Overall
- Gainesville
- 96.7
- Barnstable Town
- 98.4
Diff +1.6 RPP
Gainesville vs Barnstable Town
Cost of living comparison based on BEA Regional Price Parities. Barnstable Town is 1.7% more expensive than Gainesville.
1.7% more expensive
Barnstable Town, MA is 1.7% more expensive than Gainesville, FL on BEA Regional Price Parities (overall RPP 98.4 vs 96.7). A $100,000 salary in Gainesville buys about the same as $101,673 in Barnstable Town; the largest component gap is services.
- Overall RPP 96.7 (Gainesville) vs 98.4 (Barnstable Town)
- $100k in Gainesville ≈ $101,673 purchasing power in Barnstable Town
- Services drives the gap (+70.3 RPP points)
RPP parity plate
Pair FL:MA 96.7→98.4
PHOTO-FINISH · CROSS-STATE · SPLIT-BUDGET · BOTH-BELOW · PP-PAR
- PHOTO-FINISH Photo finish
- CROSS-STATE FL × MA
- 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.
Gainesville
96.7
Cost Index
Barnstable Town
98.4
Cost Index
What This Comparison Actually Tells You
Gainesville, FL and Barnstable Town, MA are a photo finish on overall price level, only 1.6 RPP points apart. A salary conversion is therefore a fine adjustment, not evidence of a fundamentally different cost regime.
Services creates the largest separation: Barnstable Town is 70.3 points higher. 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 service-heavy household, test childcare, health, and other locally supplied costs before relying on rent alone. The BEA ratio converts $100,000 in Gainesville to $101,673 in Barnstable Town, but it is not a personal spending weight.
Category Breakdown
Goods
- Gainesville
- 96.2
- Barnstable Town
- 97.0
Diff +0.8 RPP
Services
- Gainesville
- 88.2
- Barnstable Town
- 158.4
Diff +70.3 RPP
Rents
- Gainesville
- 93.0
- Barnstable Town
- 90.0
Diff -3.0 RPP
| Category | Gainesville | Barnstable Town | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Overall | 96.7 | 98.4 | +1.6 |
| Goods | 96.2 | 97.0 | +0.8 |
| Services | 88.2 | 158.4 | +70.3 |
| Rents | 93.0 | 90.0 | -3.0 |
Visual Comparison
Overall
Gainesville 96.7
Barnstable Town 98.4
Goods
Gainesville 96.2
Barnstable Town 97.0
Services
Gainesville 88.2
Barnstable Town 158.4
Rents
Gainesville 93.0
Barnstable Town 90.0
Vertical line = national average (100)
How the Price Gap Changed
Gainesville and Barnstable Town share 17 published annual releases from 2008 through 2024. Their overall gap narrowed, moving from 5.6 to 1.6 RPP points. Barnstable Town remained the higher-index metro in the latest release.
Services changed the most within this pair: its gap moved 29.9 points between the first and latest shared releases (40.4 to 70.3 points). This describes a relative price-index history, not a forecast or a household budget.
| Release Year | Gainesville RPP | Barnstable Town RPP | Relative Gap |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2008 | 97.2 | 102.8 | 5.6 points Barnstable Town higher |
| 2012 | 95.8 | 100.9 | 5.1 points Barnstable Town higher |
| 2016 | 95.9 | 105.8 | 9.8 points Barnstable Town higher |
| 2020 | 92.7 | 101.3 | 8.5 points Barnstable Town higher |
| 2024 | 96.7 | 98.4 | 1.6 points Barnstable Town 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 Gainesville would need to be in Barnstable Town for the same purchasing power:
| In Gainesville | In Barnstable Town | Difference |
|---|---|---|
| $50,000 | $50,836 | +$836 |
| $75,000 | $76,254 | +$1,254 |
| $100,000 | $101,673 | +$1,673 |
| $150,000 | $152,509 | +$2,509 |
$ in Gainesville = in Barnstable Town
Same BEA Regional Price Parity ratio as the table above (96.7 → 98.4), computed live from your number, nothing is sent anywhere.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Barnstable Town more expensive than Gainesville?
Barnstable Town is 1.7% more expensive than Gainesville. The overall cost index is 98.4 vs 96.7 (national average = 100).
What salary in Barnstable Town equals $100K in Gainesville?
A $100,000 salary in Gainesville has the same purchasing power as $101,673 in Barnstable Town. This is based on the BEA Regional Price Parity indexes.
How do rents compare between Gainesville and Barnstable Town?
Rents in Gainesville are indexed at 93.0 while Barnstable Town is at 90.0 (national average = 100). Gainesville 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.