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Fort Smith vs Gadsden

Cost of living comparison based on BEA Regional Price Parities. Gadsden is 0.3% less expensive than Fort Smith.

0.3% less expensive

Gadsden, AL is 0.3% less expensive than Fort Smith, AR-OK on BEA Regional Price Parities (overall RPP 85.7 vs 85.9). A $100,000 salary in Fort Smith buys about the same as $99,726 in Gadsden; the largest component gap is services.

  • Overall RPP 85.9 (Fort Smith) vs 85.7 (Gadsden)
  • $100k in Fort Smith ≈ $99,726 purchasing power in Gadsden
  • Services drives the gap (+12.9 RPP points)

RPP parity plate

Pair AR:AL 85.9→85.7

PHOTO-FINISH · CROSS-STATE · SPLIT-BUDGET · BOTH-BELOW · PP-PAR

  • PHOTO-FINISH Photo finish
  • 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.

Fort Smith
85.9
Cost Index
Gadsden
85.7
Cost Index

What This Comparison Actually Tells You

Fort Smith, AR-OK and Gadsden, AL are a photo finish on overall price level, only 0.2 RPP points apart. A salary conversion is therefore a fine adjustment, not evidence of a fundamentally different cost regime.

Services creates the largest separation: Gadsden is 12.9 points higher. But services and goods and rents 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 Fort Smith to $99,726 in Gadsden, but it is not a personal spending weight.

Category Breakdown

Visual Comparison

Overall
Fort Smith
85.9
Gadsden
85.7
Goods
Fort Smith
93.6
Gadsden
96.4
Services
Fort Smith
73.8
Gadsden
86.7
Rents
Fort Smith
53.4
Gadsden
53.7

Vertical line = national average (100)

Salary Equivalents

What a salary in Fort Smith would need to be in Gadsden for the same purchasing power:

In Fort Smith In Gadsden Difference
$50,000 $49,863 $-137
$75,000 $74,795 $-205
$100,000 $99,726 $-274
$150,000 $149,590 $-410
$ in Fort Smith = – in Gadsden

Same BEA Regional Price Parity ratio as the table above (85.9 → 85.7), computed live from your number, nothing is sent anywhere.

Reverse: Gadsden → Fort Smith Fort Smith Details Gadsden Details

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Frequently Asked Questions

Is Gadsden more expensive than Fort Smith?

Gadsden is 0.3% less expensive than Fort Smith. The overall cost index is 85.7 vs 85.9 (national average = 100).

What salary in Gadsden equals $100K in Fort Smith?

A $100,000 salary in Fort Smith has the same purchasing power as $99,726 in Gadsden. This is based on the BEA Regional Price Parity indexes.

How do rents compare between Fort Smith and Gadsden?

Rents in Fort Smith are indexed at 53.4 while Gadsden is at 53.7 (national average = 100). Gadsden has higher rents.

Data sources

Data sourced from official public datasets, Regional Price Parities (2024), index where national average = 100. Retrieved and formatted by PlainCost. See our methodology for details.

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.