Overall
- Lancaster
- 98.3
Diff -4.7 RPP
Lancaster vs Scranton--Wilkes-Barre
Cost of living comparison based on BEA Regional Price Parities. Scranton--Wilkes-Barre is 4.8% less expensive than Lancaster.
4.8% less expensive
Scranton--Wilkes-Barre, PA is 4.8% less expensive than Lancaster, PA on BEA Regional Price Parities (overall RPP 93.6 vs 98.3). A $100,000 salary in Lancaster buys about the same as $95,216 in Scranton--Wilkes-Barre; the largest component gap is rents.
- Overall RPP 98.3 (Lancaster) vs 93.6 (Scranton--Wilkes-Barre)
- $100k in Lancaster ≈ $95,216 purchasing power in Scranton--Wilkes-Barre
- Rents drives the gap (-26.8 RPP points)
RPP parity plate
Pair PA:PA 98.3→93.6
TIER-NEAR · SAME-STATE · SPLIT-BUDGET · BOTH-BELOW · PP-SHIFT
- TIER-NEAR Near tier
- SAME-STATE Same state · PA
- 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
- Scranton--Wilkes-Barre
- 100.7
Diff 0.0 RPP
Services
- Lancaster
- 107.3
- Scranton--Wilkes-Barre
- 106.5
Diff -0.7 RPP
Rents
- Lancaster
- 93.8
Diff -26.8 RPP
| Category | Lancaster | Scranton--Wilkes-Barre | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Overall | 98.3 | 93.6 | -4.7 |
| Goods | 100.7 | 100.7 | 0.0 |
| Services | 107.3 | 106.5 | -0.7 |
| Rents | 93.8 | 67.0 | -26.8 |
Visual Comparison
Overall
Lancaster 98.3
Scranton--Wilkes-Barre 93.6
Goods
Lancaster 100.7
Scranton--Wilkes-Barre 100.7
Services
Lancaster 107.3
Scranton--Wilkes-Barre 106.5
Rents
Lancaster 93.8
Scranton--Wilkes-Barre 67.0
Vertical line = national average (100)
What This Comparison Actually Tells You
Rents creates the largest separation: Scranton--Wilkes-Barre is 26.8 points lower. But goods move against the overall direction, so this is a split budget rather than a clean across-the-board winner.
Scranton--Wilkes-Barre, PA is 4.8% less expensive than Lancaster, PA, a meaningful but not extreme shift. The move decision turns on which budget category creates the 4.7-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 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 $95,216 in Scranton--Wilkes-Barre.
Lancaster
98.3
Cost Index
Scranton--Wilkes-Barre
93.6
Cost Index
Salary Equivalents
What a salary in Lancaster would need to be in Scranton--Wilkes-Barre for the same purchasing power:
| In Lancaster | In Scranton--Wilkes-Barre | Difference |
|---|---|---|
| $50,000 | $47,608 | $-2,392 |
| $75,000 | $71,412 | $-3,588 |
| $100,000 | $95,216 | $-4,784 |
| $150,000 | $142,823 | $-7,177 |
$ in Lancaster = in Scranton--Wilkes-Barre
Same BEA Regional Price Parity ratio as the table above (98.3 → 93.6), computed live from your number, nothing is sent anywhere.
How the Price Gap Changed
Lancaster and Scranton--Wilkes-Barre share 17 published annual releases from 2008 through 2024. Their overall gap held broadly steady, moving from 5.1 to 4.7 RPP points. Lancaster remained the higher-index metro in the latest release.
Services changed the most within this pair: its gap moved 4.5 points between the first and latest shared releases (3.8 to 0.7 points). This describes a relative price-index history, not a forecast or a household budget.
| Release Year | Lancaster RPP | Scranton--Wilkes-Barre RPP | Relative Gap |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2008 | 100.2 | 95.1 | 5.1 points Lancaster higher |
| 2012 | 97.8 | 94.0 | 3.8 points Lancaster higher |
| 2016 | 99.4 | 94.8 | 4.6 points Lancaster higher |
| 2020 | 97.9 | 93.1 | 4.8 points Lancaster higher |
| 2024 | 98.3 | 93.6 | 4.7 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 Scranton--Wilkes-Barre more expensive than Lancaster?
Scranton--Wilkes-Barre is 4.8% less expensive than Lancaster. The overall cost index is 93.6 vs 98.3 (national average = 100).
What salary in Scranton--Wilkes-Barre equals $100K in Lancaster?
A $100,000 salary in Lancaster has the same purchasing power as $95,216 in Scranton--Wilkes-Barre. This is based on the BEA Regional Price Parity indexes.
How do rents compare between Lancaster and Scranton--Wilkes-Barre?
Rents in Lancaster are indexed at 93.8 while Scranton--Wilkes-Barre is at 67.0 (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.