Overall
- Fort Wayne
- 92.6
- Winston-Salem
- 92.0
Diff -0.5 RPP
Fort Wayne vs Winston-Salem
Cost of living comparison based on BEA Regional Price Parities. Winston-Salem is 0.6% less expensive than Fort Wayne.
0.6% less expensive
Winston-Salem, NC is 0.6% less expensive than Fort Wayne, IN on BEA Regional Price Parities (overall RPP 92.0 vs 92.6). A $100,000 salary in Fort Wayne buys about the same as $99,429 in Winston-Salem; the largest component gap is goods.
- Overall RPP 92.6 (Fort Wayne) vs 92.0 (Winston-Salem)
- $100k in Fort Wayne ≈ $99,429 purchasing power in Winston-Salem
- Goods drives the gap (+2.3 RPP points)
RPP parity plate
Pair IN:NC 92.6→92.0
PHOTO-FINISH · CROSS-STATE · SPLIT-BUDGET · BOTH-BELOW · PP-PAR
- PHOTO-FINISH Photo finish
- CROSS-STATE IN × NC
- 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
Winston-Salem
92.0
Cost Index
What This Comparison Actually Tells You
Fort Wayne, IN and Winston-Salem, NC are a photo finish on overall price level, only 0.5 RPP points apart. A salary conversion is therefore a fine adjustment, not evidence of a fundamentally different cost regime.
Goods creates the largest separation: Winston-Salem is 2.3 points higher. But goods and 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 goods-led difference, remember that many tradable prices vary less by address than housing or labor-priced services. Use $99,429 in Winston-Salem as the BEA equivalent of $100,000 in Fort Wayne, then replace the national basket with your own.
Category Breakdown
Goods
- Fort Wayne
- 94.3
- Winston-Salem
- 96.6
Diff +2.3 RPP
Services
- Fort Wayne
- 86.2
- Winston-Salem
- 88.4
Diff +2.2 RPP
Rents
- Fort Wayne
- 72.3
- Winston-Salem
- 71.4
Diff -0.9 RPP
| Category | Fort Wayne | Winston-Salem | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Overall | 92.6 | 92.0 | -0.5 |
| Goods | 94.3 | 96.6 | +2.3 |
| Services | 86.2 | 88.4 | +2.2 |
| Rents | 72.3 | 71.4 | -0.9 |
Visual Comparison
Overall
Fort Wayne 92.6
Winston-Salem 92.0
Goods
Fort Wayne 94.3
Winston-Salem 96.6
Services
Fort Wayne 86.2
Winston-Salem 88.4
Rents
Fort Wayne 72.3
Winston-Salem 71.4
Vertical line = national average (100)
How the Price Gap Changed
Fort Wayne and Winston-Salem share 17 published annual releases from 2008 through 2024. Their overall gap narrowed, moving from 1.6 to 0.5 RPP points. Fort Wayne remained the higher-index metro in the latest release.
Services changed the most within this pair: its gap moved 7.0 points between the first and latest shared releases (4.8 to 2.2 points). This describes a relative price-index history, not a forecast or a household budget.
| Release Year | Fort Wayne RPP | Winston-Salem RPP | Relative Gap |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2008 | 93.5 | 91.9 | 1.6 points Fort Wayne higher |
| 2012 | 92.2 | 92.6 | 0.4 points Winston-Salem higher |
| 2016 | 92.0 | 93.1 | 1.1 points Winston-Salem higher |
| 2020 | 89.9 | 89.5 | 0.5 points Fort Wayne higher |
| 2024 | 92.6 | 92.0 | 0.5 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 Winston-Salem for the same purchasing power:
| In Fort Wayne | In Winston-Salem | Difference |
|---|---|---|
| $50,000 | $49,714 | $-286 |
| $75,000 | $74,571 | $-429 |
| $100,000 | $99,429 | $-571 |
| $150,000 | $149,143 | $-857 |
$ in Fort Wayne = in Winston-Salem
Same BEA Regional Price Parity ratio as the table above (92.6 → 92.0), computed live from your number, nothing is sent anywhere.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Winston-Salem more expensive than Fort Wayne?
Winston-Salem is 0.6% less expensive than Fort Wayne. The overall cost index is 92.0 vs 92.6 (national average = 100).
What salary in Winston-Salem equals $100K in Fort Wayne?
A $100,000 salary in Fort Wayne has the same purchasing power as $99,429 in Winston-Salem. This is based on the BEA Regional Price Parity indexes.
How do rents compare between Fort Wayne and Winston-Salem?
Rents in Fort Wayne are indexed at 72.3 while Winston-Salem is at 71.4 (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.