Overall
- Fairbanks-College
- 103.2
- Lewiston-Auburn
- 94.7
Diff -8.5 RPP
Fairbanks-College vs Lewiston-Auburn
Cost of living comparison based on BEA Regional Price Parities. Lewiston-Auburn is 8.2% less expensive than Fairbanks-College.
8.2% less expensive
Lewiston-Auburn, ME is 8.2% less expensive than Fairbanks-College, AK on BEA Regional Price Parities (overall RPP 94.7 vs 103.2). A $100,000 salary in Fairbanks-College buys about the same as $91,791 in Lewiston-Auburn; the largest component gap is rents.
- Overall RPP 103.2 (Fairbanks-College) vs 94.7 (Lewiston-Auburn)
- $100k in Fairbanks-College ≈ $91,791 purchasing power in Lewiston-Auburn
- Rents drives the gap (-23.6 RPP points)
RPP parity plate
Pair AK:ME 103.2→94.7
TIER-GAP · CROSS-STATE · SPLIT-BUDGET · BENCH-CROSS · PP-SHIFT
- TIER-GAP Clear tier gap
- CROSS-STATE AK × ME
- 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
- Lewiston-Auburn
- 97.2
Diff -10.2 RPP
Services
- Fairbanks-College
- 119.8
- Lewiston-Auburn
- 134.4
Diff +14.6 RPP
Rents
- Fairbanks-College
- 92.6
- Lewiston-Auburn
- 69.0
Diff -23.6 RPP
| Category | Fairbanks-College | Lewiston-Auburn | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Overall | 103.2 | 94.7 | -8.5 |
| Goods | 107.3 | 97.2 | -10.2 |
| Services | 119.8 | 134.4 | +14.6 |
| Rents | 92.6 | 69.0 | -23.6 |
Visual Comparison
Overall
Fairbanks-College 103.2
Lewiston-Auburn 94.7
Goods
Fairbanks-College 107.3
Lewiston-Auburn 97.2
Services
Fairbanks-College 119.8
Lewiston-Auburn 134.4
Rents
Fairbanks-College 92.6
Lewiston-Auburn 69.0
Vertical line = national average (100)
What This Comparison Actually Tells You
Rents creates the largest separation: Lewiston-Auburn is 23.6 points lower. But services move against the overall direction, so this is a split budget rather than a clean across-the-board winner.
Fairbanks-College, AK and Lewiston-Auburn, ME sit in clearly different price tiers, separated by 8.5 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 Lewiston-Auburn 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 $91,791 in Lewiston-Auburn.
Fairbanks-College
103.2
Cost Index
Lewiston-Auburn
94.7
Cost Index
Salary Equivalents
What a salary in Fairbanks-College would need to be in Lewiston-Auburn for the same purchasing power:
| In Fairbanks-College | In Lewiston-Auburn | Difference |
|---|---|---|
| $50,000 | $45,896 | $-4,104 |
| $75,000 | $68,844 | $-6,156 |
| $100,000 | $91,791 | $-8,209 |
| $150,000 | $137,687 | $-12,313 |
$ in Fairbanks-College = in Lewiston-Auburn
Same BEA Regional Price Parity ratio as the table above (103.2 → 94.7), computed live from your number, nothing is sent anywhere.
How the Price Gap Changed
Fairbanks-College and Lewiston-Auburn share 17 published annual releases from 2008 through 2024. Their overall gap widened, moving from 6.9 to 8.5 RPP points. Fairbanks-College remained the higher-index metro in the latest release.
Services changed the most within this pair: its gap moved 24.7 points between the first and latest shared releases (39.3 to 14.6 points). This describes a relative price-index history, not a forecast or a household budget.
| Release Year | Fairbanks-College RPP | Lewiston-Auburn RPP | Relative Gap |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2008 | 104.7 | 97.7 | 6.9 points Fairbanks-College higher |
| 2012 | 97.9 | 98.8 | 0.8 points Lewiston-Auburn higher |
| 2016 | 100.4 | 96.6 | 3.8 points Fairbanks-College higher |
| 2020 | 99.4 | 99.7 | 0.3 points Lewiston-Auburn higher |
| 2024 | 103.2 | 94.7 | 8.5 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.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Lewiston-Auburn more expensive than Fairbanks-College?
Lewiston-Auburn is 8.2% less expensive than Fairbanks-College. The overall cost index is 94.7 vs 103.2 (national average = 100).
What salary in Lewiston-Auburn equals $100K in Fairbanks-College?
A $100,000 salary in Fairbanks-College has the same purchasing power as $91,791 in Lewiston-Auburn. This is based on the BEA Regional Price Parity indexes.
How do rents compare between Fairbanks-College and Lewiston-Auburn?
Rents in Fairbanks-College are indexed at 92.6 while Lewiston-Auburn is at 69.0 (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.