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Fort Smith vs Paducah

Cost of living comparison based on BEA Regional Price Parities. Paducah is 0.2% more expensive than Fort Smith.

0.2% more expensive

Paducah, KY-IL is 0.2% more expensive than Fort Smith, AR-OK on BEA Regional Price Parities (overall RPP 86.1 vs 85.9). A $100,000 salary in Fort Smith buys about the same as $100,228 in Paducah; the largest component gap is rents.

  • Overall RPP 85.9 (Fort Smith) vs 86.1 (Paducah)
  • $100k in Fort Smith ≈ $100,228 purchasing power in Paducah
  • Rents drives the gap (-4.6 RPP points)

RPP parity plate

Pair AR:KY 85.9→86.1

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

  • PHOTO-FINISH Photo finish
  • CROSS-STATE AR × KY
  • 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
Paducah
86.1
Cost Index

What This Comparison Actually Tells You

Fort Smith, AR-OK and Paducah, KY-IL 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.

Rents creates the largest separation: Paducah is 4.6 points lower. But 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 housing-sensitive move, validate the rent gap first: HUD Fair Market Rent and the actual unit size can overturn what the blended index implies. On the BEA ratio alone, $100,000 in Fort Smith corresponds to $100,228 in Paducah.

Category Breakdown

Visual Comparison

Overall
Fort Smith
85.9
Paducah
86.1
Goods
Fort Smith
93.6
Paducah
96.0
Services
Fort Smith
73.8
Paducah
76.9
Rents
Fort Smith
53.4
Paducah
48.8

Vertical line = national average (100)

Salary Equivalents

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

In Fort Smith In Paducah Difference
$50,000 $50,114 +$114
$75,000 $75,171 +$171
$100,000 $100,228 +$228
$150,000 $150,342 +$342
$ in Fort Smith = – in Paducah

Same BEA Regional Price Parity ratio as the table above (85.9 → 86.1), computed live from your number, nothing is sent anywhere.

Reverse: Paducah → Fort Smith Fort Smith Details Paducah Details

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Frequently Asked Questions

Is Paducah more expensive than Fort Smith?

Paducah is 0.2% more expensive than Fort Smith. The overall cost index is 86.1 vs 85.9 (national average = 100).

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

A $100,000 salary in Fort Smith has the same purchasing power as $100,228 in Paducah. This is based on the BEA Regional Price Parity indexes.

How do rents compare between Fort Smith and Paducah?

Rents in Fort Smith are indexed at 53.4 while Paducah is at 48.8 (national average = 100). Fort Smith 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.