Overall
- Fort Smith
- 85.9
- Dothan
- 83.8
Diff -2.1 RPP
Fort Smith vs Dothan
Cost of living comparison based on BEA Regional Price Parities. Dothan is 2.4% less expensive than Fort Smith.
2.4% less expensive
Dothan, AL is 2.4% less expensive than Fort Smith, AR-OK on BEA Regional Price Parities (overall RPP 83.8 vs 85.9). A $100,000 salary in Fort Smith buys about the same as $97,607 in Dothan; the largest component gap is services.
- Overall RPP 85.9 (Fort Smith) vs 83.8 (Dothan)
- $100k in Fort Smith ≈ $97,607 purchasing power in Dothan
- Services drives the gap (+10.5 RPP points)
RPP parity plate
Pair AR:AL 85.9→83.8
TIER-NEAR · CROSS-STATE · SPLIT-BUDGET · BOTH-BELOW · PP-PAR
- TIER-NEAR Near tier
- CROSS-STATE AR × AL
- 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.
Category Breakdown
Goods
- Fort Smith
- 93.6
- Dothan
- 96.4
Diff +2.8 RPP
Services
- Fort Smith
- 73.8
- Dothan
- 84.3
Diff +10.5 RPP
Rents
- Fort Smith
- 53.4
- Dothan
- 46.9
Diff -6.6 RPP
| Category | Fort Smith | Dothan | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Overall | 85.9 | 83.8 | -2.1 |
| Goods | 93.6 | 96.4 | +2.8 |
| Services | 73.8 | 84.3 | +10.5 |
| Rents | 53.4 | 46.9 | -6.6 |
Visual Comparison
Overall
Fort Smith 85.9
Dothan 83.8
Goods
Fort Smith 93.6
Dothan 96.4
Services
Fort Smith 73.8
Dothan 84.3
Rents
Fort Smith 53.4
Dothan 46.9
Vertical line = national average (100)
What This Comparison Actually Tells You
Services creates the largest separation: Dothan is 10.5 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.
Dothan, AL is 2.4% less expensive than Fort Smith, AR-OK, a meaningful but not extreme shift. The move decision turns on which budget category creates the 2.1-point overall gap.
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.
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 Smith to $97,607 in Dothan, but it is not a personal spending weight.
Fort Smith
85.9
Cost Index
Dothan
83.8
Cost Index
Salary Equivalents
What a salary in Fort Smith would need to be in Dothan for the same purchasing power:
| In Fort Smith | In Dothan | Difference |
|---|---|---|
| $50,000 | $48,804 | $-1,196 |
| $75,000 | $73,206 | $-1,794 |
| $100,000 | $97,607 | $-2,393 |
| $150,000 | $146,411 | $-3,589 |
$ in Fort Smith = in Dothan
Same BEA Regional Price Parity ratio as the table above (85.9 → 83.8), computed live from your number, nothing is sent anywhere.
How the Price Gap Changed
Fort Smith and Dothan share 17 published annual releases from 2008 through 2024. Their overall gap narrowed, moving from 3.9 to 2.1 RPP points. Fort Smith remained the higher-index metro in the latest release.
Rents changed the most within this pair: its gap moved 5.8 points between the first and latest shared releases (12.4 to 6.6 points). This describes a relative price-index history, not a forecast or a household budget.
| Release Year | Fort Smith RPP | Dothan RPP | Relative Gap |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2008 | 90.7 | 86.8 | 3.9 points Fort Smith higher |
| 2012 | 89.8 | 88.6 | 1.3 points Fort Smith higher |
| 2016 | 89.3 | 88.3 | 1.0 points Fort Smith higher |
| 2020 | 87.1 | 86.5 | 0.5 points Fort Smith higher |
| 2024 | 85.9 | 83.8 | 2.1 points Fort Smith 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 Dothan more expensive than Fort Smith?
Dothan is 2.4% less expensive than Fort Smith. The overall cost index is 83.8 vs 85.9 (national average = 100).
What salary in Dothan equals $100K in Fort Smith?
A $100,000 salary in Fort Smith has the same purchasing power as $97,607 in Dothan. This is based on the BEA Regional Price Parity indexes.
How do rents compare between Fort Smith and Dothan?
Rents in Fort Smith are indexed at 53.4 while Dothan is at 46.9 (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.