Overall
- Harrisonburg
- 94.9
Diff +0.8 RPP
Lake Havasu City-Kingman vs Harrisonburg
Cost of living comparison based on BEA Regional Price Parities. Harrisonburg is 0.8% more expensive than Lake Havasu City-Kingman.
0.8% more expensive
Harrisonburg, VA is 0.8% more expensive than Lake Havasu City-Kingman, AZ on BEA Regional Price Parities (overall RPP 94.9 vs 94.1). A $100,000 salary in Lake Havasu City-Kingman buys about the same as $100,844 in Harrisonburg; the largest component gap is rents.
- Overall RPP 94.1 (Lake Havasu City-Kingman) vs 94.9 (Harrisonburg)
- $100k in Lake Havasu City-Kingman ≈ $100,844 purchasing power in Harrisonburg
- Rents drives the gap (+2.5 RPP points)
RPP parity plate
Pair AZ:VA 94.1→94.9
PHOTO-FINISH · CROSS-STATE · SPLIT-BUDGET · BOTH-BELOW · PP-PAR
- PHOTO-FINISH Photo finish
- CROSS-STATE AZ × VA
- 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.
Lake Havasu City-Kingman
94.1
Cost Index
Harrisonburg
94.9
Cost Index
What This Comparison Actually Tells You
Lake Havasu City-Kingman, AZ and Harrisonburg, VA are a photo finish on overall price level, only 0.8 RPP points apart. A salary conversion is therefore a fine adjustment, not evidence of a fundamentally different cost regime.
Rents creates the largest separation: Harrisonburg is 2.5 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 housing-sensitive move, validate the rent gap first: HUD Fair Market Rent and the actual unit size can overturn what the blended index implies. On the BEA ratio alone, $100,000 in Lake Havasu City-Kingman corresponds to $100,844 in Harrisonburg.
Category Breakdown
Goods
- Harrisonburg
- 96.8
Diff +0.5 RPP
Services
- Harrisonburg
- 88.5
Diff -0.2 RPP
Rents
- Harrisonburg
- 82.3
Diff +2.5 RPP
| Category | Lake Havasu City-Kingman | Harrisonburg | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Overall | 94.1 | 94.9 | +0.8 |
| Goods | 96.2 | 96.8 | +0.5 |
| Services | 88.7 | 88.5 | -0.2 |
| Rents | 79.8 | 82.3 | +2.5 |
Visual Comparison
Overall
Lake Havasu City-Kingman 94.1
Harrisonburg 94.9
Goods
Lake Havasu City-Kingman 96.2
Harrisonburg 96.8
Services
Lake Havasu City-Kingman 88.7
Harrisonburg 88.5
Rents
Lake Havasu City-Kingman 79.8
Harrisonburg 82.3
Vertical line = national average (100)
How the Price Gap Changed
Lake Havasu City-Kingman and Harrisonburg share 17 published annual releases from 2008 through 2024. Their overall gap narrowed, moving from 1.7 to 0.8 RPP points. Harrisonburg remained the higher-index metro in the latest release.
Services changed the most within this pair: its gap moved 8.8 points between the first and latest shared releases (9.0 to 0.2 points). This describes a relative price-index history, not a forecast or a household budget.
| Release Year | Lake Havasu City-Kingman RPP | Harrisonburg RPP | Relative Gap |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2008 | 93.8 | 92.1 | 1.7 points Lake Havasu City-Kingman higher |
| 2012 | 95.5 | 92.4 | 3.1 points Lake Havasu City-Kingman higher |
| 2016 | 93.0 | 91.2 | 1.7 points Lake Havasu City-Kingman higher |
| 2020 | 87.7 | 90.4 | 2.7 points Harrisonburg higher |
| 2024 | 94.1 | 94.9 | 0.8 points Harrisonburg 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 Lake Havasu City-Kingman would need to be in Harrisonburg for the same purchasing power:
| In Lake Havasu City-Kingman | In Harrisonburg | Difference |
|---|---|---|
| $50,000 | $50,422 | +$422 |
| $75,000 | $75,633 | +$633 |
| $100,000 | $100,844 | +$844 |
| $150,000 | $151,266 | +$1,266 |
$ in Lake Havasu City-Kingman = in Harrisonburg
Same BEA Regional Price Parity ratio as the table above (94.1 → 94.9), computed live from your number, nothing is sent anywhere.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Harrisonburg more expensive than Lake Havasu City-Kingman?
Harrisonburg is 0.8% more expensive than Lake Havasu City-Kingman. The overall cost index is 94.9 vs 94.1 (national average = 100).
What salary in Harrisonburg equals $100K in Lake Havasu City-Kingman?
A $100,000 salary in Lake Havasu City-Kingman has the same purchasing power as $100,844 in Harrisonburg. This is based on the BEA Regional Price Parity indexes.
How do rents compare between Lake Havasu City-Kingman and Harrisonburg?
Rents in Lake Havasu City-Kingman are indexed at 79.8 while Harrisonburg is at 82.3 (national average = 100). Harrisonburg 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.