Overall
- Kingsport-Bristol
- 86.4
- Johnstown
- 85.9
Diff -0.5 RPP
Kingsport-Bristol vs Johnstown
Cost of living comparison based on BEA Regional Price Parities. Johnstown is 0.6% less expensive than Kingsport-Bristol.
0.6% less expensive
Johnstown, PA is 0.6% less expensive than Kingsport-Bristol, TN-VA on BEA Regional Price Parities (overall RPP 85.9 vs 86.4). A $100,000 salary in Kingsport-Bristol buys about the same as $99,401 in Johnstown; the largest component gap is services.
- Overall RPP 86.4 (Kingsport-Bristol) vs 85.9 (Johnstown)
- $100k in Kingsport-Bristol ≈ $99,401 purchasing power in Johnstown
- Services drives the gap (+33.0 RPP points)
RPP parity plate
Pair TN:PA 86.4→85.9
PHOTO-FINISH · CROSS-STATE · SPLIT-BUDGET · BOTH-BELOW · PP-PAR
- PHOTO-FINISH Photo finish
- CROSS-STATE TN × PA
- 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.
Kingsport-Bristol
86.4
Cost Index
Johnstown
85.9
Cost Index
What This Comparison Actually Tells You
Kingsport-Bristol, TN-VA and Johnstown, PA are a photo finish on overall price level, only 0.5 RPP points apart. A salary conversion is therefore a fine adjustment, not evidence of a fundamentally different cost regime.
Services creates the largest separation: Johnstown is 33.0 points higher. But services and goods 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 service-heavy household, test childcare, health, and other locally supplied costs before relying on rent alone. The BEA ratio converts $100,000 in Kingsport-Bristol to $99,401 in Johnstown, but it is not a personal spending weight.
Category Breakdown
Goods
- Kingsport-Bristol
- 96.2
- Johnstown
- 100.7
Diff +4.4 RPP
Services
- Kingsport-Bristol
- 75.9
- Johnstown
- 108.9
Diff +33.0 RPP
Rents
- Kingsport-Bristol
- 56.5
- Johnstown
- 42.3
Diff -14.2 RPP
| Category | Kingsport-Bristol | Johnstown | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Overall | 86.4 | 85.9 | -0.5 |
| Goods | 96.2 | 100.7 | +4.4 |
| Services | 75.9 | 108.9 | +33.0 |
| Rents | 56.5 | 42.3 | -14.2 |
Visual Comparison
Overall
Kingsport-Bristol 86.4
Johnstown 85.9
Goods
Kingsport-Bristol 96.2
Johnstown 100.7
Services
Kingsport-Bristol 75.9
Johnstown 108.9
Rents
Kingsport-Bristol 56.5
Johnstown 42.3
Vertical line = national average (100)
How the Price Gap Changed
Kingsport-Bristol and Johnstown share 17 published annual releases from 2008 through 2024. Their overall gap narrowed, moving from 1.2 to 0.5 RPP points. Kingsport-Bristol remained the higher-index metro in the latest release.
Rents changed the most within this pair: its gap moved 3.1 points between the first and latest shared releases (11.1 to 14.2 points). This describes a relative price-index history, not a forecast or a household budget.
| Release Year | Kingsport-Bristol RPP | Johnstown RPP | Relative Gap |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2008 | 89.6 | 90.7 | 1.2 points Johnstown higher |
| 2012 | 89.9 | 86.8 | 3.1 points Kingsport-Bristol higher |
| 2016 | 88.9 | 88.7 | 0.3 points Kingsport-Bristol higher |
| 2020 | 83.4 | 87.6 | 4.1 points Johnstown higher |
| 2024 | 86.4 | 85.9 | 0.5 points Kingsport-Bristol 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 Kingsport-Bristol would need to be in Johnstown for the same purchasing power:
| In Kingsport-Bristol | In Johnstown | Difference |
|---|---|---|
| $50,000 | $49,700 | $-300 |
| $75,000 | $74,551 | $-449 |
| $100,000 | $99,401 | $-599 |
| $150,000 | $149,101 | $-899 |
$ in Kingsport-Bristol = in Johnstown
Same BEA Regional Price Parity ratio as the table above (86.4 → 85.9), computed live from your number, nothing is sent anywhere.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Johnstown more expensive than Kingsport-Bristol?
Johnstown is 0.6% less expensive than Kingsport-Bristol. The overall cost index is 85.9 vs 86.4 (national average = 100).
What salary in Johnstown equals $100K in Kingsport-Bristol?
A $100,000 salary in Kingsport-Bristol has the same purchasing power as $99,401 in Johnstown. This is based on the BEA Regional Price Parity indexes.
How do rents compare between Kingsport-Bristol and Johnstown?
Rents in Kingsport-Bristol are indexed at 56.5 while Johnstown is at 42.3 (national average = 100). Kingsport-Bristol 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.