Overall
- Iowa City
- 91.5
- Barnstable Town
- 98.4
Diff +6.8 RPP
Iowa City vs Barnstable Town
Cost of living comparison based on BEA Regional Price Parities. Barnstable Town is 7.5% more expensive than Iowa City.
7.5% more expensive
Barnstable Town, MA is 7.5% more expensive than Iowa City, IA on BEA Regional Price Parities (overall RPP 98.4 vs 91.5). A $100,000 salary in Iowa City buys about the same as $107,477 in Barnstable Town; the largest component gap is services.
- Overall RPP 91.5 (Iowa City) vs 98.4 (Barnstable Town)
- $100k in Iowa City ≈ $107,477 purchasing power in Barnstable Town
- Services drives the gap (+74.8 RPP points)
RPP parity plate
Pair IA:MA 91.5→98.4
TIER-NEAR · CROSS-STATE · SERVICES-LED · BOTH-BELOW · PP-SHIFT
- TIER-NEAR Near tier
- CROSS-STATE IA × MA
- SERVICES-LED Services-led gap
- BOTH-BELOW Both below 100
- 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.
What This Comparison Actually Tells You
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.
Barnstable Town, MA is 7.5% more expensive than Iowa City, IA, a meaningful but not extreme shift. The move decision turns on which budget category creates the 6.8-point overall gap.
Services leads the difference, with Barnstable Town 74.8 points higher than Iowa City. Goods, services, and rents all point in the same broad direction, making the headline comparison more transferable across household types.
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 Iowa City to $107,477 in Barnstable Town, but it is not a personal spending weight.
How the Price Gap Changed
Iowa City and Barnstable Town share 17 published annual releases from 2008 through 2024. Their overall gap held broadly steady, moving from 7.1 to 6.8 RPP points. Barnstable Town remained the higher-index metro in the latest release.
Services changed the most within this pair: its gap moved 26.3 points between the first and latest shared releases (48.4 to 74.8 points). This describes a relative price-index history, not a forecast or a household budget.
| Release Year | Iowa City RPP | Barnstable Town RPP | Relative Gap |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2008 | 95.7 | 102.8 | 7.1 points Barnstable Town higher |
| 2012 | 96.5 | 100.9 | 4.5 points Barnstable Town higher |
| 2016 | 95.4 | 105.8 | 10.4 points Barnstable Town higher |
| 2020 | 95.6 | 101.3 | 5.7 points Barnstable Town higher |
| 2024 | 91.5 | 98.4 | 6.8 points Barnstable Town 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.
Category Breakdown
Goods
- Iowa City
- 93.7
- Barnstable Town
- 97.0
Diff +3.3 RPP
Services
- Iowa City
- 83.7
- Barnstable Town
- 158.4
Diff +74.8 RPP
Rents
- Iowa City
- 84.0
- Barnstable Town
- 90.0
Diff +6.0 RPP
| Category | Iowa City | Barnstable Town | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Overall | 91.5 | 98.4 | +6.8 |
| Goods | 93.7 | 97.0 | +3.3 |
| Services | 83.7 | 158.4 | +74.8 |
| Rents | 84.0 | 90.0 | +6.0 |
Visual Comparison
Overall
Iowa City 91.5
Barnstable Town 98.4
Goods
Iowa City 93.7
Barnstable Town 97.0
Services
Iowa City 83.7
Barnstable Town 158.4
Rents
Iowa City 84.0
Barnstable Town 90.0
Vertical line = national average (100)
Salary Equivalents
What a salary in Iowa City would need to be in Barnstable Town for the same purchasing power:
| In Iowa City | In Barnstable Town | Difference |
|---|---|---|
| $50,000 | $53,738 | +$3,738 |
| $75,000 | $80,608 | +$5,608 |
| $100,000 | $107,477 | +$7,477 |
| $150,000 | $161,215 | +$11,215 |
$ in Iowa City = in Barnstable Town
Same BEA Regional Price Parity ratio as the table above (91.5 → 98.4), computed live from your number, nothing is sent anywhere.
Iowa City
91.5
Cost Index
Barnstable Town
98.4
Cost Index
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Barnstable Town more expensive than Iowa City?
Barnstable Town is 7.5% more expensive than Iowa City. The overall cost index is 98.4 vs 91.5 (national average = 100).
What salary in Barnstable Town equals $100K in Iowa City?
A $100,000 salary in Iowa City has the same purchasing power as $107,477 in Barnstable Town. This is based on the BEA Regional Price Parity indexes.
How do rents compare between Iowa City and Barnstable Town?
Rents in Iowa City are indexed at 84.0 while Barnstable Town is at 90.0 (national average = 100). Barnstable Town 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.