Overall
- Fairbanks-College
- 103.2
- Sumter
- 88.0
Diff -15.2 RPP
Fairbanks-College vs Sumter
Cost of living comparison based on BEA Regional Price Parities. Sumter is 14.7% less expensive than Fairbanks-College.
14.7% less expensive
Sumter, SC is 14.7% less expensive than Fairbanks-College, AK on BEA Regional Price Parities (overall RPP 88.0 vs 103.2). A $100,000 salary in Fairbanks-College buys about the same as $85,284 in Sumter; the largest component gap is services.
- Overall RPP 103.2 (Fairbanks-College) vs 88.0 (Sumter)
- $100k in Fairbanks-College ≈ $85,284 purchasing power in Sumter
- Services drives the gap (-32.5 RPP points)
RPP parity plate
Pair AK:SC 103.2→88.0
TIER-GAP · CROSS-STATE · SERVICES-LED · BENCH-CROSS · PP-SHIFT
- TIER-GAP Clear tier gap
- CROSS-STATE AK × SC
- SERVICES-LED Services-led gap
- 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.
What This Comparison Actually Tells You
Fairbanks-College, AK and Sumter, SC sit in clearly different price tiers, separated by 15.2 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 Sumter is below it. That makes the move a change of price regime, not merely a rank swap.
Services leads the difference, with Sumter 32.5 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 $85,284 in Sumter, but it is not a personal spending weight.
How the Price Gap Changed
Fairbanks-College and Sumter share 17 published annual releases from 2008 through 2024. Their overall gap held broadly steady, moving from 15.3 to 15.2 RPP points. Fairbanks-College remained the higher-index metro in the latest release.
Rents changed the most within this pair: its gap moved 29.6 points between the first and latest shared releases (61.3 to 31.7 points). This describes a relative price-index history, not a forecast or a household budget.
| Release Year | Fairbanks-College RPP | Sumter RPP | Relative Gap |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2008 | 104.7 | 89.4 | 15.3 points Fairbanks-College higher |
| 2012 | 97.9 | 89.6 | 8.4 points Fairbanks-College higher |
| 2016 | 100.4 | 87.1 | 13.3 points Fairbanks-College higher |
| 2020 | 99.4 | 81.4 | 18.0 points Fairbanks-College higher |
| 2024 | 103.2 | 88.0 | 15.2 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.
Category Breakdown
Goods
- Fairbanks-College
- 107.3
- Sumter
- 96.3
Diff -11.0 RPP
Services
- Fairbanks-College
- 119.8
- Sumter
- 87.3
Diff -32.5 RPP
Rents
- Fairbanks-College
- 92.6
- Sumter
- 60.8
Diff -31.7 RPP
| Category | Fairbanks-College | Sumter | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Overall | 103.2 | 88.0 | -15.2 |
| Goods | 107.3 | 96.3 | -11.0 |
| Services | 119.8 | 87.3 | -32.5 |
| Rents | 92.6 | 60.8 | -31.7 |
Visual Comparison
Overall
Fairbanks-College 103.2
Sumter 88.0
Goods
Fairbanks-College 107.3
Sumter 96.3
Services
Fairbanks-College 119.8
Sumter 87.3
Rents
Fairbanks-College 92.6
Sumter 60.8
Vertical line = national average (100)
Salary Equivalents
What a salary in Fairbanks-College would need to be in Sumter for the same purchasing power:
| In Fairbanks-College | In Sumter | Difference |
|---|---|---|
| $50,000 | $42,642 | $-7,358 |
| $75,000 | $63,963 | $-11,037 |
| $100,000 | $85,284 | $-14,716 |
| $150,000 | $127,926 | $-22,074 |
$ in Fairbanks-College = in Sumter
Same BEA Regional Price Parity ratio as the table above (103.2 → 88.0), computed live from your number, nothing is sent anywhere.
Fairbanks-College
103.2
Cost Index
Sumter
88.0
Cost Index
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Sumter more expensive than Fairbanks-College?
Sumter is 14.7% less expensive than Fairbanks-College. The overall cost index is 88.0 vs 103.2 (national average = 100).
What salary in Sumter equals $100K in Fairbanks-College?
A $100,000 salary in Fairbanks-College has the same purchasing power as $85,284 in Sumter. This is based on the BEA Regional Price Parity indexes.
How do rents compare between Fairbanks-College and Sumter?
Rents in Fairbanks-College are indexed at 92.6 while Sumter is at 60.8 (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.