Overall
- Fort Wayne
- 92.6
- Rockford
- 92.2
Diff -0.4 RPP
Fort Wayne vs Rockford
Cost of living comparison based on BEA Regional Price Parities. Rockford is 0.5% less expensive than Fort Wayne.
0.5% less expensive
Rockford, IL is 0.5% less expensive than Fort Wayne, IN on BEA Regional Price Parities (overall RPP 92.2 vs 92.6). A $100,000 salary in Fort Wayne buys about the same as $99,548 in Rockford; the largest component gap is services.
- Overall RPP 92.6 (Fort Wayne) vs 92.2 (Rockford)
- $100k in Fort Wayne ≈ $99,548 purchasing power in Rockford
- Services drives the gap (+3.1 RPP points)
RPP parity plate
Pair IN:IL 92.6→92.2
PHOTO-FINISH · CROSS-STATE · SPLIT-BUDGET · BOTH-BELOW · PP-PAR
- PHOTO-FINISH Photo finish
- CROSS-STATE IN × IL
- 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 Wayne
92.6
Cost Index
Rockford
92.2
Cost Index
What This Comparison Actually Tells You
Fort Wayne, IN and Rockford, IL are a photo finish on overall price level, only 0.4 RPP points apart. A salary conversion is therefore a fine adjustment, not evidence of a fundamentally different cost regime.
Services creates the largest separation: Rockford is 3.1 points higher. But services 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 Wayne to $99,548 in Rockford, but it is not a personal spending weight.
Category Breakdown
Goods
- Fort Wayne
- 94.3
- Rockford
- 93.6
Diff -0.7 RPP
Services
- Fort Wayne
- 86.2
- Rockford
- 89.4
Diff +3.1 RPP
Rents
- Fort Wayne
- 72.3
- Rockford
- 70.1
Diff -2.2 RPP
| Category | Fort Wayne | Rockford | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Overall | 92.6 | 92.2 | -0.4 |
| Goods | 94.3 | 93.6 | -0.7 |
| Services | 86.2 | 89.4 | +3.1 |
| Rents | 72.3 | 70.1 | -2.2 |
Visual Comparison
Overall
Fort Wayne 92.6
Rockford 92.2
Goods
Fort Wayne 94.3
Rockford 93.6
Services
Fort Wayne 86.2
Rockford 89.4
Rents
Fort Wayne 72.3
Rockford 70.1
Vertical line = national average (100)
How the Price Gap Changed
Fort Wayne and Rockford share 17 published annual releases from 2008 through 2024. Their overall gap narrowed, moving from 3.2 to 0.4 RPP points. Fort Wayne remained the higher-index metro in the latest release.
Rents changed the most within this pair: its gap moved 16.3 points between the first and latest shared releases (14.1 to 2.2 points). This describes a relative price-index history, not a forecast or a household budget.
| Release Year | Fort Wayne RPP | Rockford RPP | Relative Gap |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2008 | 93.5 | 96.7 | 3.2 points Rockford higher |
| 2012 | 92.2 | 93.9 | 1.6 points Rockford higher |
| 2016 | 92.0 | 93.3 | 1.3 points Rockford higher |
| 2020 | 89.9 | 91.8 | 1.8 points Rockford higher |
| 2024 | 92.6 | 92.2 | 0.4 points Fort Wayne 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 Fort Wayne would need to be in Rockford for the same purchasing power:
| In Fort Wayne | In Rockford | Difference |
|---|---|---|
| $50,000 | $49,774 | $-226 |
| $75,000 | $74,661 | $-339 |
| $100,000 | $99,548 | $-452 |
| $150,000 | $149,323 | $-677 |
$ in Fort Wayne = in Rockford
Same BEA Regional Price Parity ratio as the table above (92.6 → 92.2), computed live from your number, nothing is sent anywhere.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Rockford more expensive than Fort Wayne?
Rockford is 0.5% less expensive than Fort Wayne. The overall cost index is 92.2 vs 92.6 (national average = 100).
What salary in Rockford equals $100K in Fort Wayne?
A $100,000 salary in Fort Wayne has the same purchasing power as $99,548 in Rockford. This is based on the BEA Regional Price Parity indexes.
How do rents compare between Fort Wayne and Rockford?
Rents in Fort Wayne are indexed at 72.3 while Rockford is at 70.1 (national average = 100). Fort Wayne 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.