Overall
- Barnstable Town
- 98.4
Diff +1.2 RPP
Lakeland-Winter Haven vs Barnstable Town
Cost of living comparison based on BEA Regional Price Parities. Barnstable Town is 1.2% more expensive than Lakeland-Winter Haven.
1.2% more expensive
Barnstable Town, MA is 1.2% more expensive than Lakeland-Winter Haven, FL on BEA Regional Price Parities (overall RPP 98.4 vs 97.1). A $100,000 salary in Lakeland-Winter Haven buys about the same as $101,246 in Barnstable Town; the largest component gap is services.
- Overall RPP 97.1 (Lakeland-Winter Haven) vs 98.4 (Barnstable Town)
- $100k in Lakeland-Winter Haven ≈ $101,246 purchasing power in Barnstable Town
- Services drives the gap (+71.6 RPP points)
RPP parity plate
Pair FL:MA 97.1→98.4
PHOTO-FINISH · CROSS-STATE · SPLIT-BUDGET · BOTH-BELOW · PP-PAR
- PHOTO-FINISH Photo finish
- CROSS-STATE FL × MA
- 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.
Lakeland-Winter Haven
97.1
Cost Index
Barnstable Town
98.4
Cost Index
What This Comparison Actually Tells You
Lakeland-Winter Haven, FL and Barnstable Town, MA are a photo finish on overall price level, only 1.2 RPP points apart. A salary conversion is therefore a fine adjustment, not evidence of a fundamentally different cost regime.
Services creates the largest separation: Barnstable Town is 71.6 points higher. But 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 Lakeland-Winter Haven to $101,246 in Barnstable Town, but it is not a personal spending weight.
Category Breakdown
Goods
- Barnstable Town
- 97.0
Diff +0.8 RPP
Services
- Barnstable Town
- 158.4
Diff +71.6 RPP
Rents
- Barnstable Town
- 90.0
Diff -5.9 RPP
| Category | Lakeland-Winter Haven | Barnstable Town | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Overall | 97.1 | 98.4 | +1.2 |
| Goods | 96.2 | 97.0 | +0.8 |
| Services | 86.9 | 158.4 | +71.6 |
| Rents | 95.9 | 90.0 | -5.9 |
Visual Comparison
Overall
Lakeland-Winter Haven 97.1
Barnstable Town 98.4
Goods
Lakeland-Winter Haven 96.2
Barnstable Town 97.0
Services
Lakeland-Winter Haven 86.9
Barnstable Town 158.4
Rents
Lakeland-Winter Haven 95.9
Barnstable Town 90.0
Vertical line = national average (100)
How the Price Gap Changed
Lakeland-Winter Haven and Barnstable Town share 17 published annual releases from 2008 through 2024. Their overall gap narrowed, moving from 5.9 to 1.2 RPP points. Barnstable Town remained the higher-index metro in the latest release.
Services changed the most within this pair: its gap moved 28.6 points between the first and latest shared releases (43.0 to 71.6 points). This describes a relative price-index history, not a forecast or a household budget.
| Release Year | Lakeland-Winter Haven RPP | Barnstable Town RPP | Relative Gap |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2008 | 96.9 | 102.8 | 5.9 points Barnstable Town higher |
| 2012 | 96.1 | 100.9 | 4.8 points Barnstable Town higher |
| 2016 | 96.4 | 105.8 | 9.4 points Barnstable Town higher |
| 2020 | 93.3 | 101.3 | 8.0 points Barnstable Town higher |
| 2024 | 97.1 | 98.4 | 1.2 points Barnstable Town 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 Lakeland-Winter Haven would need to be in Barnstable Town for the same purchasing power:
| In Lakeland-Winter Haven | In Barnstable Town | Difference |
|---|---|---|
| $50,000 | $50,623 | +$623 |
| $75,000 | $75,934 | +$934 |
| $100,000 | $101,246 | +$1,246 |
| $150,000 | $151,868 | +$1,868 |
$ in Lakeland-Winter Haven = in Barnstable Town
Same BEA Regional Price Parity ratio as the table above (97.1 → 98.4), computed live from your number, nothing is sent anywhere.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Barnstable Town more expensive than Lakeland-Winter Haven?
Barnstable Town is 1.2% more expensive than Lakeland-Winter Haven. The overall cost index is 98.4 vs 97.1 (national average = 100).
What salary in Barnstable Town equals $100K in Lakeland-Winter Haven?
A $100,000 salary in Lakeland-Winter Haven has the same purchasing power as $101,246 in Barnstable Town. This is based on the BEA Regional Price Parity indexes.
How do rents compare between Lakeland-Winter Haven and Barnstable Town?
Rents in Lakeland-Winter Haven are indexed at 95.9 while Barnstable Town is at 90.0 (national average = 100). Lakeland-Winter Haven 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.