Overall
- Chicago-Naperville-Elgin
- 103.6
Diff +7.9 RPP
Indianapolis-Carmel-Greenwood vs Chicago-Naperville-Elgin
Cost of living comparison based on BEA Regional Price Parities. Chicago-Naperville-Elgin is 8.3% more expensive than Indianapolis-Carmel-Greenwood.
8.3% more expensive
Chicago-Naperville-Elgin, IL-IN is 8.3% more expensive than Indianapolis-Carmel-Greenwood, IN on BEA Regional Price Parities (overall RPP 103.6 vs 95.7). A $100,000 salary in Indianapolis-Carmel-Greenwood buys about the same as $108,254 in Chicago-Naperville-Elgin; the largest component gap is rents.
- Overall RPP 95.7 (Indianapolis-Carmel-Greenwood) vs 103.6 (Chicago-Naperville-Elgin)
- $100k in Indianapolis-Carmel-Greenwood ≈ $108,254 purchasing power in Chicago-Naperville-Elgin
- Rents drives the gap (+23.1 RPP points)
RPP parity plate
Pair IN:IL 95.7→103.6
TIER-NEAR · CROSS-STATE · SPLIT-BUDGET · BENCH-CROSS · PP-SHIFT
- TIER-NEAR Near tier
- CROSS-STATE IN × IL
- 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
- Chicago-Naperville-Elgin
- 107.3
Diff +12.9 RPP
Services
Diff -2.8 RPP
Rents
- Chicago-Naperville-Elgin
- 112.0
Diff +23.1 RPP
| Category | Indianapolis-Carmel-Greenwood | Chicago-Naperville-Elgin | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Overall | 95.7 | 103.6 | +7.9 |
| Goods | 94.3 | 107.3 | +12.9 |
| Services | 86.4 | 83.6 | -2.8 |
| Rents | 88.9 | 112.0 | +23.1 |
Visual Comparison
Overall
Indianapolis-Carmel-Greenwood 95.7
Chicago-Naperville-Elgin 103.6
Goods
Indianapolis-Carmel-Greenwood 94.3
Chicago-Naperville-Elgin 107.3
Services
Indianapolis-Carmel-Greenwood 86.4
Chicago-Naperville-Elgin 83.6
Rents
Indianapolis-Carmel-Greenwood 88.9
Chicago-Naperville-Elgin 112.0
Vertical line = national average (100)
What This Comparison Actually Tells You
Rents creates the largest separation: Chicago-Naperville-Elgin is 23.1 points higher. But services move against the overall direction, so this is a split budget rather than a clean across-the-board winner.
Chicago-Naperville-Elgin, IL-IN is 8.3% more expensive than Indianapolis-Carmel-Greenwood, IN, a meaningful but not extreme shift. The move decision turns on which budget category creates the 7.9-point overall gap.
This route crosses the national benchmark: Chicago-Naperville-Elgin is above 100 while Indianapolis-Carmel-Greenwood 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 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 Indianapolis-Carmel-Greenwood corresponds to $108,254 in Chicago-Naperville-Elgin.
Indianapolis-Carmel-Greenwood
95.7
Cost Index
Chicago-Naperville-Elgin
103.6
Cost Index
Salary Equivalents
What a salary in Indianapolis-Carmel-Greenwood would need to be in Chicago-Naperville-Elgin for the same purchasing power:
| In Indianapolis-Carmel-Greenwood | In Chicago-Naperville-Elgin | Difference |
|---|---|---|
| $50,000 | $54,127 | +$4,127 |
| $75,000 | $81,191 | +$6,191 |
| $100,000 | $108,254 | +$8,254 |
| $150,000 | $162,381 | +$12,381 |
$ in Indianapolis-Carmel-Greenwood = in Chicago-Naperville-Elgin
Same BEA Regional Price Parity ratio as the table above (95.7 → 103.6), computed live from your number, nothing is sent anywhere.
How the Price Gap Changed
Indianapolis-Carmel-Greenwood and Chicago-Naperville-Elgin share 17 published annual releases from 2008 through 2024. Their overall gap held broadly steady, moving from 8.7 to 7.9 RPP points. Chicago-Naperville-Elgin remained the higher-index metro in the latest release.
Rents changed the most within this pair: its gap moved 13.9 points between the first and latest shared releases (37.0 to 23.1 points). This describes a relative price-index history, not a forecast or a household budget.
| Release Year | Indianapolis-Carmel-Greenwood RPP | Chicago-Naperville-Elgin RPP | Relative Gap |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2008 | 96.7 | 105.4 | 8.7 points Chicago-Naperville-Elgin higher |
| 2012 | 94.9 | 105.1 | 10.2 points Chicago-Naperville-Elgin higher |
| 2016 | 94.2 | 103.8 | 9.6 points Chicago-Naperville-Elgin higher |
| 2020 | 93.6 | 104.5 | 10.8 points Chicago-Naperville-Elgin higher |
| 2024 | 95.7 | 103.6 | 7.9 points Chicago-Naperville-Elgin 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 Chicago-Naperville-Elgin more expensive than Indianapolis-Carmel-Greenwood?
Chicago-Naperville-Elgin is 8.3% more expensive than Indianapolis-Carmel-Greenwood. The overall cost index is 103.6 vs 95.7 (national average = 100).
What salary in Chicago-Naperville-Elgin equals $100K in Indianapolis-Carmel-Greenwood?
A $100,000 salary in Indianapolis-Carmel-Greenwood has the same purchasing power as $108,254 in Chicago-Naperville-Elgin. This is based on the BEA Regional Price Parity indexes.
How do rents compare between Indianapolis-Carmel-Greenwood and Chicago-Naperville-Elgin?
Rents in Indianapolis-Carmel-Greenwood are indexed at 88.9 while Chicago-Naperville-Elgin is at 112.0 (national average = 100). Chicago-Naperville-Elgin 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.