Overall
- Harrisburg-Carlisle
- 98.7
- Kenosha
- 101.1
Diff +2.5 RPP
Harrisburg-Carlisle vs Kenosha
Cost of living comparison based on BEA Regional Price Parities. Kenosha is 2.5% more expensive than Harrisburg-Carlisle.
2.5% more expensive
Kenosha, WI is 2.5% more expensive than Harrisburg-Carlisle, PA on BEA Regional Price Parities (overall RPP 101.1 vs 98.7). A $100,000 salary in Harrisburg-Carlisle buys about the same as $102,502 in Kenosha; the largest component gap is services.
- Overall RPP 98.7 (Harrisburg-Carlisle) vs 101.1 (Kenosha)
- $100k in Harrisburg-Carlisle ≈ $102,502 purchasing power in Kenosha
- Services drives the gap (-22.2 RPP points)
RPP parity plate
Pair PA:WI 98.7→101.1
TIER-NEAR · CROSS-STATE · SPLIT-BUDGET · BENCH-CROSS · PP-SHIFT
- TIER-NEAR Near tier
- CROSS-STATE PA × WI
- 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
- Kenosha
- 106.2
Diff +5.5 RPP
Services
- Harrisburg-Carlisle
- 108.1
- Kenosha
- 85.9
Diff -22.2 RPP
Rents
- Harrisburg-Carlisle
- 96.3
- Kenosha
- 95.8
Diff -0.5 RPP
| Category | Harrisburg-Carlisle | Kenosha | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Overall | 98.7 | 101.1 | +2.5 |
| Goods | 100.7 | 106.2 | +5.5 |
| Services | 108.1 | 85.9 | -22.2 |
| Rents | 96.3 | 95.8 | -0.5 |
Visual Comparison
Overall
Harrisburg-Carlisle 98.7
Kenosha 101.1
Goods
Harrisburg-Carlisle 100.7
Kenosha 106.2
Services
Harrisburg-Carlisle 108.1
Kenosha 85.9
Rents
Harrisburg-Carlisle 96.3
Kenosha 95.8
Vertical line = national average (100)
What This Comparison Actually Tells You
Services creates the largest separation: Kenosha is 22.2 points lower. But services and rents move against the overall direction, so this is a split budget rather than a clean across-the-board winner.
Kenosha, WI is 2.5% more expensive than Harrisburg-Carlisle, PA, a meaningful but not extreme shift. The move decision turns on which budget category creates the 2.5-point overall gap.
This route crosses the national benchmark: Kenosha 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 $102,502 in Kenosha, but it is not a personal spending weight.
Harrisburg-Carlisle
98.7
Cost Index
Kenosha
101.1
Cost Index
Salary Equivalents
What a salary in Harrisburg-Carlisle would need to be in Kenosha for the same purchasing power:
| In Harrisburg-Carlisle | In Kenosha | Difference |
|---|---|---|
| $50,000 | $51,251 | +$1,251 |
| $75,000 | $76,876 | +$1,876 |
| $100,000 | $102,502 | +$2,502 |
| $150,000 | $153,753 | +$3,753 |
$ in Harrisburg-Carlisle = in Kenosha
Same BEA Regional Price Parity ratio as the table above (98.7 → 101.1), computed live from your number, nothing is sent anywhere.
How the Price Gap Changed
Harrisburg-Carlisle and Kenosha share 17 published annual releases from 2008 through 2024. Their overall gap narrowed, moving from 4.8 to 2.5 RPP points. Kenosha remained the higher-index metro in the latest release.
Rents changed the most within this pair: its gap moved 24.6 points between the first and latest shared releases (24.1 to 0.5 points). This describes a relative price-index history, not a forecast or a household budget.
| Release Year | Harrisburg-Carlisle RPP | Kenosha RPP | Relative Gap |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2008 | 99.0 | 103.7 | 4.8 points Kenosha higher |
| 2012 | 97.0 | 99.3 | 2.3 points Kenosha higher |
| 2016 | 98.2 | 100.2 | 2.1 points Kenosha higher |
| 2020 | 96.1 | 99.4 | 3.2 points Kenosha higher |
| 2024 | 98.7 | 101.1 | 2.5 points Kenosha 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 Kenosha more expensive than Harrisburg-Carlisle?
Kenosha is 2.5% more expensive than Harrisburg-Carlisle. The overall cost index is 101.1 vs 98.7 (national average = 100).
What salary in Kenosha equals $100K in Harrisburg-Carlisle?
A $100,000 salary in Harrisburg-Carlisle has the same purchasing power as $102,502 in Kenosha. This is based on the BEA Regional Price Parity indexes.
How do rents compare between Harrisburg-Carlisle and Kenosha?
Rents in Harrisburg-Carlisle are indexed at 96.3 while Kenosha is at 95.8 (national average = 100). Harrisburg-Carlisle 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.