Overall
- Fort Smith
- 85.9
Diff +1.1 RPP
Florence-Muscle Shoals vs Fort Smith
Cost of living comparison based on BEA Regional Price Parities. Fort Smith is 1.3% more expensive than Florence-Muscle Shoals.
1.3% more expensive
Fort Smith, AR-OK is 1.3% more expensive than Florence-Muscle Shoals, AL on BEA Regional Price Parities (overall RPP 85.9 vs 84.8). A $100,000 salary in Florence-Muscle Shoals buys about the same as $101,263 in Fort Smith; the largest component gap is services.
- Overall RPP 84.8 (Florence-Muscle Shoals) vs 85.9 (Fort Smith)
- $100k in Florence-Muscle Shoals ≈ $101,263 purchasing power in Fort Smith
- Services drives the gap (-12.0 RPP points)
RPP parity plate
Pair AL:AR 84.8→85.9
PHOTO-FINISH · CROSS-STATE · SPLIT-BUDGET · BOTH-BELOW · PP-PAR
- PHOTO-FINISH Photo finish
- CROSS-STATE AL × AR
- 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.
Florence-Muscle Shoals
84.8
Cost Index
Fort Smith
85.9
Cost Index
What This Comparison Actually Tells You
Florence-Muscle Shoals, AL and Fort Smith, AR-OK are a photo finish on overall price level, only 1.1 RPP points apart. A salary conversion is therefore a fine adjustment, not evidence of a fundamentally different cost regime.
Services creates the largest separation: Fort Smith is 12.0 points lower. 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.
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 Florence-Muscle Shoals to $101,263 in Fort Smith, but it is not a personal spending weight.
Category Breakdown
Goods
- Fort Smith
- 93.6
Diff -2.8 RPP
Services
- Fort Smith
- 73.8
Diff -12.0 RPP
Rents
- Fort Smith
- 53.4
Diff +5.8 RPP
| Category | Florence-Muscle Shoals | Fort Smith | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Overall | 84.8 | 85.9 | +1.1 |
| Goods | 96.4 | 93.6 | -2.8 |
| Services | 85.8 | 73.8 | -12.0 |
| Rents | 47.7 | 53.4 | +5.8 |
Visual Comparison
Overall
Florence-Muscle Shoals 84.8
Fort Smith 85.9
Goods
Florence-Muscle Shoals 96.4
Fort Smith 93.6
Services
Florence-Muscle Shoals 85.8
Fort Smith 73.8
Rents
Florence-Muscle Shoals 47.7
Fort Smith 53.4
Vertical line = national average (100)
Salary Equivalents
What a salary in Florence-Muscle Shoals would need to be in Fort Smith for the same purchasing power:
| In Florence-Muscle Shoals | In Fort Smith | Difference |
|---|---|---|
| $50,000 | $50,631 | +$631 |
| $75,000 | $75,947 | +$947 |
| $100,000 | $101,263 | +$1,263 |
| $150,000 | $151,894 | +$1,894 |
$ in Florence-Muscle Shoals = in Fort Smith
Same BEA Regional Price Parity ratio as the table above (84.8 → 85.9), computed live from your number, nothing is sent anywhere.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Fort Smith more expensive than Florence-Muscle Shoals?
Fort Smith is 1.3% more expensive than Florence-Muscle Shoals. The overall cost index is 85.9 vs 84.8 (national average = 100).
What salary in Fort Smith equals $100K in Florence-Muscle Shoals?
A $100,000 salary in Florence-Muscle Shoals has the same purchasing power as $101,263 in Fort Smith. This is based on the BEA Regional Price Parity indexes.
How do rents compare between Florence-Muscle Shoals and Fort Smith?
Rents in Florence-Muscle Shoals are indexed at 47.7 while Fort Smith is at 53.4 (national average = 100). Fort Smith 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.