PlainCost
Home / Compare /

Manhattan vs Lima

Cost of living comparison based on BEA Regional Price Parities. Lima is 0.5% less expensive than Manhattan.

0.5% less expensive

Lima, OH is 0.5% less expensive than Manhattan, KS on BEA Regional Price Parities (overall RPP 89.7 vs 90.2). A $100,000 salary in Manhattan buys about the same as $99,453 in Lima; the largest component gap is rents.

  • Overall RPP 90.2 (Manhattan) vs 89.7 (Lima)
  • $100k in Manhattan ≈ $99,453 purchasing power in Lima
  • Rents drives the gap (-14.7 RPP points)

RPP parity plate

Pair KS:OH 90.2→89.7

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

  • PHOTO-FINISH Photo finish
  • CROSS-STATE KS × OH
  • 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.

Manhattan
90.2
Cost Index
Lima
89.7
Cost Index

What This Comparison Actually Tells You

Manhattan, KS and Lima, OH are a photo finish on overall price level, only 0.5 RPP points apart. A salary conversion is therefore a fine adjustment, not evidence of a fundamentally different cost regime.

Rents creates the largest separation: Lima is 14.7 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 Manhattan corresponds to $99,453 in Lima.

Category Breakdown

Visual Comparison

Overall
Manhattan
90.2
Lima
89.7
Goods
Manhattan
94.0
Lima
93.6
Services
Manhattan
88.4
Lima
95.8
Rents
Manhattan
72.0
Lima
57.3

Vertical line = national average (100)

Salary Equivalents

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

In Manhattan In Lima Difference
$50,000 $49,727 $-273
$75,000 $74,590 $-410
$100,000 $99,453 $-547
$150,000 $149,180 $-820
$ in Manhattan = – in Lima

Same BEA Regional Price Parity ratio as the table above (90.2 → 89.7), computed live from your number, nothing is sent anywhere.

Reverse: Lima → Manhattan Manhattan Details Lima Details

Also Compare

vs Rome vs Bowling Green vs Las Cruces vs Lawrence vs Beaumont-Port Arthur vs Gulfport-Biloxi vs Montgomery vs Kokomo

Frequently Asked Questions

Is Lima more expensive than Manhattan?

Lima is 0.5% less expensive than Manhattan. The overall cost index is 89.7 vs 90.2 (national average = 100).

What salary in Lima equals $100K in Manhattan?

A $100,000 salary in Manhattan has the same purchasing power as $99,453 in Lima. This is based on the BEA Regional Price Parity indexes.

How do rents compare between Manhattan and Lima?

Rents in Manhattan are indexed at 72.0 while Lima is at 57.3 (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.