Overall
- Billings
- 93.5
Diff +0.3 RPP
Greenville-Anderson-Greer vs Billings
Cost of living comparison based on BEA Regional Price Parities. Billings is 0.3% more expensive than Greenville-Anderson-Greer.
0.3% more expensive
Billings, MT is 0.3% more expensive than Greenville-Anderson-Greer, SC on BEA Regional Price Parities (overall RPP 93.5 vs 93.3). A $100,000 salary in Greenville-Anderson-Greer buys about the same as $100,285 in Billings; the largest component gap is services.
- Overall RPP 93.3 (Greenville-Anderson-Greer) vs 93.5 (Billings)
- $100k in Greenville-Anderson-Greer ≈ $100,285 purchasing power in Billings
- Services drives the gap (-16.3 RPP points)
RPP parity plate
Pair SC:MT 93.3→93.5
PHOTO-FINISH · CROSS-STATE · SPLIT-BUDGET · BOTH-BELOW · PP-PAR
- PHOTO-FINISH Photo finish
- CROSS-STATE SC × MT
- 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.
Greenville-Anderson-Greer
93.3
Cost Index
Billings
93.5
Cost Index
What This Comparison Actually Tells You
Greenville-Anderson-Greer, SC and Billings, MT are a photo finish on overall price level, only 0.3 RPP points apart. A salary conversion is therefore a fine adjustment, not evidence of a fundamentally different cost regime.
Services creates the largest separation: Billings is 16.3 points lower. But services and 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 Greenville-Anderson-Greer to $100,285 in Billings, but it is not a personal spending weight.
Category Breakdown
Goods
- Billings
- 96.0
Diff -0.3 RPP
Services
- Billings
- 72.4
Diff -16.3 RPP
Rents
- Billings
- 77.4
Diff +0.5 RPP
| Category | Greenville-Anderson-Greer | Billings | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Overall | 93.3 | 93.5 | +0.3 |
| Goods | 96.3 | 96.0 | -0.3 |
| Services | 88.8 | 72.4 | -16.3 |
| Rents | 76.8 | 77.4 | +0.5 |
Visual Comparison
Overall
Greenville-Anderson-Greer 93.3
Billings 93.5
Goods
Greenville-Anderson-Greer 96.3
Billings 96.0
Services
Greenville-Anderson-Greer 88.8
Billings 72.4
Rents
Greenville-Anderson-Greer 76.8
Billings 77.4
Vertical line = national average (100)
How the Price Gap Changed
Greenville-Anderson-Greer and Billings share 17 published annual releases from 2008 through 2024. Their overall gap narrowed, moving from 3.6 to 0.3 RPP points. Billings remained the higher-index metro in the latest release.
Rents changed the most within this pair: its gap moved 16.4 points between the first and latest shared releases (17.0 to 0.5 points). This describes a relative price-index history, not a forecast or a household budget.
| Release Year | Greenville-Anderson-Greer RPP | Billings RPP | Relative Gap |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2008 | 91.3 | 95.0 | 3.6 points Billings higher |
| 2012 | 93.2 | 98.0 | 4.7 points Billings higher |
| 2016 | 93.7 | 94.8 | 1.1 points Billings higher |
| 2020 | 90.3 | 92.2 | 1.9 points Billings higher |
| 2024 | 93.3 | 93.5 | 0.3 points Billings 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 Greenville-Anderson-Greer would need to be in Billings for the same purchasing power:
| In Greenville-Anderson-Greer | In Billings | Difference |
|---|---|---|
| $50,000 | $50,143 | +$143 |
| $75,000 | $75,214 | +$214 |
| $100,000 | $100,285 | +$285 |
| $150,000 | $150,428 | +$428 |
$ in Greenville-Anderson-Greer = in Billings
Same BEA Regional Price Parity ratio as the table above (93.3 → 93.5), computed live from your number, nothing is sent anywhere.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Billings more expensive than Greenville-Anderson-Greer?
Billings is 0.3% more expensive than Greenville-Anderson-Greer. The overall cost index is 93.5 vs 93.3 (national average = 100).
What salary in Billings equals $100K in Greenville-Anderson-Greer?
A $100,000 salary in Greenville-Anderson-Greer has the same purchasing power as $100,285 in Billings. This is based on the BEA Regional Price Parity indexes.
How do rents compare between Greenville-Anderson-Greer and Billings?
Rents in Greenville-Anderson-Greer are indexed at 76.8 while Billings is at 77.4 (national average = 100). Billings 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.