Overall
- Harrisburg-Carlisle
- 98.7
- Chicago-Naperville-Elgin
- 103.6
Diff +4.9 RPP
Harrisburg-Carlisle vs Chicago-Naperville-Elgin
Cost of living comparison based on BEA Regional Price Parities. Chicago-Naperville-Elgin is 5% more expensive than Harrisburg-Carlisle.
5% more expensive
Chicago-Naperville-Elgin, IL-IN is 5% more expensive than Harrisburg-Carlisle, PA on BEA Regional Price Parities (overall RPP 103.6 vs 98.7). A $100,000 salary in Harrisburg-Carlisle buys about the same as $105,013 in Chicago-Naperville-Elgin; the largest component gap is services.
- Overall RPP 98.7 (Harrisburg-Carlisle) vs 103.6 (Chicago-Naperville-Elgin)
- $100k in Harrisburg-Carlisle ≈ $105,013 purchasing power in Chicago-Naperville-Elgin
- Services drives the gap (-24.5 RPP points)
RPP parity plate
Pair PA:IL 98.7→103.6
TIER-NEAR · CROSS-STATE · SPLIT-BUDGET · BENCH-CROSS · PP-SHIFT
- TIER-NEAR Near tier
- CROSS-STATE PA × IL
- SPLIT-BUDGET Split budget
- BENCH-CROSS Benchmark cross
- PP-SHIFT PP shift
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
- Chicago-Naperville-Elgin
- 107.3
Diff +6.6 RPP
Services
- Harrisburg-Carlisle
- 108.1
Diff -24.5 RPP
Rents
- Harrisburg-Carlisle
- 96.3
- Chicago-Naperville-Elgin
- 112.0
Diff +15.7 RPP
| Category | Harrisburg-Carlisle | Chicago-Naperville-Elgin | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Overall | 98.7 | 103.6 | +4.9 |
| Goods | 100.7 | 107.3 | +6.6 |
| Services | 108.1 | 83.6 | -24.5 |
| Rents | 96.3 | 112.0 | +15.7 |
Visual Comparison
Overall
Harrisburg-Carlisle 98.7
Chicago-Naperville-Elgin 103.6
Goods
Harrisburg-Carlisle 100.7
Chicago-Naperville-Elgin 107.3
Services
Harrisburg-Carlisle 108.1
Chicago-Naperville-Elgin 83.6
Rents
Harrisburg-Carlisle 96.3
Chicago-Naperville-Elgin 112.0
Vertical line = national average (100)
What This Comparison Actually Tells You
Services creates the largest separation: Chicago-Naperville-Elgin is 24.5 points lower. But services move against the overall direction, so this is a split budget rather than a clean across-the-board winner.
Chicago-Naperville-Elgin, IL-IN is 5% more expensive than Harrisburg-Carlisle, PA, a meaningful but not extreme shift. The move decision turns on which budget category creates the 4.9-point overall gap.
This route crosses the national benchmark: Chicago-Naperville-Elgin 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 $105,013 in Chicago-Naperville-Elgin, but it is not a personal spending weight.
Harrisburg-Carlisle
98.7
Cost Index
Chicago-Naperville-Elgin
103.6
Cost Index
Salary Equivalents
What a salary in Harrisburg-Carlisle would need to be in Chicago-Naperville-Elgin for the same purchasing power:
| In Harrisburg-Carlisle | In Chicago-Naperville-Elgin | Difference |
|---|---|---|
| $50,000 | $52,506 | +$2,506 |
| $75,000 | $78,760 | +$3,760 |
| $100,000 | $105,013 | +$5,013 |
| $150,000 | $157,519 | +$7,519 |
$ in Harrisburg-Carlisle = in Chicago-Naperville-Elgin
Same BEA Regional Price Parity ratio as the table above (98.7 → 103.6), computed live from your number, nothing is sent anywhere.
How the Price Gap Changed
Harrisburg-Carlisle and Chicago-Naperville-Elgin share 17 published annual releases from 2008 through 2024. Their overall gap narrowed, moving from 6.5 to 4.9 RPP points. Chicago-Naperville-Elgin remained the higher-index metro in the latest release.
Rents changed the most within this pair: its gap moved 23.3 points between the first and latest shared releases (39.0 to 15.7 points). This describes a relative price-index history, not a forecast or a household budget.
| Release Year | Harrisburg-Carlisle RPP | Chicago-Naperville-Elgin RPP | Relative Gap |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2008 | 99.0 | 105.4 | 6.5 points Chicago-Naperville-Elgin higher |
| 2012 | 97.0 | 105.1 | 8.1 points Chicago-Naperville-Elgin higher |
| 2016 | 98.2 | 103.8 | 5.6 points Chicago-Naperville-Elgin higher |
| 2020 | 96.1 | 104.5 | 8.3 points Chicago-Naperville-Elgin higher |
| 2024 | 98.7 | 103.6 | 4.9 points Chicago-Naperville-Elgin 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 Chicago-Naperville-Elgin more expensive than Harrisburg-Carlisle?
Chicago-Naperville-Elgin is 5% more expensive than Harrisburg-Carlisle. The overall cost index is 103.6 vs 98.7 (national average = 100).
What salary in Chicago-Naperville-Elgin equals $100K in Harrisburg-Carlisle?
A $100,000 salary in Harrisburg-Carlisle has the same purchasing power as $105,013 in Chicago-Naperville-Elgin. This is based on the BEA Regional Price Parity indexes.
How do rents compare between Harrisburg-Carlisle and Chicago-Naperville-Elgin?
Rents in Harrisburg-Carlisle are indexed at 96.3 while Chicago-Naperville-Elgin is at 112.0 (national average = 100). Chicago-Naperville-Elgin 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.