Overall
- Fort Collins-Loveland
- 101.1
- Barnstable Town
- 98.4
Diff -2.8 RPP
Fort Collins-Loveland vs Barnstable Town
Cost of living comparison based on BEA Regional Price Parities. Barnstable Town is 2.7% less expensive than Fort Collins-Loveland.
2.7% less expensive
Barnstable Town, MA is 2.7% less expensive than Fort Collins-Loveland, CO on BEA Regional Price Parities (overall RPP 98.4 vs 101.1). A $100,000 salary in Fort Collins-Loveland buys about the same as $97,254 in Barnstable Town; the largest component gap is services.
- Overall RPP 101.1 (Fort Collins-Loveland) vs 98.4 (Barnstable Town)
- $100k in Fort Collins-Loveland ≈ $97,254 purchasing power in Barnstable Town
- Services drives the gap (+76.3 RPP points)
RPP parity plate
Pair CO:MA 101.1→98.4
TIER-NEAR · CROSS-STATE · SPLIT-BUDGET · BENCH-CROSS · PP-SHIFT
- TIER-NEAR Near tier
- CROSS-STATE CO × MA
- SPLIT-BUDGET Split budget
- BENCH-CROSS Benchmark cross
- PP-SHIFT PP shift
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.
Category Breakdown
Goods
- Barnstable Town
- 97.0
Diff +1.0 RPP
Services
- Barnstable Town
- 158.4
Diff +76.3 RPP
Rents
- Fort Collins-Loveland
- 120.6
- Barnstable Town
- 90.0
Diff -30.6 RPP
| Category | Fort Collins-Loveland | Barnstable Town | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Overall | 101.1 | 98.4 | -2.8 |
| Goods | 96.1 | 97.0 | +1.0 |
| Services | 82.2 | 158.4 | +76.3 |
| Rents | 120.6 | 90.0 | -30.6 |
Visual Comparison
Overall
Fort Collins-Loveland 101.1
Barnstable Town 98.4
Goods
Fort Collins-Loveland 96.1
Barnstable Town 97.0
Services
Fort Collins-Loveland 82.2
Barnstable Town 158.4
Rents
Fort Collins-Loveland 120.6
Barnstable Town 90.0
Vertical line = national average (100)
What This Comparison Actually Tells You
Services creates the largest separation: Barnstable Town is 76.3 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.
Barnstable Town, MA is 2.7% less expensive than Fort Collins-Loveland, CO, a meaningful but not extreme shift. The move decision turns on which budget category creates the 2.8-point overall gap.
This route crosses the national benchmark: Fort Collins-Loveland is above 100 while Barnstable Town is below it. That makes the move a change of price regime, not merely a rank swap.
Comparable population context is incomplete for this pair, so no market-scale explanation is inferred from the price indexes.
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 Fort Collins-Loveland to $97,254 in Barnstable Town, but it is not a personal spending weight.
Fort Collins-Loveland
101.1
Cost Index
Barnstable Town
98.4
Cost Index
Salary Equivalents
What a salary in Fort Collins-Loveland would need to be in Barnstable Town for the same purchasing power:
| In Fort Collins-Loveland | In Barnstable Town | Difference |
|---|---|---|
| $50,000 | $48,627 | $-1,373 |
| $75,000 | $72,940 | $-2,060 |
| $100,000 | $97,254 | $-2,746 |
| $150,000 | $145,881 | $-4,119 |
$ in Fort Collins-Loveland = in Barnstable Town
Same BEA Regional Price Parity ratio as the table above (101.1 → 98.4), computed live from your number, nothing is sent anywhere.
How the Price Gap Changed
Fort Collins-Loveland and Barnstable Town share 17 published annual releases from 2008 through 2024. Their overall gap narrowed, moving from 5.6 to 2.8 RPP points. Fort Collins-Loveland remained the higher-index metro in the latest release.
Rents changed the most within this pair: its gap moved 38.5 points between the first and latest shared releases (7.9 to 30.6 points). This describes a relative price-index history, not a forecast or a household budget.
| Release Year | Fort Collins-Loveland RPP | Barnstable Town RPP | Relative Gap |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2008 | 97.2 | 102.8 | 5.6 points Barnstable Town higher |
| 2012 | 104.7 | 100.9 | 3.8 points Fort Collins-Loveland higher |
| 2016 | 101.4 | 105.8 | 4.4 points Barnstable Town higher |
| 2020 | 98.5 | 101.3 | 2.7 points Barnstable Town higher |
| 2024 | 101.1 | 98.4 | 2.8 points Fort Collins-Loveland 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.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Barnstable Town more expensive than Fort Collins-Loveland?
Barnstable Town is 2.7% less expensive than Fort Collins-Loveland. The overall cost index is 98.4 vs 101.1 (national average = 100).
What salary in Barnstable Town equals $100K in Fort Collins-Loveland?
A $100,000 salary in Fort Collins-Loveland has the same purchasing power as $97,254 in Barnstable Town. This is based on the BEA Regional Price Parity indexes.
How do rents compare between Fort Collins-Loveland and Barnstable Town?
Rents in Fort Collins-Loveland are indexed at 120.6 while Barnstable Town is at 90.0 (national average = 100). Fort Collins-Loveland 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.