Overall
- Fairbanks-College
- 103.2
- Grand Forks
- 86.7
Diff -16.5 RPP
Fairbanks-College vs Grand Forks
Cost of living comparison based on BEA Regional Price Parities. Grand Forks is 16% less expensive than Fairbanks-College.
16% less expensive
Grand Forks, ND-MN is 16% less expensive than Fairbanks-College, AK on BEA Regional Price Parities (overall RPP 86.7 vs 103.2). A $100,000 salary in Fairbanks-College buys about the same as $83,969 in Grand Forks; the largest component gap is services.
- Overall RPP 103.2 (Fairbanks-College) vs 86.7 (Grand Forks)
- $100k in Fairbanks-College ≈ $83,969 purchasing power in Grand Forks
- Services drives the gap (-42.7 RPP points)
RPP parity plate
Pair AK:ND 103.2→86.7
TIER-GAP · CROSS-STATE · SERVICES-LED · BENCH-CROSS · PP-STEEP
- TIER-GAP Clear tier gap
- CROSS-STATE AK × ND
- SERVICES-LED Services-led gap
- BENCH-CROSS Benchmark cross
- PP-STEEP Steep PP convert
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.
What This Comparison Actually Tells You
Fairbanks-College, AK and Grand Forks, ND-MN sit in clearly different price tiers, separated by 16.5 RPP points. At this distance, treating the same nominal salary as equivalent would materially change purchasing power.
This route crosses the national benchmark: Fairbanks-College is above 100 while Grand Forks is below it. That makes the move a change of price regime, not merely a rank swap.
Services leads the difference, with Grand Forks 42.7 points lower than Fairbanks-College. Goods, services, and rents all point in the same broad direction, making the headline comparison more transferable across household types.
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 $83,969 in Grand Forks, but it is not a personal spending weight.
How the Price Gap Changed
Fairbanks-College and Grand Forks share 17 published annual releases from 2008 through 2024. Their overall gap widened, moving from 9.1 to 16.5 RPP points. Fairbanks-College remained the higher-index metro in the latest release.
Services changed the most within this pair: its gap moved 27.9 points between the first and latest shared releases (14.8 to 42.7 points). This describes a relative price-index history, not a forecast or a household budget.
| Release Year | Fairbanks-College RPP | Grand Forks RPP | Relative Gap |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2008 | 104.7 | 95.6 | 9.1 points Fairbanks-College higher |
| 2012 | 97.9 | 89.7 | 8.3 points Fairbanks-College higher |
| 2016 | 100.4 | 92.2 | 8.3 points Fairbanks-College higher |
| 2020 | 99.4 | 91.2 | 8.1 points Fairbanks-College higher |
| 2024 | 103.2 | 86.7 | 16.5 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.
Category Breakdown
Goods
- Fairbanks-College
- 107.3
- Grand Forks
- 95.6
Diff -11.7 RPP
Services
- Fairbanks-College
- 119.8
- Grand Forks
- 77.1
Diff -42.7 RPP
Rents
- Fairbanks-College
- 92.6
- Grand Forks
- 59.7
Diff -32.9 RPP
| Category | Fairbanks-College | Grand Forks | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Overall | 103.2 | 86.7 | -16.5 |
| Goods | 107.3 | 95.6 | -11.7 |
| Services | 119.8 | 77.1 | -42.7 |
| Rents | 92.6 | 59.7 | -32.9 |
Visual Comparison
Overall
Fairbanks-College 103.2
Grand Forks 86.7
Goods
Fairbanks-College 107.3
Grand Forks 95.6
Services
Fairbanks-College 119.8
Grand Forks 77.1
Rents
Fairbanks-College 92.6
Grand Forks 59.7
Vertical line = national average (100)
Salary Equivalents
What a salary in Fairbanks-College would need to be in Grand Forks for the same purchasing power:
| In Fairbanks-College | In Grand Forks | Difference |
|---|---|---|
| $50,000 | $41,985 | $-8,015 |
| $75,000 | $62,977 | $-12,023 |
| $100,000 | $83,969 | $-16,031 |
| $150,000 | $125,954 | $-24,046 |
$ in Fairbanks-College = in Grand Forks
Same BEA Regional Price Parity ratio as the table above (103.2 → 86.7), computed live from your number, nothing is sent anywhere.
Fairbanks-College
103.2
Cost Index
Grand Forks
86.7
Cost Index
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Grand Forks more expensive than Fairbanks-College?
Grand Forks is 16% less expensive than Fairbanks-College. The overall cost index is 86.7 vs 103.2 (national average = 100).
What salary in Grand Forks equals $100K in Fairbanks-College?
A $100,000 salary in Fairbanks-College has the same purchasing power as $83,969 in Grand Forks. This is based on the BEA Regional Price Parity indexes.
How do rents compare between Fairbanks-College and Grand Forks?
Rents in Fairbanks-College are indexed at 92.6 while Grand Forks is at 59.7 (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.