Overall
- Grand Island
- 86.7
- Dubuque
- 87.3
Diff +0.7 RPP
Grand Island vs Dubuque
Cost of living comparison based on BEA Regional Price Parities. Dubuque is 0.8% more expensive than Grand Island.
0.8% more expensive
Dubuque, IA is 0.8% more expensive than Grand Island, NE on BEA Regional Price Parities (overall RPP 87.3 vs 86.7). A $100,000 salary in Grand Island buys about the same as $100,774 in Dubuque; the largest component gap is services.
- Overall RPP 86.7 (Grand Island) vs 87.3 (Dubuque)
- $100k in Grand Island ≈ $100,774 purchasing power in Dubuque
- Services drives the gap (+7.0 RPP points)
RPP parity plate
Pair NE:IA 86.7→87.3
PHOTO-FINISH · CROSS-STATE · SPLIT-BUDGET · BOTH-BELOW · PP-PAR
- PHOTO-FINISH Photo finish
- CROSS-STATE NE × IA
- 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.
Grand Island
86.7
Cost Index
Dubuque
87.3
Cost Index
What This Comparison Actually Tells You
Grand Island, NE and Dubuque, IA are a photo finish on overall price level, only 0.7 RPP points apart. A salary conversion is therefore a fine adjustment, not evidence of a fundamentally different cost regime.
Services creates the largest separation: Dubuque is 7.0 points higher. But goods 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 Grand Island to $100,774 in Dubuque, but it is not a personal spending weight.
Category Breakdown
Goods
- Grand Island
- 94.1
- Dubuque
- 93.7
Diff -0.4 RPP
Services
- Grand Island
- 74.2
- Dubuque
- 81.2
Diff +7.0 RPP
Rents
- Grand Island
- 61.7
- Dubuque
- 64.0
Diff +2.3 RPP
| Category | Grand Island | Dubuque | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Overall | 86.7 | 87.3 | +0.7 |
| Goods | 94.1 | 93.7 | -0.4 |
| Services | 74.2 | 81.2 | +7.0 |
| Rents | 61.7 | 64.0 | +2.3 |
Visual Comparison
Overall
Grand Island 86.7
Dubuque 87.3
Goods
Grand Island 94.1
Dubuque 93.7
Services
Grand Island 74.2
Dubuque 81.2
Rents
Grand Island 61.7
Dubuque 64.0
Vertical line = national average (100)
How the Price Gap Changed
Grand Island and Dubuque share 17 published annual releases from 2008 through 2024. Their overall gap narrowed, moving from 11.7 to 0.7 RPP points. Dubuque remained the higher-index metro in the latest release.
Goods changed the most within this pair: its gap moved 21.6 points between the first and latest shared releases (21.2 to 0.4 points). This describes a relative price-index history, not a forecast or a household budget.
| Release Year | Grand Island RPP | Dubuque RPP | Relative Gap |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2008 | 81.8 | 93.4 | 11.7 points Dubuque higher |
| 2012 | 85.0 | 91.8 | 6.8 points Dubuque higher |
| 2016 | 87.7 | 91.2 | 3.5 points Dubuque higher |
| 2020 | 90.5 | 89.8 | 0.8 points Grand Island higher |
| 2024 | 86.7 | 87.3 | 0.7 points Dubuque 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 Grand Island would need to be in Dubuque for the same purchasing power:
| In Grand Island | In Dubuque | Difference |
|---|---|---|
| $50,000 | $50,387 | +$387 |
| $75,000 | $75,581 | +$581 |
| $100,000 | $100,774 | +$774 |
| $150,000 | $151,161 | +$1,161 |
$ in Grand Island = in Dubuque
Same BEA Regional Price Parity ratio as the table above (86.7 → 87.3), computed live from your number, nothing is sent anywhere.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Dubuque more expensive than Grand Island?
Dubuque is 0.8% more expensive than Grand Island. The overall cost index is 87.3 vs 86.7 (national average = 100).
What salary in Dubuque equals $100K in Grand Island?
A $100,000 salary in Grand Island has the same purchasing power as $100,774 in Dubuque. This is based on the BEA Regional Price Parity indexes.
How do rents compare between Grand Island and Dubuque?
Rents in Grand Island are indexed at 61.7 while Dubuque is at 64.0 (national average = 100). Dubuque 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.