Overall
- Lancaster
- 98.3
- Lewiston-Auburn
- 94.7
Diff -3.5 RPP
Lancaster vs Lewiston-Auburn
Cost of living comparison based on BEA Regional Price Parities. Lewiston-Auburn is 3.6% less expensive than Lancaster.
3.6% less expensive
Lewiston-Auburn, ME is 3.6% less expensive than Lancaster, PA on BEA Regional Price Parities (overall RPP 94.7 vs 98.3). A $100,000 salary in Lancaster buys about the same as $96,417 in Lewiston-Auburn; the largest component gap is services.
- Overall RPP 98.3 (Lancaster) vs 94.7 (Lewiston-Auburn)
- $100k in Lancaster ≈ $96,417 purchasing power in Lewiston-Auburn
- Services drives the gap (+27.1 RPP points)
RPP parity plate
Pair PA:ME 98.3→94.7
TIER-NEAR · CROSS-STATE · SPLIT-BUDGET · BOTH-BELOW · PP-SHIFT
- TIER-NEAR Near tier
- CROSS-STATE PA × ME
- SPLIT-BUDGET Split budget
- 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.
Category Breakdown
Goods
- Lancaster
- 100.7
- Lewiston-Auburn
- 97.2
Diff -3.5 RPP
Services
- Lancaster
- 107.3
- Lewiston-Auburn
- 134.4
Diff +27.1 RPP
Rents
- Lancaster
- 93.8
- Lewiston-Auburn
- 69.0
Diff -24.8 RPP
| Category | Lancaster | Lewiston-Auburn | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Overall | 98.3 | 94.7 | -3.5 |
| Goods | 100.7 | 97.2 | -3.5 |
| Services | 107.3 | 134.4 | +27.1 |
| Rents | 93.8 | 69.0 | -24.8 |
Visual Comparison
Overall
Lancaster 98.3
Lewiston-Auburn 94.7
Goods
Lancaster 100.7
Lewiston-Auburn 97.2
Services
Lancaster 107.3
Lewiston-Auburn 134.4
Rents
Lancaster 93.8
Lewiston-Auburn 69.0
Vertical line = national average (100)
What This Comparison Actually Tells You
Services creates the largest separation: Lewiston-Auburn is 27.1 points higher. But services move against the overall direction, so this is a split budget rather than a clean across-the-board winner.
Lewiston-Auburn, ME is 3.6% less expensive than Lancaster, PA, a meaningful but not extreme shift. The move decision turns on which budget category creates the 3.5-point overall gap.
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.
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 $96,417 in Lewiston-Auburn, but it is not a personal spending weight.
Lancaster
98.3
Cost Index
Lewiston-Auburn
94.7
Cost Index
Salary Equivalents
What a salary in Lancaster would need to be in Lewiston-Auburn for the same purchasing power:
| In Lancaster | In Lewiston-Auburn | Difference |
|---|---|---|
| $50,000 | $48,208 | $-1,792 |
| $75,000 | $72,312 | $-2,688 |
| $100,000 | $96,417 | $-3,583 |
| $150,000 | $144,625 | $-5,375 |
$ in Lancaster = in Lewiston-Auburn
Same BEA Regional Price Parity ratio as the table above (98.3 → 94.7), computed live from your number, nothing is sent anywhere.
How the Price Gap Changed
Lancaster and Lewiston-Auburn share 17 published annual releases from 2008 through 2024. Their overall gap widened, moving from 2.4 to 3.5 RPP points. Lancaster remained the higher-index metro in the latest release.
Rents changed the most within this pair: its gap moved 10.0 points between the first and latest shared releases (14.8 to 24.8 points). This describes a relative price-index history, not a forecast or a household budget.
| Release Year | Lancaster RPP | Lewiston-Auburn RPP | Relative Gap |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2008 | 100.2 | 97.7 | 2.4 points Lancaster higher |
| 2012 | 97.8 | 98.8 | 1.0 points Lewiston-Auburn higher |
| 2016 | 99.4 | 96.6 | 2.8 points Lancaster higher |
| 2020 | 97.9 | 99.7 | 1.8 points Lewiston-Auburn higher |
| 2024 | 98.3 | 94.7 | 3.5 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.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Lewiston-Auburn more expensive than Lancaster?
Lewiston-Auburn is 3.6% less expensive than Lancaster. The overall cost index is 94.7 vs 98.3 (national average = 100).
What salary in Lewiston-Auburn equals $100K in Lancaster?
A $100,000 salary in Lancaster has the same purchasing power as $96,417 in Lewiston-Auburn. This is based on the BEA Regional Price Parity indexes.
How do rents compare between Lancaster and Lewiston-Auburn?
Rents in Lancaster are indexed at 93.8 while Lewiston-Auburn is at 69.0 (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.