Overall
- Lancaster
- 98.3
- Grand Island
- 86.7
Diff -11.6 RPP
Lancaster vs Grand Island
Cost of living comparison based on BEA Regional Price Parities. Grand Island is 11.8% less expensive than Lancaster.
11.8% less expensive
Grand Island, NE is 11.8% less expensive than Lancaster, PA on BEA Regional Price Parities (overall RPP 86.7 vs 98.3). A $100,000 salary in Lancaster buys about the same as $88,194 in Grand Island; the largest component gap is services.
- Overall RPP 98.3 (Lancaster) vs 86.7 (Grand Island)
- $100k in Lancaster ≈ $88,194 purchasing power in Grand Island
- Services drives the gap (-33.0 RPP points)
RPP parity plate
Pair PA:NE 98.3→86.7
TIER-GAP · CROSS-STATE · SERVICES-LED · BOTH-BELOW · PP-SHIFT
- TIER-GAP Clear tier gap
- CROSS-STATE PA × NE
- SERVICES-LED Services-led gap
- BOTH-BELOW Both below 100
- 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.
What This Comparison Actually Tells You
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.
Lancaster, PA and Grand Island, NE sit in clearly different price tiers, separated by 11.6 RPP points. At this distance, treating the same nominal salary as equivalent would materially change purchasing power.
Services leads the difference, with Grand Island 33.0 points lower than Lancaster. Goods, services, and rents all point in the same broad direction, making the headline comparison more transferable across household types.
Comparable population context is incomplete for this pair, so no market-scale explanation is inferred from the price indexes.
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 Lancaster to $88,194 in Grand Island, but it is not a personal spending weight.
How the Price Gap Changed
Lancaster and Grand Island share 17 published annual releases from 2008 through 2024. Their overall gap narrowed, moving from 18.4 to 11.6 RPP points. Lancaster remained the higher-index metro in the latest release.
Goods changed the most within this pair: its gap moved 16.3 points between the first and latest shared releases (22.8 to 6.6 points). This describes a relative price-index history, not a forecast or a household budget.
| Release Year | Lancaster RPP | Grand Island RPP | Relative Gap |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2008 | 100.2 | 81.8 | 18.4 points Lancaster higher |
| 2012 | 97.8 | 85.0 | 12.8 points Lancaster higher |
| 2016 | 99.4 | 87.7 | 11.7 points Lancaster higher |
| 2020 | 97.9 | 90.5 | 7.3 points Lancaster higher |
| 2024 | 98.3 | 86.7 | 11.6 points Lancaster 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.
Category Breakdown
Goods
- Lancaster
- 100.7
- Grand Island
- 94.1
Diff -6.6 RPP
Services
- Lancaster
- 107.3
- Grand Island
- 74.2
Diff -33.0 RPP
Rents
- Lancaster
- 93.8
- Grand Island
- 61.7
Diff -32.1 RPP
| Category | Lancaster | Grand Island | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Overall | 98.3 | 86.7 | -11.6 |
| Goods | 100.7 | 94.1 | -6.6 |
| Services | 107.3 | 74.2 | -33.0 |
| Rents | 93.8 | 61.7 | -32.1 |
Visual Comparison
Overall
Lancaster 98.3
Grand Island 86.7
Goods
Lancaster 100.7
Grand Island 94.1
Services
Lancaster 107.3
Grand Island 74.2
Rents
Lancaster 93.8
Grand Island 61.7
Vertical line = national average (100)
Salary Equivalents
What a salary in Lancaster would need to be in Grand Island for the same purchasing power:
| In Lancaster | In Grand Island | Difference |
|---|---|---|
| $50,000 | $44,097 | $-5,903 |
| $75,000 | $66,146 | $-8,854 |
| $100,000 | $88,194 | $-11,806 |
| $150,000 | $132,291 | $-17,709 |
$ in Lancaster = in Grand Island
Same BEA Regional Price Parity ratio as the table above (98.3 → 86.7), computed live from your number, nothing is sent anywhere.
Lancaster
98.3
Cost Index
Grand Island
86.7
Cost Index
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Grand Island more expensive than Lancaster?
Grand Island is 11.8% less expensive than Lancaster. The overall cost index is 86.7 vs 98.3 (national average = 100).
What salary in Grand Island equals $100K in Lancaster?
A $100,000 salary in Lancaster has the same purchasing power as $88,194 in Grand Island. This is based on the BEA Regional Price Parity indexes.
How do rents compare between Lancaster and Grand Island?
Rents in Lancaster are indexed at 93.8 while Grand Island is at 61.7 (national average = 100). Lancaster 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.