Overall
- Farmington
- 87.7
- St. Cloud
- 87.6
Diff -0.1 RPP
Farmington vs St. Cloud
Cost of living comparison based on BEA Regional Price Parities. St. Cloud is 0.1% less expensive than Farmington.
0.1% less expensive
St. Cloud, MN is 0.1% less expensive than Farmington, NM on BEA Regional Price Parities (overall RPP 87.6 vs 87.7). A $100,000 salary in Farmington buys about the same as $99,914 in St. Cloud; the largest component gap is services.
- Overall RPP 87.7 (Farmington) vs 87.6 (St. Cloud)
- $100k in Farmington ≈ $99,914 purchasing power in St. Cloud
- Services drives the gap (+10.8 RPP points)
RPP parity plate
Pair NM:MN 87.7→87.6
PHOTO-FINISH · CROSS-STATE · SPLIT-BUDGET · BOTH-BELOW · PP-PAR
- PHOTO-FINISH Photo finish
- CROSS-STATE NM × MN
- SPLIT-BUDGET Split budget
- BOTH-BELOW Both below 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.
Farmington
87.7
Cost Index
St. Cloud
87.6
Cost Index
What This Comparison Actually Tells You
Farmington, NM and St. Cloud, MN are a photo finish on overall price level, only 0.1 RPP points apart. A salary conversion is therefore a fine adjustment, not evidence of a fundamentally different cost regime.
Services creates the largest separation: St. Cloud is 10.8 points higher. But services and rents 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 remain below the U.S. benchmark of 100. This comparison chooses between two below-average price levels; “more expensive” here does not mean nationally expensive.
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 Farmington to $99,914 in St. Cloud, but it is not a personal spending weight.
Category Breakdown
Goods
- Farmington
- 96.1
- St. Cloud
- 95.4
Diff -0.7 RPP
Services
- Farmington
- 77.9
- St. Cloud
- 88.7
Diff +10.8 RPP
Rents
- Farmington
- 56.6
- St. Cloud
- 65.1
Diff +8.5 RPP
| Category | Farmington | St. Cloud | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Overall | 87.7 | 87.6 | -0.1 |
| Goods | 96.1 | 95.4 | -0.7 |
| Services | 77.9 | 88.7 | +10.8 |
| Rents | 56.6 | 65.1 | +8.5 |
Visual Comparison
Overall
Farmington 87.7
St. Cloud 87.6
Goods
Farmington 96.1
St. Cloud 95.4
Services
Farmington 77.9
St. Cloud 88.7
Rents
Farmington 56.6
St. Cloud 65.1
Vertical line = national average (100)
How the Price Gap Changed
Farmington and St. Cloud share 17 published annual releases from 2008 through 2024. Their overall gap narrowed, moving from 2.3 to 0.1 RPP points. Farmington remained the higher-index metro in the latest release.
Rents changed the most within this pair: its gap moved 9.6 points between the first and latest shared releases (18.1 to 8.5 points). This describes a relative price-index history, not a forecast or a household budget.
| Release Year | Farmington RPP | St. Cloud RPP | Relative Gap |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2008 | 95.0 | 97.3 | 2.3 points St. Cloud higher |
| 2012 | 94.8 | 95.2 | 0.3 points St. Cloud higher |
| 2016 | 95.0 | 93.7 | 1.4 points Farmington higher |
| 2020 | 89.1 | 91.5 | 2.4 points St. Cloud higher |
| 2024 | 87.7 | 87.6 | 0.1 points Farmington 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 Farmington would need to be in St. Cloud for the same purchasing power:
| In Farmington | In St. Cloud | Difference |
|---|---|---|
| $50,000 | $49,957 | $-43 |
| $75,000 | $74,936 | $-64 |
| $100,000 | $99,914 | $-86 |
| $150,000 | $149,872 | $-128 |
$ in Farmington = in St. Cloud
Same BEA Regional Price Parity ratio as the table above (87.7 → 87.6), computed live from your number, nothing is sent anywhere.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is St. Cloud more expensive than Farmington?
St. Cloud is 0.1% less expensive than Farmington. The overall cost index is 87.6 vs 87.7 (national average = 100).
What salary in St. Cloud equals $100K in Farmington?
A $100,000 salary in Farmington has the same purchasing power as $99,914 in St. Cloud. This is based on the BEA Regional Price Parity indexes.
How do rents compare between Farmington and St. Cloud?
Rents in Farmington are indexed at 56.6 while St. Cloud is at 65.1 (national average = 100). St. Cloud 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.