Overall
- La Crosse-Onalaska
- 91.8
- Birmingham
- 91.6
Diff -0.1 RPP
La Crosse-Onalaska vs Birmingham
Cost of living comparison based on BEA Regional Price Parities. Birmingham is 0.1% less expensive than La Crosse-Onalaska.
0.1% less expensive
Birmingham, AL is 0.1% less expensive than La Crosse-Onalaska, WI-MN on BEA Regional Price Parities (overall RPP 91.6 vs 91.8). A $100,000 salary in La Crosse-Onalaska buys about the same as $99,864 in Birmingham; the largest component gap is services.
- Overall RPP 91.8 (La Crosse-Onalaska) vs 91.6 (Birmingham)
- $100k in La Crosse-Onalaska ≈ $99,864 purchasing power in Birmingham
- Services drives the gap (-5.7 RPP points)
RPP parity plate
Pair WI:AL 91.8→91.6
PHOTO-FINISH · CROSS-STATE · SPLIT-BUDGET · BOTH-BELOW · PP-PAR
- PHOTO-FINISH Photo finish
- CROSS-STATE WI × AL
- 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.
La Crosse-Onalaska
91.8
Cost Index
Birmingham
91.6
Cost Index
What This Comparison Actually Tells You
La Crosse-Onalaska, WI-MN and Birmingham, AL 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: Birmingham is 5.7 points lower. But goods and 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 service-heavy household, test childcare, health, and other locally supplied costs before relying on rent alone. The BEA ratio converts $100,000 in La Crosse-Onalaska to $99,864 in Birmingham, but it is not a personal spending weight.
Category Breakdown
Goods
- La Crosse-Onalaska
- 93.8
- Birmingham
- 96.4
Diff +2.6 RPP
Services
- La Crosse-Onalaska
- 89.5
- Birmingham
- 83.8
Diff -5.7 RPP
Rents
- La Crosse-Onalaska
- 69.4
- Birmingham
- 71.9
Diff +2.5 RPP
| Category | La Crosse-Onalaska | Birmingham | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Overall | 91.8 | 91.6 | -0.1 |
| Goods | 93.8 | 96.4 | +2.6 |
| Services | 89.5 | 83.8 | -5.7 |
| Rents | 69.4 | 71.9 | +2.5 |
Visual Comparison
Overall
La Crosse-Onalaska 91.8
Birmingham 91.6
Goods
La Crosse-Onalaska 93.8
Birmingham 96.4
Services
La Crosse-Onalaska 89.5
Birmingham 83.8
Rents
La Crosse-Onalaska 69.4
Birmingham 71.9
Vertical line = national average (100)
How the Price Gap Changed
La Crosse-Onalaska and Birmingham share 17 published annual releases from 2008 through 2024. Their overall gap held broadly steady, moving from 0.6 to 0.1 RPP points. La Crosse-Onalaska remained the higher-index metro in the latest release.
Rents changed the most within this pair: its gap moved 8.6 points between the first and latest shared releases (6.2 to 2.5 points). This describes a relative price-index history, not a forecast or a household budget.
| Release Year | La Crosse-Onalaska RPP | Birmingham RPP | Relative Gap |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2008 | 93.3 | 92.7 | 0.6 points La Crosse-Onalaska higher |
| 2012 | 93.2 | 93.7 | 0.5 points Birmingham higher |
| 2016 | 92.8 | 94.1 | 1.3 points Birmingham higher |
| 2020 | 89.5 | 91.4 | 1.9 points Birmingham higher |
| 2024 | 91.8 | 91.6 | 0.1 points La Crosse-Onalaska 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 La Crosse-Onalaska would need to be in Birmingham for the same purchasing power:
| In La Crosse-Onalaska | In Birmingham | Difference |
|---|---|---|
| $50,000 | $49,932 | $-68 |
| $75,000 | $74,898 | $-102 |
| $100,000 | $99,864 | $-136 |
| $150,000 | $149,796 | $-204 |
$ in La Crosse-Onalaska = in Birmingham
Same BEA Regional Price Parity ratio as the table above (91.8 → 91.6), computed live from your number, nothing is sent anywhere.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Birmingham more expensive than La Crosse-Onalaska?
Birmingham is 0.1% less expensive than La Crosse-Onalaska. The overall cost index is 91.6 vs 91.8 (national average = 100).
What salary in Birmingham equals $100K in La Crosse-Onalaska?
A $100,000 salary in La Crosse-Onalaska has the same purchasing power as $99,864 in Birmingham. This is based on the BEA Regional Price Parity indexes.
How do rents compare between La Crosse-Onalaska and Birmingham?
Rents in La Crosse-Onalaska are indexed at 69.4 while Birmingham is at 71.9 (national average = 100). Birmingham 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.