Overall
- Huntington-Ashland
- 88.4
- Ames
- 88.8
Diff +0.4 RPP
Huntington-Ashland vs Ames
Cost of living comparison based on BEA Regional Price Parities. Ames is 0.5% more expensive than Huntington-Ashland.
0.5% more expensive
Ames, IA is 0.5% more expensive than Huntington-Ashland, WV-KY-OH on BEA Regional Price Parities (overall RPP 88.8 vs 88.4). A $100,000 salary in Huntington-Ashland buys about the same as $100,461 in Ames; the largest component gap is rents.
- Overall RPP 88.4 (Huntington-Ashland) vs 88.8 (Ames)
- $100k in Huntington-Ashland ≈ $100,461 purchasing power in Ames
- Rents drives the gap (+17.9 RPP points)
RPP parity plate
Pair WV:IA 88.4→88.8
PHOTO-FINISH · CROSS-STATE · SPLIT-BUDGET · BOTH-BELOW · PP-PAR
- PHOTO-FINISH Photo finish
- CROSS-STATE WV × IA
- 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.
Huntington-Ashland
88.4
Cost Index
Ames
88.8
Cost Index
What This Comparison Actually Tells You
Huntington-Ashland, WV-KY-OH and Ames, IA are a photo finish on overall price level, only 0.4 RPP points apart. A salary conversion is therefore a fine adjustment, not evidence of a fundamentally different cost regime.
Rents creates the largest separation: Ames is 17.9 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 housing-sensitive move, validate the rent gap first: HUD Fair Market Rent and the actual unit size can overturn what the blended index implies. On the BEA ratio alone, $100,000 in Huntington-Ashland corresponds to $100,461 in Ames.
Category Breakdown
Goods
- Huntington-Ashland
- 96.3
- Ames
- 93.7
Diff -2.6 RPP
Services
- Huntington-Ashland
- 87.9
- Ames
- 83.0
Diff -4.8 RPP
Rents
- Huntington-Ashland
- 51.3
- Ames
- 69.2
Diff +17.9 RPP
| Category | Huntington-Ashland | Ames | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Overall | 88.4 | 88.8 | +0.4 |
| Goods | 96.3 | 93.7 | -2.6 |
| Services | 87.9 | 83.0 | -4.8 |
| Rents | 51.3 | 69.2 | +17.9 |
Visual Comparison
Overall
Huntington-Ashland 88.4
Ames 88.8
Goods
Huntington-Ashland 96.3
Ames 93.7
Services
Huntington-Ashland 87.9
Ames 83.0
Rents
Huntington-Ashland 51.3
Ames 69.2
Vertical line = national average (100)
How the Price Gap Changed
Huntington-Ashland and Ames share 17 published annual releases from 2008 through 2024. Their overall gap narrowed, moving from 5.6 to 0.4 RPP points. Ames remained the higher-index metro in the latest release.
Goods changed the most within this pair: its gap moved 17.5 points between the first and latest shared releases (20.1 to 2.6 points). This describes a relative price-index history, not a forecast or a household budget.
| Release Year | Huntington-Ashland RPP | Ames RPP | Relative Gap |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2008 | 88.0 | 82.4 | 5.6 points Huntington-Ashland higher |
| 2012 | 89.5 | 92.3 | 2.8 points Ames higher |
| 2016 | 90.3 | 88.7 | 1.6 points Huntington-Ashland higher |
| 2020 | 86.9 | 93.1 | 6.3 points Ames higher |
| 2024 | 88.4 | 88.8 | 0.4 points Ames 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 Huntington-Ashland would need to be in Ames for the same purchasing power:
| In Huntington-Ashland | In Ames | Difference |
|---|---|---|
| $50,000 | $50,231 | +$231 |
| $75,000 | $75,346 | +$346 |
| $100,000 | $100,461 | +$461 |
| $150,000 | $150,692 | +$692 |
$ in Huntington-Ashland = in Ames
Same BEA Regional Price Parity ratio as the table above (88.4 → 88.8), computed live from your number, nothing is sent anywhere.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Ames more expensive than Huntington-Ashland?
Ames is 0.5% more expensive than Huntington-Ashland. The overall cost index is 88.8 vs 88.4 (national average = 100).
What salary in Ames equals $100K in Huntington-Ashland?
A $100,000 salary in Huntington-Ashland has the same purchasing power as $100,461 in Ames. This is based on the BEA Regional Price Parity indexes.
How do rents compare between Huntington-Ashland and Ames?
Rents in Huntington-Ashland are indexed at 51.3 while Ames is at 69.2 (national average = 100). Ames 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.