanks-College to $95,294 in Barnstable Town, but it is not a personal spending weight.
Fairbanks-College
103.2
Cost Index
Barnstable Town
98.4
Cost Index
Salary Equivalents
What a salary in Fairbanks-College would need to be in Barnstable Town for the same purchasing power:
| In Fairbanks-College | In Barnstable Town | Difference |
|---|---|---|
| $50,000 | $47,647 | $-2,353 |
| $75,000 | $71,470 | $-3,530 |
| $100,000 | $95,294 | $-4,706 |
| $150,000 | $142,941 | $-7,059 |
$ in Fairbanks-College = in Barnstable Town
Same BEA Regional Price Parity ratio as the table above (103.2 → 98.4), computed live from your number, nothing is sent anywhere.
How the Price Gap Changed
Fairbanks-College and Barnstable Town share 17 published annual releases from 2008 through 2024. Their overall gap widened, moving from 1.9 to 4.9 RPP points. Fairbanks-College remained the higher-index metro in the latest release.
Rents changed the most within this pair: its gap moved 11.2 points between the first and latest shared releases (13.7 to 2.5 points). This describes a relative price-index history, not a forecast or a household budget.
| Release Year | Fairbanks-College RPP | Barnstable Town RPP | Relative Gap |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2008 | 104.7 | 102.8 | 1.9 points Fairbanks-College higher |
| 2012 | 97.9 | 100.9 | 3.0 points Barnstable Town higher |
| 2016 | 100.4 | 105.8 | 5.4 points Barnstable Town higher |
| 2020 | 99.4 | 101.3 | 1.9 points Barnstable Town higher |
| 2024 | 103.2 | 98.4 | 4.9 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 Barnstable Town more expensive than Fairbanks-College?
Barnstable Town is 4.7% less expensive than Fairbanks-College. The overall cost index is 98.4 vs 103.2 (national average = 100).
What salary in Barnstable Town equals $100K in Fairbanks-College?
A $100,000 salary in Fairbanks-College has the same purchasing power as $95,294 in Barnstable Town. This is based on the BEA Regional Price Parity indexes.
How do rents compare between Fairbanks-College and Barnstable Town?
Rents in Fairbanks-College are indexed at 92.6 while Barnstable Town is at 90.0 (national average = 100). Fairbanks-College 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.