Overall
- Florence
- 86.8
- Youngstown-Warren
- 87.4
Diff +0.6 RPP
Florence vs Youngstown-Warren
Cost of living comparison based on BEA Regional Price Parities. Youngstown-Warren is 0.7% more expensive than Florence.
0.7% more expensive
Youngstown-Warren, OH is 0.7% more expensive than Florence, SC on BEA Regional Price Parities (overall RPP 87.4 vs 86.8). A $100,000 salary in Florence buys about the same as $100,714 in Youngstown-Warren; the largest component gap is services.
- Overall RPP 86.8 (Florence) vs 87.4 (Youngstown-Warren)
- $100k in Florence ≈ $100,714 purchasing power in Youngstown-Warren
- Services drives the gap (+8.6 RPP points)
RPP parity plate
Pair SC:OH 86.8→87.4
PHOTO-FINISH · CROSS-STATE · SPLIT-BUDGET · BOTH-BELOW · PP-PAR
- PHOTO-FINISH Photo finish
- CROSS-STATE SC × OH
- 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
86.8
Cost Index
Youngstown-Warren
87.4
Cost Index
What This Comparison Actually Tells You
Florence, SC and Youngstown-Warren, OH are a photo finish on overall price level, only 0.6 RPP points apart. A salary conversion is therefore a fine adjustment, not evidence of a fundamentally different cost regime.
Services creates the largest separation: Youngstown-Warren is 8.6 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 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 to $100,714 in Youngstown-Warren, but it is not a personal spending weight.
Category Breakdown
Goods
- Florence
- 96.3
- Youngstown-Warren
- 93.6
Diff -2.7 RPP
Services
- Florence
- 87.7
- Youngstown-Warren
- 96.3
Diff +8.6 RPP
Rents
- Florence
- 52.4
- Youngstown-Warren
- 53.4
Diff +1.0 RPP
| Category | Florence | Youngstown-Warren | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Overall | 86.8 | 87.4 | +0.6 |
| Goods | 96.3 | 93.6 | -2.7 |
| Services | 87.7 | 96.3 | +8.6 |
| Rents | 52.4 | 53.4 | +1.0 |
Visual Comparison
Overall
Florence 86.8
Youngstown-Warren 87.4
Goods
Florence 96.3
Youngstown-Warren 93.6
Services
Florence 87.7
Youngstown-Warren 96.3
Rents
Florence 52.4
Youngstown-Warren 53.4
Vertical line = national average (100)
How the Price Gap Changed
Florence and Youngstown-Warren share 17 published annual releases from 2008 through 2024. Their overall gap narrowed, moving from 6.8 to 0.6 RPP points. Youngstown-Warren remained the higher-index metro in the latest release.
Rents changed the most within this pair: its gap moved 15.8 points between the first and latest shared releases (16.9 to 1.0 points). This describes a relative price-index history, not a forecast or a household budget.
| Release Year | Florence RPP | Youngstown-Warren RPP | Relative Gap |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2008 | 84.5 | 91.3 | 6.8 points Youngstown-Warren higher |
| 2012 | 89.6 | 90.8 | 1.1 points Youngstown-Warren higher |
| 2016 | 89.5 | 87.8 | 1.7 points Florence higher |
| 2020 | 86.4 | 86.1 | 0.3 points Florence higher |
| 2024 | 86.8 | 87.4 | 0.6 points Youngstown-Warren 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 Florence would need to be in Youngstown-Warren for the same purchasing power:
| In Florence | In Youngstown-Warren | Difference |
|---|---|---|
| $50,000 | $50,357 | +$357 |
| $75,000 | $75,536 | +$536 |
| $100,000 | $100,714 | +$714 |
| $150,000 | $151,072 | +$1,072 |
$ in Florence = in Youngstown-Warren
Same BEA Regional Price Parity ratio as the table above (86.8 → 87.4), computed live from your number, nothing is sent anywhere.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Youngstown-Warren more expensive than Florence?
Youngstown-Warren is 0.7% more expensive than Florence. The overall cost index is 87.4 vs 86.8 (national average = 100).
What salary in Youngstown-Warren equals $100K in Florence?
A $100,000 salary in Florence has the same purchasing power as $100,714 in Youngstown-Warren. This is based on the BEA Regional Price Parity indexes.
How do rents compare between Florence and Youngstown-Warren?
Rents in Florence are indexed at 52.4 while Youngstown-Warren is at 53.4 (national average = 100). Youngstown-Warren 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.