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Joplin vs Monroe

Cost of living comparison based on BEA Regional Price Parities. Monroe is 2.5% less expensive than Joplin.

2.5% less expensive

Monroe, LA is 2.5% less expensive than Joplin, MO-KS on BEA Regional Price Parities (overall RPP 83.6 vs 85.7). A $100,000 salary in Joplin buys about the same as $97,526 in Monroe; the largest component gap is services.

  • Overall RPP 85.7 (Joplin) vs 83.6 (Monroe)
  • $100k in Joplin ≈ $97,526 purchasing power in Monroe
  • Services drives the gap (-13.7 RPP points)

RPP parity plate

Pair MO:LA 85.7→83.6

TIER-NEAR · CROSS-STATE · SERVICES-LED · BOTH-BELOW · PP-PAR

  • TIER-NEAR Near tier
  • CROSS-STATE MO × LA
  • 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.

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.

Monroe, LA is 2.5% less expensive than Joplin, MO-KS, a meaningful but not extreme shift. The move decision turns on which budget category creates the 2.1-point overall gap.

Services leads the difference, with Monroe 13.7 points lower than Joplin. 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 Joplin to $97,526 in Monroe, but it is not a personal spending weight.

Category Breakdown

Visual Comparison

Overall
Joplin
85.7
Monroe
83.6
Goods
Joplin
94.2
Monroe
93.7
Services
Joplin
85.9
Monroe
72.2
Rents
Joplin
54.0
Monroe
42.8

Vertical line = national average (100)

Salary Equivalents

What a salary in Joplin would need to be in Monroe for the same purchasing power:

In Joplin In Monroe Difference
$50,000 $48,763 $-1,237
$75,000 $73,144 $-1,856
$100,000 $97,526 $-2,474
$150,000 $146,288 $-3,712
$ in Joplin = – in Monroe

Same BEA Regional Price Parity ratio as the table above (85.7 → 83.6), computed live from your number, nothing is sent anywhere.

Joplin
85.7
Cost Index
Monroe
83.6
Cost Index
Reverse: Monroe → Joplin Joplin Details Monroe Details

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Frequently Asked Questions

Is Monroe more expensive than Joplin?

Monroe is 2.5% less expensive than Joplin. The overall cost index is 83.6 vs 85.7 (national average = 100).

What salary in Monroe equals $100K in Joplin?

A $100,000 salary in Joplin has the same purchasing power as $97,526 in Monroe. This is based on the BEA Regional Price Parity indexes.

How do rents compare between Joplin and Monroe?

Rents in Joplin are indexed at 54.0 while Monroe is at 42.8 (national average = 100). Joplin 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.