Overall
- Hattiesburg
- 87.6
- St. Cloud
- 87.6
Diff -0.0 RPP
Cost of living comparison based on BEA Regional Price Parities. St. Cloud is 0% less expensive than Hattiesburg.
St. Cloud, MN is 0% less expensive than Hattiesburg, MS on BEA Regional Price Parities (overall RPP 87.6 vs 87.6). A $100,000 salary in Hattiesburg buys about the same as $99,999 in St. Cloud; the largest component gap is services.
RPP parity plate
Pair MS:MN 87.6→87.6
PHOTO-FINISH · CROSS-STATE · SPLIT-BUDGET · BOTH-BELOW · PP-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.
Hattiesburg, MS and St. Cloud, MN are a photo finish on overall price level, only 0.0 RPP points apart. A salary conversion is therefore a fine adjustment, not evidence of a fundamentally different cost regime.
Services creates the largest separation: St. Cloud is 11.8 points higher. But services and rents 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 Hattiesburg to $99,999 in St. Cloud, but it is not a personal spending weight.
Diff -0.0 RPP
Diff -0.8 RPP
Diff +11.8 RPP
Diff +5.0 RPP
| Category | Hattiesburg | St. Cloud | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Overall | 87.6 | 87.6 | -0.0 |
| Goods | 96.2 | 95.4 | -0.8 |
| Services | 76.9 | 88.7 | +11.8 |
| Rents | 60.1 | 65.1 | +5.0 |
Vertical line = national average (100)
What a salary in Hattiesburg would need to be in St. Cloud for the same purchasing power:
| In Hattiesburg | In St. Cloud | Difference |
|---|---|---|
| $50,000 | $49,999 | $-1 |
| $75,000 | $74,999 | $-1 |
| $100,000 | $99,999 | $-1 |
| $150,000 | $149,998 | $-2 |
Same BEA Regional Price Parity ratio as the table above (87.6 → 87.6), computed live from your number, nothing is sent anywhere.
St. Cloud is 0% less expensive than Hattiesburg. The overall cost index is 87.6 vs 87.6 (national average = 100).
A $100,000 salary in Hattiesburg has the same purchasing power as $99,999 in St. Cloud. This is based on the BEA Regional Price Parity indexes.
Rents in Hattiesburg are indexed at 60.1 while St. Cloud is at 65.1 (national average = 100). St. Cloud has higher rents.
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.