Overall
- Madison
- 97.3
- Harrisburg-Carlisle
- 98.7
Diff +1.4 RPP
Madison vs Harrisburg-Carlisle
Cost of living comparison based on BEA Regional Price Parities. Harrisburg-Carlisle is 1.4% more expensive than Madison.
1.4% more expensive
Harrisburg-Carlisle, PA is 1.4% more expensive than Madison, WI on BEA Regional Price Parities (overall RPP 98.7 vs 97.3). A $100,000 salary in Madison buys about the same as $101,401 in Harrisburg-Carlisle; the largest component gap is services.
- Overall RPP 97.3 (Madison) vs 98.7 (Harrisburg-Carlisle)
- $100k in Madison ≈ $101,401 purchasing power in Harrisburg-Carlisle
- Services drives the gap (+18.3 RPP points)
RPP parity plate
Pair WI:PA 97.3→98.7
PHOTO-FINISH · CROSS-STATE · SPLIT-BUDGET · BOTH-BELOW · PP-PAR
- PHOTO-FINISH Photo finish
- CROSS-STATE WI × PA
- 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.
Madison
97.3
Cost Index
Harrisburg-Carlisle
98.7
Cost Index
What This Comparison Actually Tells You
Madison, WI and Harrisburg-Carlisle, PA are a photo finish on overall price level, only 1.4 RPP points apart. A salary conversion is therefore a fine adjustment, not evidence of a fundamentally different cost regime.
Services creates the largest separation: Harrisburg-Carlisle is 18.3 points higher. But rents 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 Madison to $101,401 in Harrisburg-Carlisle, but it is not a personal spending weight.
Category Breakdown
Goods
- Madison
- 93.8
- Harrisburg-Carlisle
- 100.7
Diff +6.9 RPP
Services
- Madison
- 89.8
- Harrisburg-Carlisle
- 108.1
Diff +18.3 RPP
Rents
- Madison
- 99.7
- Harrisburg-Carlisle
- 96.3
Diff -3.5 RPP
| Category | Madison | Harrisburg-Carlisle | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Overall | 97.3 | 98.7 | +1.4 |
| Goods | 93.8 | 100.7 | +6.9 |
| Services | 89.8 | 108.1 | +18.3 |
| Rents | 99.7 | 96.3 | -3.5 |
Visual Comparison
Overall
Madison 97.3
Harrisburg-Carlisle 98.7
Goods
Madison 93.8
Harrisburg-Carlisle 100.7
Services
Madison 89.8
Harrisburg-Carlisle 108.1
Rents
Madison 99.7
Harrisburg-Carlisle 96.3
Vertical line = national average (100)
How the Price Gap Changed
Madison and Harrisburg-Carlisle share 17 published annual releases from 2008 through 2024. Their overall gap held broadly steady, moving from 0.8 to 1.4 RPP points. Harrisburg-Carlisle remained the higher-index metro in the latest release.
Rents changed the most within this pair: its gap moved 14.6 points between the first and latest shared releases (18.1 to 3.5 points). This describes a relative price-index history, not a forecast or a household budget.
| Release Year | Madison RPP | Harrisburg-Carlisle RPP | Relative Gap |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2008 | 98.1 | 99.0 | 0.8 points Harrisburg-Carlisle higher |
| 2012 | 97.4 | 97.0 | 0.4 points Madison higher |
| 2016 | 95.9 | 98.2 | 2.3 points Harrisburg-Carlisle higher |
| 2020 | 95.9 | 96.1 | 0.3 points Harrisburg-Carlisle higher |
| 2024 | 97.3 | 98.7 | 1.4 points Harrisburg-Carlisle 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 Madison would need to be in Harrisburg-Carlisle for the same purchasing power:
| In Madison | In Harrisburg-Carlisle | Difference |
|---|---|---|
| $50,000 | $50,701 | +$701 |
| $75,000 | $76,051 | +$1,051 |
| $100,000 | $101,401 | +$1,401 |
| $150,000 | $152,102 | +$2,102 |
$ in Madison = in Harrisburg-Carlisle
Same BEA Regional Price Parity ratio as the table above (97.3 → 98.7), computed live from your number, nothing is sent anywhere.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Harrisburg-Carlisle more expensive than Madison?
Harrisburg-Carlisle is 1.4% more expensive than Madison. The overall cost index is 98.7 vs 97.3 (national average = 100).
What salary in Harrisburg-Carlisle equals $100K in Madison?
A $100,000 salary in Madison has the same purchasing power as $101,401 in Harrisburg-Carlisle. This is based on the BEA Regional Price Parity indexes.
How do rents compare between Madison and Harrisburg-Carlisle?
Rents in Madison are indexed at 99.7 while Harrisburg-Carlisle is at 96.3 (national average = 100). Madison 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.