Overall
- Fairbanks-College
- 103.2
- Yuba City
- 104.2
Diff +1.0 RPP
Fairbanks-College vs Yuba City
Cost of living comparison based on BEA Regional Price Parities. Yuba City is 1% more expensive than Fairbanks-College.
1% more expensive
Yuba City, CA is 1% more expensive than Fairbanks-College, AK on BEA Regional Price Parities (overall RPP 104.2 vs 103.2). A $100,000 salary in Fairbanks-College buys about the same as $100,993 in Yuba City; the largest component gap is services.
- Overall RPP 103.2 (Fairbanks-College) vs 104.2 (Yuba City)
- $100k in Fairbanks-College ≈ $100,993 purchasing power in Yuba City
- Services drives the gap (+41.0 RPP points)
RPP parity plate
Pair AK:CA 103.2→104.2
PHOTO-FINISH · CROSS-STATE · SPLIT-BUDGET · BOTH-ABOVE · PP-PAR
- PHOTO-FINISH Photo finish
- CROSS-STATE AK × CA
- SPLIT-BUDGET Split budget
- BOTH-ABOVE Both above 100
- PP-PAR PP near-par
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.
Fairbanks-College
103.2
Cost Index
Yuba City
104.2
Cost Index
What This Comparison Actually Tells You
Fairbanks-College, AK and Yuba City, CA are a photo finish on overall price level, only 1.0 RPP points apart. A salary conversion is therefore a fine adjustment, not evidence of a fundamentally different cost regime.
Services creates the largest separation: Yuba City is 41.0 points higher. But goods move against the overall direction, so this is a split budget rather than a clean across-the-board winner.
Comparable population context is incomplete for this pair, so no market-scale explanation is inferred from the price indexes.
Both metros exceed the U.S. benchmark of 100. The choice is between two national premiums, so local wages need to clear the higher baseline in either market.
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 $100,993 in Yuba City, but it is not a personal spending weight.
Category Breakdown
Goods
- Fairbanks-College
- 107.3
- Yuba City
- 105.2
Diff -2.2 RPP
Services
- Fairbanks-College
- 119.8
- Yuba City
- 160.8
Diff +41.0 RPP
Rents
- Fairbanks-College
- 92.6
- Yuba City
- 108.3
Diff +15.7 RPP
| Category | Fairbanks-College | Yuba City | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Overall | 103.2 | 104.2 | +1.0 |
| Goods | 107.3 | 105.2 | -2.2 |
| Services | 119.8 | 160.8 | +41.0 |
| Rents | 92.6 | 108.3 | +15.7 |
Visual Comparison
Overall
Fairbanks-College 103.2
Yuba City 104.2
Goods
Fairbanks-College 107.3
Yuba City 105.2
Services
Fairbanks-College 119.8
Yuba City 160.8
Rents
Fairbanks-College 92.6
Yuba City 108.3
Vertical line = national average (100)
How the Price Gap Changed
Fairbanks-College and Yuba City share 17 published annual releases from 2008 through 2024. Their overall gap narrowed, moving from 6.9 to 1.0 RPP points. Yuba City remained the higher-index metro in the latest release.
Services changed the most within this pair: its gap moved 35.6 points between the first and latest shared releases (5.4 to 41.0 points). This describes a relative price-index history, not a forecast or a household budget.
| Release Year | Fairbanks-College RPP | Yuba City RPP | Relative Gap |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2008 | 104.7 | 97.8 | 6.9 points Fairbanks-College higher |
| 2012 | 97.9 | 102.2 | 4.3 points Yuba City higher |
| 2016 | 100.4 | 97.6 | 2.8 points Fairbanks-College higher |
| 2020 | 99.4 | 102.0 | 2.6 points Yuba City higher |
| 2024 | 103.2 | 104.2 | 1.0 points Yuba City 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.
Salary Equivalents
What a salary in Fairbanks-College would need to be in Yuba City for the same purchasing power:
| In Fairbanks-College | In Yuba City | Difference |
|---|---|---|
| $50,000 | $50,497 | +$497 |
| $75,000 | $75,745 | +$745 |
| $100,000 | $100,993 | +$993 |
| $150,000 | $151,490 | +$1,490 |
$ in Fairbanks-College = in Yuba City
Same BEA Regional Price Parity ratio as the table above (103.2 → 104.2), computed live from your number, nothing is sent anywhere.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Yuba City more expensive than Fairbanks-College?
Yuba City is 1% more expensive than Fairbanks-College. The overall cost index is 104.2 vs 103.2 (national average = 100).
What salary in Yuba City equals $100K in Fairbanks-College?
A $100,000 salary in Fairbanks-College has the same purchasing power as $100,993 in Yuba City. This is based on the BEA Regional Price Parity indexes.
How do rents compare between Fairbanks-College and Yuba City?
Rents in Fairbanks-College are indexed at 92.6 while Yuba City is at 108.3 (national average = 100). Yuba City 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.