Overall
- Dover
- 97.5
Diff -0.5 RPP
Hilton Head Island-Bluffton-Port Royal vs Dover
Cost of living comparison based on BEA Regional Price Parities. Dover is 0.5% less expensive than Hilton Head Island-Bluffton-Port Royal.
0.5% less expensive
Dover, DE is 0.5% less expensive than Hilton Head Island-Bluffton-Port Royal, SC on BEA Regional Price Parities (overall RPP 97.5 vs 98.0). A $100,000 salary in Hilton Head Island-Bluffton-Port Royal buys about the same as $99,480 in Dover; the largest component gap is services.
- Overall RPP 98.0 (Hilton Head Island-Bluffton-Port Royal) vs 97.5 (Dover)
- $100k in Hilton Head Island-Bluffton-Port Royal ≈ $99,480 purchasing power in Dover
- Services drives the gap (+9.1 RPP points)
RPP parity plate
Pair SC:DE 98.0→97.5
PHOTO-FINISH · CROSS-STATE · SPLIT-BUDGET · BOTH-BELOW · PP-PAR
- PHOTO-FINISH Photo finish
- CROSS-STATE SC × DE
- 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.
Hilton Head Island-Bluffton-Port Royal
98.0
Cost Index
Dover
97.5
Cost Index
What This Comparison Actually Tells You
Hilton Head Island-Bluffton-Port Royal, SC and Dover, DE are a photo finish on overall price level, only 0.5 RPP points apart. A salary conversion is therefore a fine adjustment, not evidence of a fundamentally different cost regime.
Services creates the largest separation: Dover is 9.1 points higher. 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 Hilton Head Island-Bluffton-Port Royal to $99,480 in Dover, but it is not a personal spending weight.
Category Breakdown
Goods
- Dover
- 96.4
Diff +0.0 RPP
Services
- Dover
- 97.2
Diff +9.1 RPP
Rents
- Dover
- 95.9
Diff -5.3 RPP
| Category | Hilton Head Island-Bluffton-Port Royal | Dover | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Overall | 98.0 | 97.5 | -0.5 |
| Goods | 96.3 | 96.4 | +0.0 |
| Services | 88.1 | 97.2 | +9.1 |
| Rents | 101.2 | 95.9 | -5.3 |
Visual Comparison
Overall
Hilton Head Island-Bluffton-Port Royal 98.0
Dover 97.5
Goods
Hilton Head Island-Bluffton-Port Royal 96.3
Dover 96.4
Services
Hilton Head Island-Bluffton-Port Royal 88.1
Dover 97.2
Rents
Hilton Head Island-Bluffton-Port Royal 101.2
Dover 95.9
Vertical line = national average (100)
How the Price Gap Changed
Hilton Head Island-Bluffton-Port Royal and Dover share 17 published annual releases from 2008 through 2024. Their overall gap narrowed, moving from 1.7 to 0.5 RPP points. Hilton Head Island-Bluffton-Port Royal remained the higher-index metro in the latest release.
Services changed the most within this pair: its gap moved 23.8 points between the first and latest shared releases (32.9 to 9.1 points). This describes a relative price-index history, not a forecast or a household budget.
| Release Year | Hilton Head Island-Bluffton-Port Royal RPP | Dover RPP | Relative Gap |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2008 | 95.1 | 96.8 | 1.7 points Dover higher |
| 2012 | 93.6 | 97.3 | 3.8 points Dover higher |
| 2016 | 96.0 | 100.3 | 4.4 points Dover higher |
| 2020 | 93.6 | 93.9 | 0.3 points Dover higher |
| 2024 | 98.0 | 97.5 | 0.5 points Hilton Head Island-Bluffton-Port Royal 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 Hilton Head Island-Bluffton-Port Royal would need to be in Dover for the same purchasing power:
| In Hilton Head Island-Bluffton-Port Royal | In Dover | Difference |
|---|---|---|
| $50,000 | $49,740 | $-260 |
| $75,000 | $74,610 | $-390 |
| $100,000 | $99,480 | $-520 |
| $150,000 | $149,220 | $-780 |
$ in Hilton Head Island-Bluffton-Port Royal = in Dover
Same BEA Regional Price Parity ratio as the table above (98.0 → 97.5), computed live from your number, nothing is sent anywhere.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Dover more expensive than Hilton Head Island-Bluffton-Port Royal?
Dover is 0.5% less expensive than Hilton Head Island-Bluffton-Port Royal. The overall cost index is 97.5 vs 98.0 (national average = 100).
What salary in Dover equals $100K in Hilton Head Island-Bluffton-Port Royal?
A $100,000 salary in Hilton Head Island-Bluffton-Port Royal has the same purchasing power as $99,480 in Dover. This is based on the BEA Regional Price Parity indexes.
How do rents compare between Hilton Head Island-Bluffton-Port Royal and Dover?
Rents in Hilton Head Island-Bluffton-Port Royal are indexed at 101.2 while Dover is at 95.9 (national average = 100). Hilton Head Island-Bluffton-Port Royal 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.