Overall
- Fairbanks-College
- 103.2
Diff -5.3 RPP
Fairbanks-College vs Virginia Beach-Chesapeake-Norfolk
Cost of living comparison based on BEA Regional Price Parities. Virginia Beach-Chesapeake-Norfolk is 5.1% less expensive than Fairbanks-College.
5.1% less expensive
Virginia Beach-Chesapeake-Norfolk, VA-NC is 5.1% less expensive than Fairbanks-College, AK on BEA Regional Price Parities (overall RPP 97.9 vs 103.2). A $100,000 salary in Fairbanks-College buys about the same as $94,897 in Virginia Beach-Chesapeake-Norfolk; the largest component gap is services.
- Overall RPP 103.2 (Fairbanks-College) vs 97.9 (Virginia Beach-Chesapeake-Norfolk)
- $100k in Fairbanks-College ≈ $94,897 purchasing power in Virginia Beach-Chesapeake-Norfolk
- Services drives the gap (-30.2 RPP points)
RPP parity plate
Pair AK:VA 103.2→97.9
TIER-NEAR · CROSS-STATE · SPLIT-BUDGET · BENCH-CROSS · PP-SHIFT
- TIER-NEAR Near tier
- CROSS-STATE AK × VA
- 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 -10.6 RPP
Services
- Fairbanks-College
- 119.8
Diff -30.2 RPP
Rents
- Fairbanks-College
- 92.6
Diff +7.2 RPP
| Category | Fairbanks-College | Virginia Beach-Chesapeake-Norfolk | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Overall | 103.2 | 97.9 | -5.3 |
| Goods | 107.3 | 96.8 | -10.6 |
| Services | 119.8 | 89.6 | -30.2 |
| Rents | 92.6 | 99.8 | +7.2 |
Visual Comparison
Overall
Fairbanks-College 103.2
Virginia Beach-Chesapeake-Norfolk 97.9
Goods
Fairbanks-College 107.3
Virginia Beach-Chesapeake-Norfolk 96.8
Services
Fairbanks-College 119.8
Virginia Beach-Chesapeake-Norfolk 89.6
Rents
Fairbanks-College 92.6
Virginia Beach-Chesapeake-Norfolk 99.8
Vertical line = national average (100)
What This Comparison Actually Tells You
Services creates the largest separation: Virginia Beach-Chesapeake-Norfolk is 30.2 points lower. But rents move against the overall direction, so this is a split budget rather than a clean across-the-board winner.
Virginia Beach-Chesapeake-Norfolk, VA-NC is 5.1% less expensive than Fairbanks-College, AK, a meaningful but not extreme shift. The move decision turns on which budget category creates the 5.3-point overall gap.
This route crosses the national benchmark: Fairbanks-College is above 100 while Virginia Beach-Chesapeake-Norfolk 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 $94,897 in Virginia Beach-Chesapeake-Norfolk, but it is not a personal spending weight.
Fairbanks-College
103.2
Cost Index
Virginia Beach-Chesapeake-Norfolk
97.9
Cost Index
Salary Equivalents
What a salary in Fairbanks-College would need to be in Virginia Beach-Chesapeake-Norfolk for the same purchasing power:
| In Fairbanks-College | In Virginia Beach-Chesapeake-Norfolk | Difference |
|---|---|---|
| $50,000 | $47,448 | $-2,552 |
| $75,000 | $71,173 | $-3,827 |
| $100,000 | $94,897 | $-5,103 |
| $150,000 | $142,345 | $-7,655 |
$ in Fairbanks-College = in Virginia Beach-Chesapeake-Norfolk
Same BEA Regional Price Parity ratio as the table above (103.2 → 97.9), computed live from your number, nothing is sent anywhere.
How the Price Gap Changed
Fairbanks-College and Virginia Beach-Chesapeake-Norfolk share 17 published annual releases from 2008 through 2024. Their overall gap held broadly steady, moving from 4.6 to 5.3 RPP points. Fairbanks-College remained the higher-index metro in the latest release.
Services changed the most within this pair: its gap moved 19.3 points between the first and latest shared releases (10.9 to 30.2 points). This describes a relative price-index history, not a forecast or a household budget.
| Release Year | Fairbanks-College RPP | Virginia Beach-Chesapeake-Norfolk RPP | Relative Gap |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2008 | 104.7 | 100.1 | 4.6 points Fairbanks-College higher |
| 2012 | 97.9 | 100.1 | 2.2 points Virginia Beach-Chesapeake-Norfolk higher |
| 2016 | 100.4 | 101.0 | 0.6 points Virginia Beach-Chesapeake-Norfolk higher |
| 2020 | 99.4 | 95.6 | 3.8 points Fairbanks-College higher |
| 2024 | 103.2 | 97.9 | 5.3 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 Virginia Beach-Chesapeake-Norfolk more expensive than Fairbanks-College?
Virginia Beach-Chesapeake-Norfolk is 5.1% less expensive than Fairbanks-College. The overall cost index is 97.9 vs 103.2 (national average = 100).
What salary in Virginia Beach-Chesapeake-Norfolk equals $100K in Fairbanks-College?
A $100,000 salary in Fairbanks-College has the same purchasing power as $94,897 in Virginia Beach-Chesapeake-Norfolk. This is based on the BEA Regional Price Parity indexes.
How do rents compare between Fairbanks-College and Virginia Beach-Chesapeake-Norfolk?
Rents in Fairbanks-College are indexed at 92.6 while Virginia Beach-Chesapeake-Norfolk is at 99.8 (national average = 100). Virginia Beach-Chesapeake-Norfolk 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.