Overall
- Gadsden
- 85.7
Diff -0.2 RPP
Gadsden vs Wildwood-The Villages
Cost of living comparison based on BEA Regional Price Parities. Wildwood-The Villages is 0.3% less expensive than Gadsden.
0.3% less expensive
Wildwood-The Villages, FL is 0.3% less expensive than Gadsden, AL on BEA Regional Price Parities (overall RPP 85.4 vs 85.7). A $100,000 salary in Gadsden buys about the same as $99,733 in Wildwood-The Villages; the largest component gap is services.
- Overall RPP 85.7 (Gadsden) vs 85.4 (Wildwood-The Villages)
- $100k in Gadsden ≈ $99,733 purchasing power in Wildwood-The Villages
- Services drives the gap (+2.3 RPP points)
RPP parity plate
Pair AL:FL 85.7→85.4
PHOTO-FINISH · CROSS-STATE · SPLIT-BUDGET · BOTH-BELOW · PP-PAR
- PHOTO-FINISH Photo finish
- CROSS-STATE AL × FL
- 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.
Gadsden
85.7
Cost Index
Wildwood-The Villages
85.4
Cost Index
What This Comparison Actually Tells You
Gadsden, AL and Wildwood-The Villages, FL 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: Wildwood-The Villages is 2.3 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 Gadsden to $99,733 in Wildwood-The Villages, but it is not a personal spending weight.
Category Breakdown
Goods
- Gadsden
- 96.4
Diff -0.2 RPP
Services
- Gadsden
- 86.7
Diff +2.3 RPP
Rents
- Gadsden
- 53.7
Diff -2.0 RPP
| Category | Gadsden | Wildwood-The Villages | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Overall | 85.7 | 85.4 | -0.2 |
| Goods | 96.4 | 96.2 | -0.2 |
| Services | 86.7 | 89.0 | +2.3 |
| Rents | 53.7 | 51.7 | -2.0 |
Visual Comparison
Overall
Gadsden 85.7
Wildwood-The Villages 85.4
Goods
Gadsden 96.4
Wildwood-The Villages 96.2
Services
Gadsden 86.7
Wildwood-The Villages 89.0
Rents
Gadsden 53.7
Wildwood-The Villages 51.7
Vertical line = national average (100)
Salary Equivalents
What a salary in Gadsden would need to be in Wildwood-The Villages for the same purchasing power:
| In Gadsden | In Wildwood-The Villages | Difference |
|---|---|---|
| $50,000 | $49,866 | $-134 |
| $75,000 | $74,799 | $-201 |
| $100,000 | $99,733 | $-267 |
| $150,000 | $149,599 | $-401 |
$ in Gadsden = in Wildwood-The Villages
Same BEA Regional Price Parity ratio as the table above (85.7 → 85.4), computed live from your number, nothing is sent anywhere.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Wildwood-The Villages more expensive than Gadsden?
Wildwood-The Villages is 0.3% less expensive than Gadsden. The overall cost index is 85.4 vs 85.7 (national average = 100).
What salary in Wildwood-The Villages equals $100K in Gadsden?
A $100,000 salary in Gadsden has the same purchasing power as $99,733 in Wildwood-The Villages. This is based on the BEA Regional Price Parity indexes.
How do rents compare between Gadsden and Wildwood-The Villages?
Rents in Gadsden are indexed at 53.7 while Wildwood-The Villages is at 51.7 (national average = 100). Gadsden 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.