Overall
- Lancaster
- 98.3
- Wilmington
- 96.4
Diff -1.8 RPP
Lancaster vs Wilmington
Cost of living comparison based on BEA Regional Price Parities. Wilmington is 1.9% less expensive than Lancaster.
1.9% less expensive
Wilmington, NC is 1.9% less expensive than Lancaster, PA on BEA Regional Price Parities (overall RPP 96.4 vs 98.3). A $100,000 salary in Lancaster buys about the same as $98,132 in Wilmington; the largest component gap is services.
- Overall RPP 98.3 (Lancaster) vs 96.4 (Wilmington)
- $100k in Lancaster ≈ $98,132 purchasing power in Wilmington
- Services drives the gap (-19.4 RPP points)
RPP parity plate
Pair PA:NC 98.3→96.4
PHOTO-FINISH · CROSS-STATE · SERVICES-LED · BOTH-BELOW · PP-PAR
- PHOTO-FINISH Photo finish
- CROSS-STATE PA × NC
- SERVICES-LED Services-led gap
- 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
Wilmington
96.4
Cost Index
What This Comparison Actually Tells You
Lancaster, PA and Wilmington, NC are a photo finish on overall price level, only 1.8 RPP points apart. A salary conversion is therefore a fine adjustment, not evidence of a fundamentally different cost regime.
Services leads the difference, with Wilmington 19.4 points lower than Lancaster. Goods, services, and rents all point in the same broad direction, making the headline comparison more transferable across household types.
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 $98,132 in Wilmington, but it is not a personal spending weight.
Category Breakdown
Goods
- Lancaster
- 100.7
- Wilmington
- 96.6
Diff -4.1 RPP
Services
- Lancaster
- 107.3
- Wilmington
- 87.9
Diff -19.4 RPP
Rents
- Lancaster
- 93.8
- Wilmington
- 93.2
Diff -0.6 RPP
| Category | Lancaster | Wilmington | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Overall | 98.3 | 96.4 | -1.8 |
| Goods | 100.7 | 96.6 | -4.1 |
| Services | 107.3 | 87.9 | -19.4 |
| Rents | 93.8 | 93.2 | -0.6 |
Visual Comparison
Overall
Lancaster 98.3
Wilmington 96.4
Goods
Lancaster 100.7
Wilmington 96.6
Services
Lancaster 107.3
Wilmington 87.9
Rents
Lancaster 93.8
Wilmington 93.2
Vertical line = national average (100)
How the Price Gap Changed
Lancaster and Wilmington share 17 published annual releases from 2008 through 2024. Their overall gap narrowed, moving from 6.9 to 1.8 RPP points. Lancaster remained the higher-index metro in the latest release.
Rents changed the most within this pair: its gap moved 9.6 points between the first and latest shared releases (10.2 to 0.6 points). This describes a relative price-index history, not a forecast or a household budget.
| Release Year | Lancaster RPP | Wilmington RPP | Relative Gap |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2008 | 100.2 | 93.2 | 6.9 points Lancaster higher |
| 2012 | 97.8 | 95.2 | 2.6 points Lancaster higher |
| 2016 | 99.4 | 95.1 | 4.3 points Lancaster higher |
| 2020 | 97.9 | 94.0 | 3.8 points Lancaster higher |
| 2024 | 98.3 | 96.4 | 1.8 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 Wilmington for the same purchasing power:
| In Lancaster | In Wilmington | Difference |
|---|---|---|
| $50,000 | $49,066 | $-934 |
| $75,000 | $73,599 | $-1,401 |
| $100,000 | $98,132 | $-1,868 |
| $150,000 | $147,199 | $-2,801 |
$ in Lancaster = in Wilmington
Same BEA Regional Price Parity ratio as the table above (98.3 → 96.4), computed live from your number, nothing is sent anywhere.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Wilmington more expensive than Lancaster?
Wilmington is 1.9% less expensive than Lancaster. The overall cost index is 96.4 vs 98.3 (national average = 100).
What salary in Wilmington equals $100K in Lancaster?
A $100,000 salary in Lancaster has the same purchasing power as $98,132 in Wilmington. This is based on the BEA Regional Price Parity indexes.
How do rents compare between Lancaster and Wilmington?
Rents in Lancaster are indexed at 93.8 while Wilmington is at 93.2 (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.