Overall
- Fairbanks-College
- 103.2
Diff +5.2 RPP
Hilton Head Island-Bluffton-Port Royal vs Fairbanks-College
Cost of living comparison based on BEA Regional Price Parities. Fairbanks-College is 5.3% more expensive than Hilton Head Island-Bluffton-Port Royal.
5.3% more expensive
Fairbanks-College, AK is 5.3% more expensive than Hilton Head Island-Bluffton-Port Royal, SC on BEA Regional Price Parities (overall RPP 103.2 vs 98.0). A $100,000 salary in Hilton Head Island-Bluffton-Port Royal buys about the same as $105,296 in Fairbanks-College; the largest component gap is services.
- Overall RPP 98.0 (Hilton Head Island-Bluffton-Port Royal) vs 103.2 (Fairbanks-College)
- $100k in Hilton Head Island-Bluffton-Port Royal ≈ $105,296 purchasing power in Fairbanks-College
- Services drives the gap (+31.7 RPP points)
RPP parity plate
Pair SC:AK 98.0→103.2
TIER-NEAR · CROSS-STATE · SPLIT-BUDGET · BENCH-CROSS · PP-SHIFT
- TIER-NEAR Near tier
- CROSS-STATE SC × AK
- 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
- Fairbanks-College
- 107.3
Diff +11.0 RPP
Services
- Fairbanks-College
- 119.8
Diff +31.7 RPP
Rents
- Fairbanks-College
- 92.6
Diff -8.7 RPP
| Category | Hilton Head Island-Bluffton-Port Royal | Fairbanks-College | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Overall | 98.0 | 103.2 | +5.2 |
| Goods | 96.3 | 107.3 | +11.0 |
| Services | 88.1 | 119.8 | +31.7 |
| Rents | 101.2 | 92.6 | -8.7 |
Visual Comparison
Overall
Hilton Head Island-Bluffton-Port Royal 98.0
Fairbanks-College 103.2
Goods
Hilton Head Island-Bluffton-Port Royal 96.3
Fairbanks-College 107.3
Services
Hilton Head Island-Bluffton-Port Royal 88.1
Fairbanks-College 119.8
Rents
Hilton Head Island-Bluffton-Port Royal 101.2
Fairbanks-College 92.6
Vertical line = national average (100)
What This Comparison Actually Tells You
Services creates the largest separation: Fairbanks-College is 31.7 points higher. But rents move against the overall direction, so this is a split budget rather than a clean across-the-board winner.
Fairbanks-College, AK is 5.3% more expensive than Hilton Head Island-Bluffton-Port Royal, SC, a meaningful but not extreme shift. The move decision turns on which budget category creates the 5.2-point overall gap.
This route crosses the national benchmark: Fairbanks-College is above 100 while Hilton Head Island-Bluffton-Port Royal 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 Hilton Head Island-Bluffton-Port Royal to $105,296 in Fairbanks-College, but it is not a personal spending weight.
Hilton Head Island-Bluffton-Port Royal
98.0
Cost Index
Fairbanks-College
103.2
Cost Index
Salary Equivalents
What a salary in Hilton Head Island-Bluffton-Port Royal would need to be in Fairbanks-College for the same purchasing power:
| In Hilton Head Island-Bluffton-Port Royal | In Fairbanks-College | Difference |
|---|---|---|
| $50,000 | $52,648 | +$2,648 |
| $75,000 | $78,972 | +$3,972 |
| $100,000 | $105,296 | +$5,296 |
| $150,000 | $157,944 | +$7,944 |
$ in Hilton Head Island-Bluffton-Port Royal = in Fairbanks-College
Same BEA Regional Price Parity ratio as the table above (98.0 → 103.2), computed live from your number, nothing is sent anywhere.
How the Price Gap Changed
Hilton Head Island-Bluffton-Port Royal and Fairbanks-College share 17 published annual releases from 2008 through 2024. Their overall gap narrowed, moving from 9.6 to 5.2 RPP points. Fairbanks-College remained the higher-index metro in the latest release.
Rents changed the most within this pair: its gap moved 29.7 points between the first and latest shared releases (21.0 to 8.7 points). This describes a relative price-index history, not a forecast or a household budget.
| Release Year | Hilton Head Island-Bluffton-Port Royal RPP | Fairbanks-College RPP | Relative Gap |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2008 | 95.1 | 104.7 | 9.6 points Fairbanks-College higher |
| 2012 | 93.6 | 97.9 | 4.4 points Fairbanks-College higher |
| 2016 | 96.0 | 100.4 | 4.5 points Fairbanks-College higher |
| 2020 | 93.6 | 99.4 | 5.8 points Fairbanks-College higher |
| 2024 | 98.0 | 103.2 | 5.2 points Fairbanks-College 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 Fairbanks-College more expensive than Hilton Head Island-Bluffton-Port Royal?
Fairbanks-College is 5.3% more expensive than Hilton Head Island-Bluffton-Port Royal. The overall cost index is 103.2 vs 98.0 (national average = 100).
What salary in Fairbanks-College 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 $105,296 in Fairbanks-College. This is based on the BEA Regional Price Parity indexes.
How do rents compare between Hilton Head Island-Bluffton-Port Royal and Fairbanks-College?
Rents in Hilton Head Island-Bluffton-Port Royal are indexed at 101.2 while Fairbanks-College is at 92.6 (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.