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Jacksonville vs Rockford

Cost of living comparison based on BEA Regional Price Parities. Rockford is 0.1% more expensive than Jacksonville.

0.1% more expensive

Rockford, IL is 0.1% more expensive than Jacksonville, NC on BEA Regional Price Parities (overall RPP 92.2 vs 92.1). A $100,000 salary in Jacksonville buys about the same as $100,075 in Rockford; the largest component gap is goods.

  • Overall RPP 92.1 (Jacksonville) vs 92.2 (Rockford)
  • $100k in Jacksonville ≈ $100,075 purchasing power in Rockford
  • Goods drives the gap (-3.0 RPP points)

RPP parity plate

Pair NC:IL 92.1→92.2

PHOTO-FINISH · CROSS-STATE · SPLIT-BUDGET · BOTH-BELOW · PP-PAR

  • PHOTO-FINISH Photo finish
  • CROSS-STATE NC × IL
  • 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.

Jacksonville
92.1
Cost Index
Rockford
92.2
Cost Index

What This Comparison Actually Tells You

Jacksonville, NC and Rockford, IL are a photo finish on overall price level, only 0.1 RPP points apart. A salary conversion is therefore a fine adjustment, not evidence of a fundamentally different cost regime.

Goods creates the largest separation: Rockford is 3.0 points lower. But goods and rents 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 goods-led difference, remember that many tradable prices vary less by address than housing or labor-priced services. Use $100,075 in Rockford as the BEA equivalent of $100,000 in Jacksonville, then replace the national basket with your own.

Category Breakdown

Visual Comparison

Overall
Jacksonville
92.1
Rockford
92.2
Goods
Jacksonville
96.6
Rockford
93.6
Services
Jacksonville
87.2
Rockford
89.4
Rents
Jacksonville
72.1
Rockford
70.1

Vertical line = national average (100)

Salary Equivalents

What a salary in Jacksonville would need to be in Rockford for the same purchasing power:

In Jacksonville In Rockford Difference
$50,000 $50,037 +$37
$75,000 $75,056 +$56
$100,000 $100,075 +$75
$150,000 $150,112 +$112
$ in Jacksonville = – in Rockford

Same BEA Regional Price Parity ratio as the table above (92.1 → 92.2), computed live from your number, nothing is sent anywhere.

Reverse: Rockford → Jacksonville Jacksonville Details Rockford Details

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Frequently Asked Questions

Is Rockford more expensive than Jacksonville?

Rockford is 0.1% more expensive than Jacksonville. The overall cost index is 92.2 vs 92.1 (national average = 100).

What salary in Rockford equals $100K in Jacksonville?

A $100,000 salary in Jacksonville has the same purchasing power as $100,075 in Rockford. This is based on the BEA Regional Price Parity indexes.

How do rents compare between Jacksonville and Rockford?

Rents in Jacksonville are indexed at 72.1 while Rockford is at 70.1 (national average = 100). Jacksonville has higher rents.

Data sources

Data sourced from official public datasets, Regional Price Parities (2024), index where national average = 100. Retrieved and formatted by PlainCost. See our methodology for details.

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.