Overall
Diff +0.2 RPP
Jonesboro vs Paducah
Cost of living comparison based on BEA Regional Price Parities. Paducah is 0.2% more expensive than Jonesboro.
0.2% more expensive
Paducah, KY-IL is 0.2% more expensive than Jonesboro, AR on BEA Regional Price Parities (overall RPP 86.1 vs 85.9). A $100,000 salary in Jonesboro buys about the same as $100,242 in Paducah; the largest component gap is rents.
- Overall RPP 85.9 (Jonesboro) vs 86.1 (Paducah)
- $100k in Jonesboro ≈ $100,242 purchasing power in Paducah
- Rents drives the gap (-5.1 RPP points)
RPP parity plate
Pair AR:KY 85.9→86.1
PHOTO-FINISH · CROSS-STATE · SPLIT-BUDGET · BOTH-BELOW · PP-PAR
- PHOTO-FINISH Photo finish
- CROSS-STATE AR × KY
- 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.
Jonesboro
85.9
Cost Index
Paducah
86.1
Cost Index
What This Comparison Actually Tells You
Jonesboro, AR and Paducah, KY-IL 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.
Rents creates the largest separation: Paducah is 5.1 points lower. But 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 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 Jonesboro corresponds to $100,242 in Paducah.
Category Breakdown
Goods
Diff +2.4 RPP
Services
Diff +1.9 RPP
Rents
Diff -5.1 RPP
| Category | Jonesboro | Paducah | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Overall | 85.9 | 86.1 | +0.2 |
| Goods | 93.6 | 96.0 | +2.4 |
| Services | 75.0 | 76.9 | +1.9 |
| Rents | 53.8 | 48.8 | -5.1 |
Visual Comparison
Overall
Jonesboro 85.9
Paducah 86.1
Goods
Jonesboro 93.6
Paducah 96.0
Services
Jonesboro 75.0
Paducah 76.9
Rents
Jonesboro 53.8
Paducah 48.8
Vertical line = national average (100)
How the Price Gap Changed
Jonesboro and Paducah share 17 published annual releases from 2008 through 2024. Their overall gap held broadly steady, moving from 0.1 to 0.2 RPP points. Paducah remained the higher-index metro in the latest release.
Services changed the most within this pair: its gap moved 8.0 points between the first and latest shared releases (6.1 to 1.9 points). This describes a relative price-index history, not a forecast or a household budget.
| Release Year | Jonesboro RPP | Paducah RPP | Relative Gap |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2008 | 84.2 | 84.4 | 0.1 points Paducah higher |
| 2012 | 85.8 | 84.6 | 1.3 points Jonesboro higher |
| 2016 | 84.8 | 86.0 | 1.3 points Paducah higher |
| 2020 | 85.5 | 85.5 | 0.0 points Paducah higher |
| 2024 | 85.9 | 86.1 | 0.2 points Paducah 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 Jonesboro would need to be in Paducah for the same purchasing power:
| In Jonesboro | In Paducah | Difference |
|---|---|---|
| $50,000 | $50,121 | +$121 |
| $75,000 | $75,182 | +$182 |
| $100,000 | $100,242 | +$242 |
| $150,000 | $150,363 | +$363 |
$ in Jonesboro = in Paducah
Same BEA Regional Price Parity ratio as the table above (85.9 → 86.1), computed live from your number, nothing is sent anywhere.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Paducah more expensive than Jonesboro?
Paducah is 0.2% more expensive than Jonesboro. The overall cost index is 86.1 vs 85.9 (national average = 100).
What salary in Paducah equals $100K in Jonesboro?
A $100,000 salary in Jonesboro has the same purchasing power as $100,242 in Paducah. This is based on the BEA Regional Price Parity indexes.
How do rents compare between Jonesboro and Paducah?
Rents in Jonesboro are indexed at 53.8 while Paducah is at 48.8 (national average = 100). Jonesboro 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.