Overall
- Knoxville
- 92.6
Diff +0.1 RPP
Cost of living comparison based on BEA Regional Price Parities. Dayton-Kettering-Beavercreek is 0.1% more expensive than Knoxville.
Dayton-Kettering-Beavercreek, OH is 0.1% more expensive than Knoxville, TN on BEA Regional Price Parities (overall RPP 92.7 vs 92.6). A $100,000 salary in Knoxville buys about the same as $100,135 in Dayton-Kettering-Beavercreek; the largest component gap is services.
RPP parity plate
Pair TN:OH 92.6→92.7
PHOTO-FINISH · CROSS-STATE · SPLIT-BUDGET · BOTH-BELOW · PP-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.
Knoxville, TN and Dayton-Kettering-Beavercreek, OH 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.
Services creates the largest separation: Dayton-Kettering-Beavercreek is 23.5 points higher. But rents 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 Knoxville to $100,135 in Dayton-Kettering-Beavercreek, but it is not a personal spending weight.
Diff +0.1 RPP
Diff -2.6 RPP
Diff +23.5 RPP
Diff -10.1 RPP
| Category | Knoxville | Dayton-Kettering-Beavercreek | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Overall | 92.6 | 92.7 | +0.1 |
| Goods | 96.2 | 93.6 | -2.6 |
| Services | 71.9 | 95.4 | +23.5 |
| Rents | 82.8 | 72.7 | -10.1 |
Vertical line = national average (100)
What a salary in Knoxville would need to be in Dayton-Kettering-Beavercreek for the same purchasing power:
| In Knoxville | In Dayton-Kettering-Beavercreek | Difference |
|---|---|---|
| $50,000 | $50,068 | +$68 |
| $75,000 | $75,101 | +$101 |
| $100,000 | $100,135 | +$135 |
| $150,000 | $150,203 | +$203 |
Same BEA Regional Price Parity ratio as the table above (92.6 → 92.7), computed live from your number, nothing is sent anywhere.
Dayton-Kettering-Beavercreek is 0.1% more expensive than Knoxville. The overall cost index is 92.7 vs 92.6 (national average = 100).
A $100,000 salary in Knoxville has the same purchasing power as $100,135 in Dayton-Kettering-Beavercreek. This is based on the BEA Regional Price Parity indexes.
Rents in Knoxville are indexed at 82.8 while Dayton-Kettering-Beavercreek is at 72.7 (national average = 100). Knoxville has higher rents.
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.