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Lawton vs Fort Smith

Cost of living comparison based on BEA Regional Price Parities. Fort Smith is 0.1% less expensive than Lawton.

0.1% less expensive

Fort Smith, AR-OK is 0.1% less expensive than Lawton, OK on BEA Regional Price Parities (overall RPP 85.9 vs 85.9). A $100,000 salary in Lawton buys about the same as $99,938 in Fort Smith; the largest component gap is rents.

  • Overall RPP 85.9 (Lawton) vs 85.9 (Fort Smith)
  • $100k in Lawton ≈ $99,938 purchasing power in Fort Smith
  • Rents drives the gap (-3.9 RPP points)

RPP parity plate

Pair OK:AR 85.9→85.9

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

  • PHOTO-FINISH Photo finish
  • CROSS-STATE OK × AR
  • 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.

Lawton
85.9
Cost Index
Fort Smith
85.9
Cost Index

What This Comparison Actually Tells You

Lawton, OK and Fort Smith, AR-OK 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.

Rents creates the largest separation: Fort Smith is 3.9 points lower. But services 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 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 Lawton corresponds to $99,938 in Fort Smith.

Category Breakdown

Visual Comparison

Overall
Lawton
85.9
Fort Smith
85.9
Goods
Lawton
93.8
Fort Smith
93.6
Services
Lawton
73.0
Fort Smith
73.8
Rents
Lawton
57.4
Fort Smith
53.4

Vertical line = national average (100)

Salary Equivalents

What a salary in Lawton would need to be in Fort Smith for the same purchasing power:

In Lawton In Fort Smith Difference
$50,000 $49,969 $-31
$75,000 $74,954 $-46
$100,000 $99,938 $-62
$150,000 $149,907 $-93
$ in Lawton = – in Fort Smith

Same BEA Regional Price Parity ratio as the table above (85.9 → 85.9), computed live from your number, nothing is sent anywhere.

Reverse: Fort Smith → Lawton Lawton Details Fort Smith Details

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Frequently Asked Questions

Is Fort Smith more expensive than Lawton?

Fort Smith is 0.1% less expensive than Lawton. The overall cost index is 85.9 vs 85.9 (national average = 100).

What salary in Fort Smith equals $100K in Lawton?

A $100,000 salary in Lawton has the same purchasing power as $99,938 in Fort Smith. This is based on the BEA Regional Price Parity indexes.

How do rents compare between Lawton and Fort Smith?

Rents in Lawton are indexed at 57.4 while Fort Smith is at 53.4 (national average = 100). Lawton 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.