Overall
- Flagstaff
- 100.3
- Port St. Lucie
- 100.2
Diff -0.1 RPP
Flagstaff vs Port St. Lucie
Cost of living comparison based on BEA Regional Price Parities. Port St. Lucie is 0.1% less expensive than Flagstaff.
0.1% less expensive
Port St. Lucie, FL is 0.1% less expensive than Flagstaff, AZ on BEA Regional Price Parities (overall RPP 100.2 vs 100.3). A $100,000 salary in Flagstaff buys about the same as $99,903 in Port St. Lucie; the largest component gap is services.
- Overall RPP 100.3 (Flagstaff) vs 100.2 (Port St. Lucie)
- $100k in Flagstaff ≈ $99,903 purchasing power in Port St. Lucie
- Services drives the gap (-6.8 RPP points)
RPP parity plate
Pair AZ:FL 100.3→100.2
PHOTO-FINISH · CROSS-STATE · SPLIT-BUDGET · BOTH-ABOVE · PP-PAR
- PHOTO-FINISH Photo finish
- CROSS-STATE AZ × FL
- 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.
Flagstaff
100.3
Cost Index
Port St. Lucie
100.2
Cost Index
What This Comparison Actually Tells You
Flagstaff, AZ and Port St. Lucie, FL 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: Port St. Lucie is 6.8 points lower. But rents 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.
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 Flagstaff to $99,903 in Port St. Lucie, but it is not a personal spending weight.
Category Breakdown
Goods
- Flagstaff
- 96.2
- Port St. Lucie
- 96.2
Diff +0.0 RPP
Services
- Flagstaff
- 93.8
- Port St. Lucie
- 87.0
Diff -6.8 RPP
Rents
- Flagstaff
- 109.0
- Port St. Lucie
- 113.6
Diff +4.7 RPP
| Category | Flagstaff | Port St. Lucie | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Overall | 100.3 | 100.2 | -0.1 |
| Goods | 96.2 | 96.2 | +0.0 |
| Services | 93.8 | 87.0 | -6.8 |
| Rents | 109.0 | 113.6 | +4.7 |
Visual Comparison
Overall
Flagstaff 100.3
Port St. Lucie 100.2
Goods
Flagstaff 96.2
Port St. Lucie 96.2
Services
Flagstaff 93.8
Port St. Lucie 87.0
Rents
Flagstaff 109.0
Port St. Lucie 113.6
Vertical line = national average (100)
How the Price Gap Changed
Flagstaff and Port St. Lucie share 17 published annual releases from 2008 through 2024. Their overall gap narrowed, moving from 1.3 to 0.1 RPP points. Flagstaff remained the higher-index metro in the latest release.
Services changed the most within this pair: its gap moved 16.8 points between the first and latest shared releases (10.1 to 6.8 points). This describes a relative price-index history, not a forecast or a household budget.
| Release Year | Flagstaff RPP | Port St. Lucie RPP | Relative Gap |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2008 | 99.8 | 101.1 | 1.3 points Port St. Lucie higher |
| 2012 | 99.2 | 99.2 | 0.0 points Flagstaff higher |
| 2016 | 97.7 | 100.5 | 2.8 points Port St. Lucie higher |
| 2020 | 97.0 | 98.6 | 1.6 points Port St. Lucie higher |
| 2024 | 100.3 | 100.2 | 0.1 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 Port St. Lucie for the same purchasing power:
| In Flagstaff | In Port St. Lucie | Difference |
|---|---|---|
| $50,000 | $49,952 | $-48 |
| $75,000 | $74,927 | $-73 |
| $100,000 | $99,903 | $-97 |
| $150,000 | $149,855 | $-145 |
$ in Flagstaff = in Port St. Lucie
Same BEA Regional Price Parity ratio as the table above (100.3 → 100.2), computed live from your number, nothing is sent anywhere.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Port St. Lucie more expensive than Flagstaff?
Port St. Lucie is 0.1% less expensive than Flagstaff. The overall cost index is 100.2 vs 100.3 (national average = 100).
What salary in Port St. Lucie equals $100K in Flagstaff?
A $100,000 salary in Flagstaff has the same purchasing power as $99,903 in Port St. Lucie. This is based on the BEA Regional Price Parity indexes.
How do rents compare between Flagstaff and Port St. Lucie?
Rents in Flagstaff are indexed at 109.0 while Port St. Lucie is at 113.6 (national average = 100). Port St. Lucie 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.