Overall
- Harrisburg-Carlisle
- 98.7
Diff +2.3 RPP
Harrisburg-Carlisle vs Burlington-South Burlington
Cost of living comparison based on BEA Regional Price Parities. Burlington-South Burlington is 2.3% more expensive than Harrisburg-Carlisle.
2.3% more expensive
Burlington-South Burlington, VT is 2.3% more expensive than Harrisburg-Carlisle, PA on BEA Regional Price Parities (overall RPP 100.9 vs 98.7). A $100,000 salary in Harrisburg-Carlisle buys about the same as $102,330 in Burlington-South Burlington; the largest component gap is services.
- Overall RPP 98.7 (Harrisburg-Carlisle) vs 100.9 (Burlington-South Burlington)
- $100k in Harrisburg-Carlisle ≈ $102,330 purchasing power in Burlington-South Burlington
- Services drives the gap (+17.5 RPP points)
RPP parity plate
Pair PA:VT 98.7→100.9
TIER-NEAR · CROSS-STATE · SPLIT-BUDGET · BENCH-CROSS · PP-PAR
- TIER-NEAR Near tier
- CROSS-STATE PA × VT
- SPLIT-BUDGET Split budget
- BENCH-CROSS Benchmark cross
- 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.
Category Breakdown
Goods
- Harrisburg-Carlisle
- 100.7
Diff -3.4 RPP
Services
- Harrisburg-Carlisle
- 108.1
Diff +17.5 RPP
Rents
- Harrisburg-Carlisle
- 96.3
Diff +7.6 RPP
| Category | Harrisburg-Carlisle | Burlington-South Burlington | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Overall | 98.7 | 100.9 | +2.3 |
| Goods | 100.7 | 97.3 | -3.4 |
| Services | 108.1 | 125.5 | +17.5 |
| Rents | 96.3 | 103.8 | +7.6 |
Visual Comparison
Overall
Harrisburg-Carlisle 98.7
Burlington-South Burlington 100.9
Goods
Harrisburg-Carlisle 100.7
Burlington-South Burlington 97.3
Services
Harrisburg-Carlisle 108.1
Burlington-South Burlington 125.5
Rents
Harrisburg-Carlisle 96.3
Burlington-South Burlington 103.8
Vertical line = national average (100)
What This Comparison Actually Tells You
Services creates the largest separation: Burlington-South Burlington is 17.5 points higher. But goods move against the overall direction, so this is a split budget rather than a clean across-the-board winner.
Burlington-South Burlington, VT is 2.3% more expensive than Harrisburg-Carlisle, PA, a meaningful but not extreme shift. The move decision turns on which budget category creates the 2.3-point overall gap.
This route crosses the national benchmark: Burlington-South Burlington is above 100 while Harrisburg-Carlisle is below it. That makes the move a change of price regime, not merely a rank swap.
Comparable population context is incomplete for this pair, so no market-scale explanation is inferred from the price indexes.
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 Harrisburg-Carlisle to $102,330 in Burlington-South Burlington, but it is not a personal spending weight.
Harrisburg-Carlisle
98.7
Cost Index
Burlington-South Burlington
100.9
Cost Index
Salary Equivalents
What a salary in Harrisburg-Carlisle would need to be in Burlington-South Burlington for the same purchasing power:
| In Harrisburg-Carlisle | In Burlington-South Burlington | Difference |
|---|---|---|
| $50,000 | $51,165 | +$1,165 |
| $75,000 | $76,748 | +$1,748 |
| $100,000 | $102,330 | +$2,330 |
| $150,000 | $153,496 | +$3,496 |
$ in Harrisburg-Carlisle = in Burlington-South Burlington
Same BEA Regional Price Parity ratio as the table above (98.7 → 100.9), computed live from your number, nothing is sent anywhere.
How the Price Gap Changed
Harrisburg-Carlisle and Burlington-South Burlington share 17 published annual releases from 2008 through 2024. Their overall gap narrowed, moving from 4.1 to 2.3 RPP points. Burlington-South Burlington remained the higher-index metro in the latest release.
Rents changed the most within this pair: its gap moved 23.1 points between the first and latest shared releases (30.7 to 7.6 points). This describes a relative price-index history, not a forecast or a household budget.
| Release Year | Harrisburg-Carlisle RPP | Burlington-South Burlington RPP | Relative Gap |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2008 | 99.0 | 103.1 | 4.1 points Burlington-South Burlington higher |
| 2012 | 97.0 | 102.7 | 5.7 points Burlington-South Burlington higher |
| 2016 | 98.2 | 102.1 | 4.0 points Burlington-South Burlington higher |
| 2020 | 96.1 | 105.1 | 8.9 points Burlington-South Burlington higher |
| 2024 | 98.7 | 100.9 | 2.3 points Burlington-South Burlington 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.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Burlington-South Burlington more expensive than Harrisburg-Carlisle?
Burlington-South Burlington is 2.3% more expensive than Harrisburg-Carlisle. The overall cost index is 100.9 vs 98.7 (national average = 100).
What salary in Burlington-South Burlington equals $100K in Harrisburg-Carlisle?
A $100,000 salary in Harrisburg-Carlisle has the same purchasing power as $102,330 in Burlington-South Burlington. This is based on the BEA Regional Price Parity indexes.
How do rents compare between Harrisburg-Carlisle and Burlington-South Burlington?
Rents in Harrisburg-Carlisle are indexed at 96.3 while Burlington-South Burlington is at 103.8 (national average = 100). Burlington-South Burlington 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.