Overall
- Iowa City
- 91.5
Diff -0.2 RPP
Iowa City vs Fayetteville-Springdale-Rogers
Cost of living comparison based on BEA Regional Price Parities. Fayetteville-Springdale-Rogers is 0.2% less expensive than Iowa City.
0.2% less expensive
Fayetteville-Springdale-Rogers, AR is 0.2% less expensive than Iowa City, IA on BEA Regional Price Parities (overall RPP 91.4 vs 91.5). A $100,000 salary in Iowa City buys about the same as $99,830 in Fayetteville-Springdale-Rogers; the largest component gap is services.
- Overall RPP 91.5 (Iowa City) vs 91.4 (Fayetteville-Springdale-Rogers)
- $100k in Iowa City ≈ $99,830 purchasing power in Fayetteville-Springdale-Rogers
- Services drives the gap (-8.6 RPP points)
RPP parity plate
Pair IA:AR 91.5→91.4
PHOTO-FINISH · CROSS-STATE · SERVICES-LED · BOTH-BELOW · PP-PAR
- PHOTO-FINISH Photo finish
- CROSS-STATE IA × AR
- SERVICES-LED Services-led gap
- 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.
Iowa City
91.5
Cost Index
Fayetteville-Springdale-Rogers
91.4
Cost Index
What This Comparison Actually Tells You
Iowa City, IA and Fayetteville-Springdale-Rogers, AR are a photo finish on overall price level, only 0.2 RPP points apart. A salary conversion is therefore a fine adjustment, not evidence of a fundamentally different cost regime.
Services leads the difference, with Fayetteville-Springdale-Rogers 8.6 points lower 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.
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 Iowa City to $99,830 in Fayetteville-Springdale-Rogers, but it is not a personal spending weight.
Category Breakdown
Goods
- Iowa City
- 93.7
Diff -0.2 RPP
Services
- Iowa City
- 83.7
Diff -8.6 RPP
Rents
- Iowa City
- 84.0
Diff -7.1 RPP
| Category | Iowa City | Fayetteville-Springdale-Rogers | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Overall | 91.5 | 91.4 | -0.2 |
| Goods | 93.7 | 93.6 | -0.2 |
| Services | 83.7 | 75.1 | -8.6 |
| Rents | 84.0 | 76.9 | -7.1 |
Visual Comparison
Overall
Iowa City 91.5
Fayetteville-Springdale-Rogers 91.4
Goods
Iowa City 93.7
Fayetteville-Springdale-Rogers 93.6
Services
Iowa City 83.7
Fayetteville-Springdale-Rogers 75.1
Rents
Iowa City 84.0
Fayetteville-Springdale-Rogers 76.9
Vertical line = national average (100)
Salary Equivalents
What a salary in Iowa City would need to be in Fayetteville-Springdale-Rogers for the same purchasing power:
| In Iowa City | In Fayetteville-Springdale-Rogers | Difference |
|---|---|---|
| $50,000 | $49,915 | $-85 |
| $75,000 | $74,872 | $-128 |
| $100,000 | $99,830 | $-170 |
| $150,000 | $149,744 | $-256 |
$ in Iowa City = in Fayetteville-Springdale-Rogers
Same BEA Regional Price Parity ratio as the table above (91.5 → 91.4), computed live from your number, nothing is sent anywhere.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Fayetteville-Springdale-Rogers more expensive than Iowa City?
Fayetteville-Springdale-Rogers is 0.2% less expensive than Iowa City. The overall cost index is 91.4 vs 91.5 (national average = 100).
What salary in Fayetteville-Springdale-Rogers equals $100K in Iowa City?
A $100,000 salary in Iowa City has the same purchasing power as $99,830 in Fayetteville-Springdale-Rogers. This is based on the BEA Regional Price Parity indexes.
How do rents compare between Iowa City and Fayetteville-Springdale-Rogers?
Rents in Iowa City are indexed at 84.0 while Fayetteville-Springdale-Rogers is at 76.9 (national average = 100). Iowa City 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.