Overall
- La Crosse-Onalaska
- 91.8
- Chattanooga
- 91.5
Diff -0.3 RPP
La Crosse-Onalaska vs Chattanooga
Cost of living comparison based on BEA Regional Price Parities. Chattanooga is 0.3% less expensive than La Crosse-Onalaska.
0.3% less expensive
Chattanooga, TN-GA is 0.3% less expensive than La Crosse-Onalaska, WI-MN on BEA Regional Price Parities (overall RPP 91.5 vs 91.8). A $100,000 salary in La Crosse-Onalaska buys about the same as $99,668 in Chattanooga; the largest component gap is services.
- Overall RPP 91.8 (La Crosse-Onalaska) vs 91.5 (Chattanooga)
- $100k in La Crosse-Onalaska ≈ $99,668 purchasing power in Chattanooga
- Services drives the gap (-15.3 RPP points)
RPP parity plate
Pair WI:TN 91.8→91.5
PHOTO-FINISH · CROSS-STATE · SPLIT-BUDGET · BOTH-BELOW · PP-PAR
- PHOTO-FINISH Photo finish
- CROSS-STATE WI × TN
- 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
Chattanooga
91.5
Cost Index
What This Comparison Actually Tells You
La Crosse-Onalaska, WI-MN and Chattanooga, TN-GA are a photo finish on overall price level, only 0.3 RPP points apart. A salary conversion is therefore a fine adjustment, not evidence of a fundamentally different cost regime.
Services creates the largest separation: Chattanooga is 15.3 points lower. 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 La Crosse-Onalaska to $99,668 in Chattanooga, but it is not a personal spending weight.
Category Breakdown
Goods
- La Crosse-Onalaska
- 93.8
- Chattanooga
- 96.0
Diff +2.2 RPP
Services
- La Crosse-Onalaska
- 89.5
- Chattanooga
- 74.2
Diff -15.3 RPP
Rents
- La Crosse-Onalaska
- 69.4
- Chattanooga
- 76.5
Diff +7.2 RPP
| Category | La Crosse-Onalaska | Chattanooga | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Overall | 91.8 | 91.5 | -0.3 |
| Goods | 93.8 | 96.0 | +2.2 |
| Services | 89.5 | 74.2 | -15.3 |
| Rents | 69.4 | 76.5 | +7.2 |
Visual Comparison
Overall
La Crosse-Onalaska 91.8
Chattanooga 91.5
Goods
La Crosse-Onalaska 93.8
Chattanooga 96.0
Services
La Crosse-Onalaska 89.5
Chattanooga 74.2
Rents
La Crosse-Onalaska 69.4
Chattanooga 76.5
Vertical line = national average (100)
How the Price Gap Changed
La Crosse-Onalaska and Chattanooga share 17 published annual releases from 2008 through 2024. Their overall gap held broadly steady, moving from 1.1 to 0.3 RPP points. La Crosse-Onalaska remained the higher-index metro in the latest release.
Rents changed the most within this pair: its gap moved 12.8 points between the first and latest shared releases (5.7 to 7.2 points). This describes a relative price-index history, not a forecast or a household budget.
| Release Year | La Crosse-Onalaska RPP | Chattanooga RPP | Relative Gap |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2008 | 93.3 | 92.2 | 1.1 points La Crosse-Onalaska higher |
| 2012 | 93.2 | 94.4 | 1.2 points Chattanooga higher |
| 2016 | 92.8 | 93.8 | 1.0 points Chattanooga higher |
| 2020 | 89.5 | 90.1 | 0.6 points Chattanooga higher |
| 2024 | 91.8 | 91.5 | 0.3 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 Chattanooga for the same purchasing power:
| In La Crosse-Onalaska | In Chattanooga | Difference |
|---|---|---|
| $50,000 | $49,834 | $-166 |
| $75,000 | $74,751 | $-249 |
| $100,000 | $99,668 | $-332 |
| $150,000 | $149,501 | $-499 |
$ in La Crosse-Onalaska = in Chattanooga
Same BEA Regional Price Parity ratio as the table above (91.8 → 91.5), computed live from your number, nothing is sent anywhere.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Chattanooga more expensive than La Crosse-Onalaska?
Chattanooga is 0.3% less expensive than La Crosse-Onalaska. The overall cost index is 91.5 vs 91.8 (national average = 100).
What salary in Chattanooga equals $100K in La Crosse-Onalaska?
A $100,000 salary in La Crosse-Onalaska has the same purchasing power as $99,668 in Chattanooga. This is based on the BEA Regional Price Parity indexes.
How do rents compare between La Crosse-Onalaska and Chattanooga?
Rents in La Crosse-Onalaska are indexed at 69.4 while Chattanooga is at 76.5 (national average = 100). Chattanooga 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.