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Lawrence vs Manhattan

Cost of living comparison based on BEA Regional Price Parities. Manhattan is 0.1% less expensive than Lawrence.

0.1% less expensive

Manhattan, KS is 0.1% less expensive than Lawrence, KS on BEA Regional Price Parities (overall RPP 90.2 vs 90.2). A $100,000 salary in Lawrence buys about the same as $99,910 in Manhattan; the largest component gap is services.

  • Overall RPP 90.2 (Lawrence) vs 90.2 (Manhattan)
  • $100k in Lawrence ≈ $99,910 purchasing power in Manhattan
  • Services drives the gap (-0.9 RPP points)

RPP parity plate

Pair KS:KS 90.2→90.2

PHOTO-FINISH · SAME-STATE · SPLIT-BUDGET · BOTH-BELOW · PP-PAR

  • PHOTO-FINISH Photo finish
  • SAME-STATE Same state · KS
  • 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.

Lawrence
90.2
Cost Index
Manhattan
90.2
Cost Index

What This Comparison Actually Tells You

Lawrence, KS and Manhattan, KS are a photo finish on overall price level, only 0.1 RPP points apart. A salary conversion is therefore a fine adjustment, not evidence of a fundamentally different cost regime.

Services creates the largest separation: Manhattan is 0.9 points lower. But rents and goods 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 Lawrence to $99,910 in Manhattan, but it is not a personal spending weight.

Category Breakdown

Visual Comparison

Overall
Lawrence
90.2
Manhattan
90.2
Goods
Lawrence
94.0
Manhattan
94.0
Services
Lawrence
89.3
Manhattan
88.4
Rents
Lawrence
71.6
Manhattan
72.0

Vertical line = national average (100)

Salary Equivalents

What a salary in Lawrence would need to be in Manhattan for the same purchasing power:

In Lawrence In Manhattan Difference
$50,000 $49,955 $-45
$75,000 $74,933 $-67
$100,000 $99,910 $-90
$150,000 $149,865 $-135
$ in Lawrence = – in Manhattan

Same BEA Regional Price Parity ratio as the table above (90.2 → 90.2), computed live from your number, nothing is sent anywhere.

Reverse: Manhattan → Lawrence Lawrence Details Manhattan Details

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Frequently Asked Questions

Is Manhattan more expensive than Lawrence?

Manhattan is 0.1% less expensive than Lawrence. The overall cost index is 90.2 vs 90.2 (national average = 100).

What salary in Manhattan equals $100K in Lawrence?

A $100,000 salary in Lawrence has the same purchasing power as $99,910 in Manhattan. This is based on the BEA Regional Price Parity indexes.

How do rents compare between Lawrence and Manhattan?

Rents in Lawrence are indexed at 71.6 while Manhattan is at 72.0 (national average = 100). Manhattan has higher rents.

Data sources

Data sourced from official public datasets, Regional Price Parities (2024), index where national average = 100. Retrieved and formatted by PlainCost. See our methodology for details.

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.