Overall
- Lancaster
- 98.3
Diff -1.9 RPP
Lancaster vs Nashville-Davidson--Murfreesboro--Franklin
Cost of living comparison based on BEA Regional Price Parities. Nashville-Davidson--Murfreesboro--Franklin is 2% less expensive than Lancaster.
2% less expensive
Nashville-Davidson--Murfreesboro--Franklin, TN is 2% less expensive than Lancaster, PA on BEA Regional Price Parities (overall RPP 96.3 vs 98.3). A $100,000 salary in Lancaster buys about the same as $98,047 in Nashville-Davidson--Murfreesboro--Franklin; the largest component gap is services.
- Overall RPP 98.3 (Lancaster) vs 96.3 (Nashville-Davidson--Murfreesboro--Franklin)
- $100k in Lancaster ≈ $98,047 purchasing power in Nashville-Davidson--Murfreesboro--Franklin
- Services drives the gap (-35.3 RPP points)
RPP parity plate
Pair PA:TN 98.3→96.3
PHOTO-FINISH · CROSS-STATE · SPLIT-BUDGET · BOTH-BELOW · PP-PAR
- PHOTO-FINISH Photo finish
- CROSS-STATE PA × TN
- 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.
Lancaster
98.3
Cost Index
Nashville-Davidson--Murfreesboro--Franklin
96.3
Cost Index
What This Comparison Actually Tells You
Lancaster, PA and Nashville-Davidson--Murfreesboro--Franklin, TN are a photo finish on overall price level, only 1.9 RPP points apart. A salary conversion is therefore a fine adjustment, not evidence of a fundamentally different cost regime.
Services creates the largest separation: Nashville-Davidson--Murfreesboro--Franklin is 35.3 points lower. 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 Lancaster to $98,047 in Nashville-Davidson--Murfreesboro--Franklin, but it is not a personal spending weight.
Category Breakdown
Goods
- Lancaster
- 100.7
Diff -4.4 RPP
Services
- Lancaster
- 107.3
Diff -35.3 RPP
Rents
- Lancaster
- 93.8
Diff +10.8 RPP
| Category | Lancaster | Nashville-Davidson--Murfreesboro--Franklin | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Overall | 98.3 | 96.3 | -1.9 |
| Goods | 100.7 | 96.2 | -4.4 |
| Services | 107.3 | 72.0 | -35.3 |
| Rents | 93.8 | 104.6 | +10.8 |
Visual Comparison
Overall
Lancaster 98.3
Nashville-Davidson--Murfreesboro--Franklin 96.3
Goods
Lancaster 100.7
Nashville-Davidson--Murfreesboro--Franklin 96.2
Services
Lancaster 107.3
Nashville-Davidson--Murfreesboro--Franklin 72.0
Rents
Lancaster 93.8
Nashville-Davidson--Murfreesboro--Franklin 104.6
Vertical line = national average (100)
How the Price Gap Changed
Lancaster and Nashville-Davidson--Murfreesboro--Franklin share 17 published annual releases from 2008 through 2024. Their overall gap narrowed, moving from 4.5 to 1.9 RPP points. Lancaster remained the higher-index metro in the latest release.
Rents changed the most within this pair: its gap moved 14.9 points between the first and latest shared releases (4.1 to 10.8 points). This describes a relative price-index history, not a forecast or a household budget.
| Release Year | Lancaster RPP | Nashville-Davidson--Murfreesboro--Franklin RPP | Relative Gap |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2008 | 100.2 | 95.7 | 4.5 points Lancaster higher |
| 2012 | 97.8 | 97.4 | 0.4 points Lancaster higher |
| 2016 | 99.4 | 99.3 | 0.1 points Lancaster higher |
| 2020 | 97.9 | 95.9 | 1.9 points Lancaster higher |
| 2024 | 98.3 | 96.3 | 1.9 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.
Salary Equivalents
What a salary in Lancaster would need to be in Nashville-Davidson--Murfreesboro--Franklin for the same purchasing power:
| In Lancaster | In Nashville-Davidson--Murfreesboro--Franklin | Difference |
|---|---|---|
| $50,000 | $49,023 | $-977 |
| $75,000 | $73,535 | $-1,465 |
| $100,000 | $98,047 | $-1,953 |
| $150,000 | $147,070 | $-2,930 |
$ in Lancaster = in Nashville-Davidson--Murfreesboro--Franklin
Same BEA Regional Price Parity ratio as the table above (98.3 → 96.3), computed live from your number, nothing is sent anywhere.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Nashville-Davidson--Murfreesboro--Franklin more expensive than Lancaster?
Nashville-Davidson--Murfreesboro--Franklin is 2% less expensive than Lancaster. The overall cost index is 96.3 vs 98.3 (national average = 100).
What salary in Nashville-Davidson--Murfreesboro--Franklin equals $100K in Lancaster?
A $100,000 salary in Lancaster has the same purchasing power as $98,047 in Nashville-Davidson--Murfreesboro--Franklin. This is based on the BEA Regional Price Parity indexes.
How do rents compare between Lancaster and Nashville-Davidson--Murfreesboro--Franklin?
Rents in Lancaster are indexed at 93.8 while Nashville-Davidson--Murfreesboro--Franklin is at 104.6 (national average = 100). Nashville-Davidson--Murfreesboro--Franklin 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.