Overall
- Lancaster
- 98.3
- Wenatchee-East Wenatchee
- 103.9
Diff +5.6 RPP
Lancaster vs Wenatchee-East Wenatchee
Cost of living comparison based on BEA Regional Price Parities. Wenatchee-East Wenatchee is 5.7% more expensive than Lancaster.
5.7% more expensive
Wenatchee-East Wenatchee, WA is 5.7% more expensive than Lancaster, PA on BEA Regional Price Parities (overall RPP 103.9 vs 98.3). A $100,000 salary in Lancaster buys about the same as $105,697 in Wenatchee-East Wenatchee; the largest component gap is rents.
- Overall RPP 98.3 (Lancaster) vs 103.9 (Wenatchee-East Wenatchee)
- $100k in Lancaster ≈ $105,697 purchasing power in Wenatchee-East Wenatchee
- Rents drives the gap (+21.1 RPP points)
RPP parity plate
Pair PA:WA 98.3→103.9
TIER-NEAR · CROSS-STATE · SPLIT-BUDGET · BENCH-CROSS · PP-SHIFT
- TIER-NEAR Near tier
- CROSS-STATE PA × WA
- SPLIT-BUDGET Split budget
- BENCH-CROSS Benchmark cross
- 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
- Wenatchee-East Wenatchee
- 105.0
Diff +4.3 RPP
Services
- Lancaster
- 107.3
- Wenatchee-East Wenatchee
- 100.6
Diff -6.7 RPP
Rents
- Lancaster
- 93.8
- Wenatchee-East Wenatchee
- 115.0
Diff +21.1 RPP
| Category | Lancaster | Wenatchee-East Wenatchee | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Overall | 98.3 | 103.9 | +5.6 |
| Goods | 100.7 | 105.0 | +4.3 |
| Services | 107.3 | 100.6 | -6.7 |
| Rents | 93.8 | 115.0 | +21.1 |
Visual Comparison
Overall
Lancaster 98.3
Wenatchee-East Wenatchee 103.9
Goods
Lancaster 100.7
Wenatchee-East Wenatchee 105.0
Services
Lancaster 107.3
Wenatchee-East Wenatchee 100.6
Rents
Lancaster 93.8
Wenatchee-East Wenatchee 115.0
Vertical line = national average (100)
What This Comparison Actually Tells You
Rents creates the largest separation: Wenatchee-East Wenatchee is 21.1 points higher. But services move against the overall direction, so this is a split budget rather than a clean across-the-board winner.
Wenatchee-East Wenatchee, WA is 5.7% more expensive than Lancaster, PA, a meaningful but not extreme shift. The move decision turns on which budget category creates the 5.6-point overall gap.
This route crosses the national benchmark: Wenatchee-East Wenatchee 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 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 $105,697 in Wenatchee-East Wenatchee.
Lancaster
98.3
Cost Index
Wenatchee-East Wenatchee
103.9
Cost Index
Salary Equivalents
What a salary in Lancaster would need to be in Wenatchee-East Wenatchee for the same purchasing power:
| In Lancaster | In Wenatchee-East Wenatchee | Difference |
|---|---|---|
| $50,000 | $52,849 | +$2,849 |
| $75,000 | $79,273 | +$4,273 |
| $100,000 | $105,697 | +$5,697 |
| $150,000 | $158,546 | +$8,546 |
$ in Lancaster = in Wenatchee-East Wenatchee
Same BEA Regional Price Parity ratio as the table above (98.3 → 103.9), computed live from your number, nothing is sent anywhere.
How the Price Gap Changed
Lancaster and Wenatchee-East Wenatchee share 17 published annual releases from 2008 through 2024. Their overall gap widened, moving from 2.4 to 5.6 RPP points. Wenatchee-East Wenatchee remained the higher-index metro in the latest release.
Services changed the most within this pair: its gap moved 36.5 points between the first and latest shared releases (43.2 to 6.7 points). This describes a relative price-index history, not a forecast or a household budget.
| Release Year | Lancaster RPP | Wenatchee-East Wenatchee RPP | Relative Gap |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2008 | 100.2 | 97.8 | 2.4 points Lancaster higher |
| 2012 | 97.8 | 97.0 | 0.8 points Lancaster higher |
| 2016 | 99.4 | 97.6 | 1.8 points Lancaster higher |
| 2020 | 97.9 | 102.4 | 4.5 points Wenatchee-East Wenatchee higher |
| 2024 | 98.3 | 103.9 | 5.6 points Wenatchee-East Wenatchee 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 Wenatchee-East Wenatchee more expensive than Lancaster?
Wenatchee-East Wenatchee is 5.7% more expensive than Lancaster. The overall cost index is 103.9 vs 98.3 (national average = 100).
What salary in Wenatchee-East Wenatchee equals $100K in Lancaster?
A $100,000 salary in Lancaster has the same purchasing power as $105,697 in Wenatchee-East Wenatchee. This is based on the BEA Regional Price Parity indexes.
How do rents compare between Lancaster and Wenatchee-East Wenatchee?
Rents in Lancaster are indexed at 93.8 while Wenatchee-East Wenatchee is at 115.0 (national average = 100). Wenatchee-East Wenatchee 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.