Overall
- Flagstaff
- 100.3
- Barnstable Town
- 98.4
Diff -2.0 RPP
Flagstaff vs Barnstable Town
Cost of living comparison based on BEA Regional Price Parities. Barnstable Town is 2% less expensive than Flagstaff.
2% less expensive
Barnstable Town, MA is 2% less expensive than Flagstaff, AZ on BEA Regional Price Parities (overall RPP 98.4 vs 100.3). A $100,000 salary in Flagstaff buys about the same as $98,032 in Barnstable Town; the largest component gap is services.
- Overall RPP 100.3 (Flagstaff) vs 98.4 (Barnstable Town)
- $100k in Flagstaff ≈ $98,032 purchasing power in Barnstable Town
- Services drives the gap (+64.6 RPP points)
RPP parity plate
Pair AZ:MA 100.3→98.4
PHOTO-FINISH · CROSS-STATE · SPLIT-BUDGET · BENCH-CROSS · PP-PAR
- PHOTO-FINISH Photo finish
- CROSS-STATE AZ × MA
- SPLIT-BUDGET Split budget
- BENCH-CROSS Benchmark cross
- 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.
Flagstaff
100.3
Cost Index
Barnstable Town
98.4
Cost Index
What This Comparison Actually Tells You
Flagstaff, AZ and Barnstable Town, MA are a photo finish on overall price level, only 2.0 RPP points apart. A salary conversion is therefore a fine adjustment, not evidence of a fundamentally different cost regime.
Services creates the largest separation: Barnstable Town is 64.6 points higher. But services and 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.
This route crosses the national benchmark: Flagstaff is above 100 while Barnstable Town is below it. That makes the move a change of price regime, not merely a rank swap.
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 Flagstaff to $98,032 in Barnstable Town, but it is not a personal spending weight.
Category Breakdown
Goods
- Flagstaff
- 96.2
- Barnstable Town
- 97.0
Diff +0.8 RPP
Services
- Flagstaff
- 93.8
- Barnstable Town
- 158.4
Diff +64.6 RPP
Rents
- Flagstaff
- 109.0
- Barnstable Town
- 90.0
Diff -18.9 RPP
| Category | Flagstaff | Barnstable Town | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Overall | 100.3 | 98.4 | -2.0 |
| Goods | 96.2 | 97.0 | +0.8 |
| Services | 93.8 | 158.4 | +64.6 |
| Rents | 109.0 | 90.0 | -18.9 |
Visual Comparison
Overall
Flagstaff 100.3
Barnstable Town 98.4
Goods
Flagstaff 96.2
Barnstable Town 97.0
Services
Flagstaff 93.8
Barnstable Town 158.4
Rents
Flagstaff 109.0
Barnstable Town 90.0
Vertical line = national average (100)
How the Price Gap Changed
Flagstaff and Barnstable Town share 17 published annual releases from 2008 through 2024. Their overall gap narrowed, moving from 3.0 to 2.0 RPP points. Flagstaff remained the higher-index metro in the latest release.
Rents changed the most within this pair: its gap moved 31.4 points between the first and latest shared releases (12.4 to 18.9 points). This describes a relative price-index history, not a forecast or a household budget.
| Release Year | Flagstaff RPP | Barnstable Town RPP | Relative Gap |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2008 | 99.8 | 102.8 | 3.0 points Barnstable Town higher |
| 2012 | 99.2 | 100.9 | 1.7 points Barnstable Town higher |
| 2016 | 97.7 | 105.8 | 8.1 points Barnstable Town higher |
| 2020 | 97.0 | 101.3 | 4.2 points Barnstable Town higher |
| 2024 | 100.3 | 98.4 | 2.0 points Flagstaff 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 Flagstaff would need to be in Barnstable Town for the same purchasing power:
| In Flagstaff | In Barnstable Town | Difference |
|---|---|---|
| $50,000 | $49,016 | $-984 |
| $75,000 | $73,524 | $-1,476 |
| $100,000 | $98,032 | $-1,968 |
| $150,000 | $147,049 | $-2,951 |
$ in Flagstaff = in Barnstable Town
Same BEA Regional Price Parity ratio as the table above (100.3 → 98.4), computed live from your number, nothing is sent anywhere.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Barnstable Town more expensive than Flagstaff?
Barnstable Town is 2% less expensive than Flagstaff. The overall cost index is 98.4 vs 100.3 (national average = 100).
What salary in Barnstable Town equals $100K in Flagstaff?
A $100,000 salary in Flagstaff has the same purchasing power as $98,032 in Barnstable Town. This is based on the BEA Regional Price Parity indexes.
How do rents compare between Flagstaff and Barnstable Town?
Rents in Flagstaff are indexed at 109.0 while Barnstable Town is at 90.0 (national average = 100). Flagstaff 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.