Overall
- Lancaster
- 98.3
Diff +2.2 RPP
Lancaster vs Norwich-New London-Willimantic
Cost of living comparison based on BEA Regional Price Parities. Norwich-New London-Willimantic is 2.2% more expensive than Lancaster.
2.2% more expensive
Norwich-New London-Willimantic, CT is 2.2% more expensive than Lancaster, PA on BEA Regional Price Parities (overall RPP 100.4 vs 98.3). A $100,000 salary in Lancaster buys about the same as $102,227 in Norwich-New London-Willimantic; the largest component gap is services.
- Overall RPP 98.3 (Lancaster) vs 100.4 (Norwich-New London-Willimantic)
- $100k in Lancaster ≈ $102,227 purchasing power in Norwich-New London-Willimantic
- Services drives the gap (+41.3 RPP points)
RPP parity plate
Pair PA:CT 98.3→100.4
TIER-NEAR · CROSS-STATE · SPLIT-BUDGET · BENCH-CROSS · PP-PAR
- TIER-NEAR Near tier
- CROSS-STATE PA × CT
- SPLIT-BUDGET Split budget
- BENCH-CROSS Benchmark cross
- 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.
Category Breakdown
Goods
- Lancaster
- 100.7
Diff -3.4 RPP
Services
- Lancaster
- 107.3
Diff +41.3 RPP
Rents
- Lancaster
- 93.8
Diff -0.2 RPP
| Category | Lancaster | Norwich-New London-Willimantic | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Overall | 98.3 | 100.4 | +2.2 |
| Goods | 100.7 | 97.3 | -3.4 |
| Services | 107.3 | 148.6 | +41.3 |
| Rents | 93.8 | 93.7 | -0.2 |
Visual Comparison
Overall
Lancaster 98.3
Norwich-New London-Willimantic 100.4
Goods
Lancaster 100.7
Norwich-New London-Willimantic 97.3
Services
Lancaster 107.3
Norwich-New London-Willimantic 148.6
Rents
Lancaster 93.8
Norwich-New London-Willimantic 93.7
Vertical line = national average (100)
What This Comparison Actually Tells You
Services creates the largest separation: Norwich-New London-Willimantic is 41.3 points higher. But goods and rents move against the overall direction, so this is a split budget rather than a clean across-the-board winner.
Norwich-New London-Willimantic, CT is 2.2% more expensive than Lancaster, PA, a meaningful but not extreme shift. The move decision turns on which budget category creates the 2.2-point overall gap.
This route crosses the national benchmark: Norwich-New London-Willimantic 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 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 $102,227 in Norwich-New London-Willimantic, but it is not a personal spending weight.
Lancaster
98.3
Cost Index
Norwich-New London-Willimantic
100.4
Cost Index
Salary Equivalents
What a salary in Lancaster would need to be in Norwich-New London-Willimantic for the same purchasing power:
| In Lancaster | In Norwich-New London-Willimantic | Difference |
|---|---|---|
| $50,000 | $51,113 | +$1,113 |
| $75,000 | $76,670 | +$1,670 |
| $100,000 | $102,227 | +$2,227 |
| $150,000 | $153,340 | +$3,340 |
$ in Lancaster = in Norwich-New London-Willimantic
Same BEA Regional Price Parity ratio as the table above (98.3 → 100.4), computed live from your number, nothing is sent anywhere.
How the Price Gap Changed
Lancaster and Norwich-New London-Willimantic share 17 published annual releases from 2008 through 2024. Their overall gap narrowed, moving from 3.5 to 2.2 RPP points. Norwich-New London-Willimantic remained the higher-index metro in the latest release.
Rents changed the most within this pair: its gap moved 20.5 points between the first and latest shared releases (20.3 to 0.2 points). This describes a relative price-index history, not a forecast or a household budget.
| Release Year | Lancaster RPP | Norwich-New London-Willimantic RPP | Relative Gap |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2008 | 100.2 | 103.7 | 3.5 points Norwich-New London-Willimantic higher |
| 2012 | 97.8 | 101.7 | 3.9 points Norwich-New London-Willimantic higher |
| 2016 | 99.4 | 102.6 | 3.2 points Norwich-New London-Willimantic higher |
| 2020 | 97.9 | 102.1 | 4.2 points Norwich-New London-Willimantic higher |
| 2024 | 98.3 | 100.4 | 2.2 points Norwich-New London-Willimantic 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 Norwich-New London-Willimantic more expensive than Lancaster?
Norwich-New London-Willimantic is 2.2% more expensive than Lancaster. The overall cost index is 100.4 vs 98.3 (national average = 100).
What salary in Norwich-New London-Willimantic equals $100K in Lancaster?
A $100,000 salary in Lancaster has the same purchasing power as $102,227 in Norwich-New London-Willimantic. This is based on the BEA Regional Price Parity indexes.
How do rents compare between Lancaster and Norwich-New London-Willimantic?
Rents in Lancaster are indexed at 93.8 while Norwich-New London-Willimantic is at 93.7 (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.