Overall
Diff +0.1 RPP
Kankakee vs Asheville
Cost of living comparison based on BEA Regional Price Parities. Asheville is 0.1% more expensive than Kankakee.
0.1% more expensive
Asheville, NC is 0.1% more expensive than Kankakee, IL on BEA Regional Price Parities (overall RPP 96.5 vs 96.4). A $100,000 salary in Kankakee buys about the same as $100,116 in Asheville; the largest component gap is goods.
- Overall RPP 96.4 (Kankakee) vs 96.5 (Asheville)
- $100k in Kankakee ≈ $100,116 purchasing power in Asheville
- Goods drives the gap (+3.0 RPP points)
RPP parity plate
Pair IL:NC 96.4→96.5
PHOTO-FINISH · CROSS-STATE · SPLIT-BUDGET · BOTH-BELOW · PP-PAR
- PHOTO-FINISH Photo finish
- CROSS-STATE IL × NC
- 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.
Kankakee
96.4
Cost Index
Asheville
96.5
Cost Index
What This Comparison Actually Tells You
Kankakee, IL and Asheville, NC 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: Asheville is 3.0 points higher. But services 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 $100,116 in Asheville as the BEA equivalent of $100,000 in Kankakee, then replace the national basket with your own.
Category Breakdown
Goods
Diff +3.0 RPP
Services
Diff -0.8 RPP
Rents
Diff +0.5 RPP
| Category | Kankakee | Asheville | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Overall | 96.4 | 96.5 | +0.1 |
| Goods | 93.6 | 96.6 | +3.0 |
| Services | 89.4 | 88.6 | -0.8 |
| Rents | 92.9 | 93.4 | +0.5 |
Visual Comparison
Overall
Kankakee 96.4
Asheville 96.5
Goods
Kankakee 93.6
Asheville 96.6
Services
Kankakee 89.4
Asheville 88.6
Rents
Kankakee 92.9
Asheville 93.4
Vertical line = national average (100)
Salary Equivalents
What a salary in Kankakee would need to be in Asheville for the same purchasing power:
| In Kankakee | In Asheville | Difference |
|---|---|---|
| $50,000 | $50,058 | +$58 |
| $75,000 | $75,087 | +$87 |
| $100,000 | $100,116 | +$116 |
| $150,000 | $150,174 | +$174 |
$ in Kankakee = in Asheville
Same BEA Regional Price Parity ratio as the table above (96.4 → 96.5), computed live from your number, nothing is sent anywhere.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Asheville more expensive than Kankakee?
Asheville is 0.1% more expensive than Kankakee. The overall cost index is 96.5 vs 96.4 (national average = 100).
What salary in Asheville equals $100K in Kankakee?
A $100,000 salary in Kankakee has the same purchasing power as $100,116 in Asheville. This is based on the BEA Regional Price Parity indexes.
How do rents compare between Kankakee and Asheville?
Rents in Kankakee are indexed at 92.9 while Asheville is at 93.4 (national average = 100). Asheville 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.