Overall
- Lewiston-Auburn
- 94.7
- Fairbanks-College
- 103.2
Diff +8.5 RPP
Lewiston-Auburn vs Fairbanks-College
Cost of living comparison based on BEA Regional Price Parities. Fairbanks-College is 8.9% more expensive than Lewiston-Auburn.
8.9% more expensive
Fairbanks-College, AK is 8.9% more expensive than Lewiston-Auburn, ME on BEA Regional Price Parities (overall RPP 103.2 vs 94.7). A $100,000 salary in Lewiston-Auburn buys about the same as $108,943 in Fairbanks-College; the largest component gap is rents.
- Overall RPP 94.7 (Lewiston-Auburn) vs 103.2 (Fairbanks-College)
- $100k in Lewiston-Auburn ≈ $108,943 purchasing power in Fairbanks-College
- Rents drives the gap (+23.6 RPP points)
RPP parity plate
Pair ME:AK 94.7→103.2
TIER-GAP · CROSS-STATE · SPLIT-BUDGET · BENCH-CROSS · PP-SHIFT
- TIER-GAP Clear tier gap
- CROSS-STATE ME × AK
- 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
- Lewiston-Auburn
- 97.2
- Fairbanks-College
- 107.3
Diff +10.2 RPP
Services
- Lewiston-Auburn
- 134.4
- Fairbanks-College
- 119.8
Diff -14.6 RPP
Rents
- Lewiston-Auburn
- 69.0
- Fairbanks-College
- 92.6
Diff +23.6 RPP
| Category | Lewiston-Auburn | Fairbanks-College | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Overall | 94.7 | 103.2 | +8.5 |
| Goods | 97.2 | 107.3 | +10.2 |
| Services | 134.4 | 119.8 | -14.6 |
| Rents | 69.0 | 92.6 | +23.6 |
Visual Comparison
Overall
Lewiston-Auburn 94.7
Fairbanks-College 103.2
Goods
Lewiston-Auburn 97.2
Fairbanks-College 107.3
Services
Lewiston-Auburn 134.4
Fairbanks-College 119.8
Rents
Lewiston-Auburn 69.0
Fairbanks-College 92.6
Vertical line = national average (100)
What This Comparison Actually Tells You
Rents creates the largest separation: Fairbanks-College is 23.6 points higher. But services move against the overall direction, so this is a split budget rather than a clean across-the-board winner.
Lewiston-Auburn, ME and Fairbanks-College, AK sit in clearly different price tiers, separated by 8.5 RPP points. At this distance, treating the same nominal salary as equivalent would materially change purchasing power.
This route crosses the national benchmark: Fairbanks-College is above 100 while Lewiston-Auburn 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 Lewiston-Auburn corresponds to $108,943 in Fairbanks-College.
Lewiston-Auburn
94.7
Cost Index
Fairbanks-College
103.2
Cost Index
Salary Equivalents
What a salary in Lewiston-Auburn would need to be in Fairbanks-College for the same purchasing power:
| In Lewiston-Auburn | In Fairbanks-College | Difference |
|---|---|---|
| $50,000 | $54,471 | +$4,471 |
| $75,000 | $81,707 | +$6,707 |
| $100,000 | $108,943 | +$8,943 |
| $150,000 | $163,414 | +$13,414 |
$ in Lewiston-Auburn = in Fairbanks-College
Same BEA Regional Price Parity ratio as the table above (94.7 → 103.2), computed live from your number, nothing is sent anywhere.
How the Price Gap Changed
Lewiston-Auburn and Fairbanks-College share 17 published annual releases from 2008 through 2024. Their overall gap widened, moving from 6.9 to 8.5 RPP points. Fairbanks-College remained the higher-index metro in the latest release.
Services changed the most within this pair: its gap moved 24.7 points between the first and latest shared releases (39.3 to 14.6 points). This describes a relative price-index history, not a forecast or a household budget.
| Release Year | Lewiston-Auburn RPP | Fairbanks-College RPP | Relative Gap |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2008 | 97.7 | 104.7 | 6.9 points Fairbanks-College higher |
| 2012 | 98.8 | 97.9 | 0.8 points Lewiston-Auburn higher |
| 2016 | 96.6 | 100.4 | 3.8 points Fairbanks-College higher |
| 2020 | 99.7 | 99.4 | 0.3 points Lewiston-Auburn higher |
| 2024 | 94.7 | 103.2 | 8.5 points Fairbanks-College 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 Fairbanks-College more expensive than Lewiston-Auburn?
Fairbanks-College is 8.9% more expensive than Lewiston-Auburn. The overall cost index is 103.2 vs 94.7 (national average = 100).
What salary in Fairbanks-College equals $100K in Lewiston-Auburn?
A $100,000 salary in Lewiston-Auburn has the same purchasing power as $108,943 in Fairbanks-College. This is based on the BEA Regional Price Parity indexes.
How do rents compare between Lewiston-Auburn and Fairbanks-College?
Rents in Lewiston-Auburn are indexed at 69.0 while Fairbanks-College is at 92.6 (national average = 100). Fairbanks-College 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.