Overall
- Cape Girardeau
- 86.1
Diff +0.2 RPP
McAllen-Edinburg-Mission vs Cape Girardeau
Cost of living comparison based on BEA Regional Price Parities. Cape Girardeau is 0.2% more expensive than McAllen-Edinburg-Mission.
0.2% more expensive
Cape Girardeau, MO-IL is 0.2% more expensive than McAllen-Edinburg-Mission, TX on BEA Regional Price Parities (overall RPP 86.1 vs 85.9). A $100,000 salary in McAllen-Edinburg-Mission buys about the same as $100,213 in Cape Girardeau; the largest component gap is services.
- Overall RPP 85.9 (McAllen-Edinburg-Mission) vs 86.1 (Cape Girardeau)
- $100k in McAllen-Edinburg-Mission ≈ $100,213 purchasing power in Cape Girardeau
- Services drives the gap (+4.4 RPP points)
RPP parity plate
Pair TX:MO 85.9→86.1
PHOTO-FINISH · CROSS-STATE · SERVICES-LED · BOTH-BELOW · PP-PAR
- PHOTO-FINISH Photo finish
- CROSS-STATE TX × MO
- SERVICES-LED Services-led gap
- 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.
McAllen-Edinburg-Mission
85.9
Cost Index
Cape Girardeau
86.1
Cost Index
What This Comparison Actually Tells You
McAllen-Edinburg-Mission, TX and Cape Girardeau, MO-IL are a photo finish on overall price level, only 0.2 RPP points apart. A salary conversion is therefore a fine adjustment, not evidence of a fundamentally different cost regime.
Services leads the difference, with Cape Girardeau 4.4 points higher than McAllen-Edinburg-Mission. Goods, services, and rents all point in the same broad direction, making the headline comparison more transferable across household types.
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 McAllen-Edinburg-Mission to $100,213 in Cape Girardeau, but it is not a personal spending weight.
Category Breakdown
Goods
- Cape Girardeau
- 94.2
Diff +0.5 RPP
Services
- Cape Girardeau
- 85.6
Diff +4.4 RPP
Rents
- Cape Girardeau
- 56.4
Diff +0.5 RPP
| Category | McAllen-Edinburg-Mission | Cape Girardeau | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Overall | 85.9 | 86.1 | +0.2 |
| Goods | 93.8 | 94.2 | +0.5 |
| Services | 81.2 | 85.6 | +4.4 |
| Rents | 55.9 | 56.4 | +0.5 |
Visual Comparison
Overall
McAllen-Edinburg-Mission 85.9
Cape Girardeau 86.1
Goods
McAllen-Edinburg-Mission 93.8
Cape Girardeau 94.2
Services
McAllen-Edinburg-Mission 81.2
Cape Girardeau 85.6
Rents
McAllen-Edinburg-Mission 55.9
Cape Girardeau 56.4
Vertical line = national average (100)
How the Price Gap Changed
McAllen-Edinburg-Mission and Cape Girardeau share 17 published annual releases from 2008 through 2024. Their overall gap narrowed, moving from 5.6 to 0.2 RPP points. Cape Girardeau remained the higher-index metro in the latest release.
Services changed the most within this pair: its gap moved 30.4 points between the first and latest shared releases (26.0 to 4.4 points). This describes a relative price-index history, not a forecast or a household budget.
| Release Year | McAllen-Edinburg-Mission RPP | Cape Girardeau RPP | Relative Gap |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2008 | 86.9 | 81.3 | 5.6 points McAllen-Edinburg-Mission higher |
| 2012 | 89.2 | 88.5 | 0.6 points McAllen-Edinburg-Mission higher |
| 2016 | 89.8 | 86.1 | 3.7 points McAllen-Edinburg-Mission higher |
| 2020 | 88.0 | 88.9 | 0.8 points Cape Girardeau higher |
| 2024 | 85.9 | 86.1 | 0.2 points Cape Girardeau 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 McAllen-Edinburg-Mission would need to be in Cape Girardeau for the same purchasing power:
| In McAllen-Edinburg-Mission | In Cape Girardeau | Difference |
|---|---|---|
| $50,000 | $50,107 | +$107 |
| $75,000 | $75,160 | +$160 |
| $100,000 | $100,213 | +$213 |
| $150,000 | $150,320 | +$320 |
$ in McAllen-Edinburg-Mission = in Cape Girardeau
Same BEA Regional Price Parity ratio as the table above (85.9 → 86.1), computed live from your number, nothing is sent anywhere.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Cape Girardeau more expensive than McAllen-Edinburg-Mission?
Cape Girardeau is 0.2% more expensive than McAllen-Edinburg-Mission. The overall cost index is 86.1 vs 85.9 (national average = 100).
What salary in Cape Girardeau equals $100K in McAllen-Edinburg-Mission?
A $100,000 salary in McAllen-Edinburg-Mission has the same purchasing power as $100,213 in Cape Girardeau. This is based on the BEA Regional Price Parity indexes.
How do rents compare between McAllen-Edinburg-Mission and Cape Girardeau?
Rents in McAllen-Edinburg-Mission are indexed at 55.9 while Cape Girardeau is at 56.4 (national average = 100). Cape Girardeau 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.