Overall
Diff +2.6 RPP
Lancaster vs Ann Arbor
Cost of living comparison based on BEA Regional Price Parities. Ann Arbor is 2.7% more expensive than Lancaster.
2.7% more expensive
Ann Arbor, MI is 2.7% more expensive than Lancaster, PA on BEA Regional Price Parities (overall RPP 100.9 vs 98.3). A $100,000 salary in Lancaster buys about the same as $102,670 in Ann Arbor; the largest component gap is rents.
- Overall RPP 98.3 (Lancaster) vs 100.9 (Ann Arbor)
- $100k in Lancaster ≈ $102,670 purchasing power in Ann Arbor
- Rents drives the gap (+31.5 RPP points)
RPP parity plate
Pair PA:MI 98.3→100.9
TIER-NEAR · CROSS-STATE · SPLIT-BUDGET · BENCH-CROSS · PP-SHIFT
- TIER-NEAR Near tier
- CROSS-STATE PA × MI
- SPLIT-BUDGET Split budget
- BENCH-CROSS Benchmark cross
- PP-SHIFT PP shift
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.
Category Breakdown
Goods
Diff -7.0 RPP
Services
Diff -9.1 RPP
Rents
Diff +31.5 RPP
| Category | Lancaster | Ann Arbor | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Overall | 98.3 | 100.9 | +2.6 |
| Goods | 100.7 | 93.7 | -7.0 |
| Services | 107.3 | 98.2 | -9.1 |
| Rents | 93.8 | 125.3 | +31.5 |
Visual Comparison
Overall
Lancaster 98.3
Ann Arbor 100.9
Goods
Lancaster 100.7
Ann Arbor 93.7
Services
Lancaster 107.3
Ann Arbor 98.2
Rents
Lancaster 93.8
Ann Arbor 125.3
Vertical line = national average (100)
What This Comparison Actually Tells You
Rents creates the largest separation: Ann Arbor is 31.5 points higher. But services and goods move against the overall direction, so this is a split budget rather than a clean across-the-board winner.
Ann Arbor, MI is 2.7% more expensive than Lancaster, PA, a meaningful but not extreme shift. The move decision turns on which budget category creates the 2.6-point overall gap.
This route crosses the national benchmark: Ann Arbor is above 100 while Lancaster is below it. That makes the move a change of price regime, not merely a rank swap.
Comparable population context is incomplete for this pair, so no market-scale explanation is inferred from the price indexes.
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 Lancaster corresponds to $102,670 in Ann Arbor.
Lancaster
98.3
Cost Index
Ann Arbor
100.9
Cost Index
Salary Equivalents
What a salary in Lancaster would need to be in Ann Arbor for the same purchasing power:
| In Lancaster | In Ann Arbor | Difference |
|---|---|---|
| $50,000 | $51,335 | +$1,335 |
| $75,000 | $77,002 | +$2,002 |
| $100,000 | $102,670 | +$2,670 |
| $150,000 | $154,004 | +$4,004 |
$ in Lancaster = in Ann Arbor
Same BEA Regional Price Parity ratio as the table above (98.3 → 100.9), computed live from your number, nothing is sent anywhere.
How the Price Gap Changed
Lancaster and Ann Arbor share 17 published annual releases from 2008 through 2024. Their overall gap held broadly steady, moving from 3.5 to 2.6 RPP points. Ann Arbor remained the higher-index metro in the latest release.
Goods changed the most within this pair: its gap moved 5.8 points between the first and latest shared releases (1.1 to 7.0 points). This describes a relative price-index history, not a forecast or a household budget.
| Release Year | Lancaster RPP | Ann Arbor RPP | Relative Gap |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2008 | 100.2 | 103.6 | 3.5 points Ann Arbor higher |
| 2012 | 97.8 | 100.9 | 3.1 points Ann Arbor higher |
| 2016 | 99.4 | 98.4 | 1.0 points Lancaster higher |
| 2020 | 97.9 | 98.6 | 0.7 points Ann Arbor higher |
| 2024 | 98.3 | 100.9 | 2.6 points Ann Arbor 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.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Ann Arbor more expensive than Lancaster?
Ann Arbor is 2.7% more expensive than Lancaster. The overall cost index is 100.9 vs 98.3 (national average = 100).
What salary in Ann Arbor equals $100K in Lancaster?
A $100,000 salary in Lancaster has the same purchasing power as $102,670 in Ann Arbor. This is based on the BEA Regional Price Parity indexes.
How do rents compare between Lancaster and Ann Arbor?
Rents in Lancaster are indexed at 93.8 while Ann Arbor is at 125.3 (national average = 100). Ann Arbor 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.