Overall
- Amherst Town-Northampton
- 100.2
Diff -13.9 RPP
Miami-Fort Lauderdale-West Palm Beach vs Amherst Town-Northampton
Cost of living comparison based on BEA Regional Price Parities. Amherst Town-Northampton is 12.2% less expensive than Miami-Fort Lauderdale-West Palm Beach.
12.2% less expensive
Amherst Town-Northampton, MA is 12.2% less expensive than Miami-Fort Lauderdale-West Palm Beach, FL on BEA Regional Price Parities (overall RPP 100.2 vs 114.2). A $100,000 salary in Miami-Fort Lauderdale-West Palm Beach buys about the same as $87,813 in Amherst Town-Northampton; the largest component gap is services.
- Overall RPP 114.2 (Miami-Fort Lauderdale-West Palm Beach) vs 100.2 (Amherst Town-Northampton)
- $100k in Miami-Fort Lauderdale-West Palm Beach ≈ $87,813 purchasing power in Amherst Town-Northampton
- Services drives the gap (+58.5 RPP points)
RPP parity plate
Pair FL:MA 114.2→100.2
TIER-GAP · CROSS-STATE · SPLIT-BUDGET · BOTH-ABOVE · PP-SHIFT
- TIER-GAP Clear tier gap
- CROSS-STATE FL × MA
- SPLIT-BUDGET Split budget
- BOTH-ABOVE Both above 100
- 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
Diff -6.5 RPP
Services
- Amherst Town-Northampton
- 155.7
Diff +58.5 RPP
Rents
Diff -58.0 RPP
| Category | Miami-Fort Lauderdale-West Palm Beach | Amherst Town-Northampton | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Overall | 114.2 | 100.2 | -13.9 |
| Goods | 103.6 | 97.0 | -6.5 |
| Services | 97.2 | 155.7 | +58.5 |
| Rents | 155.6 | 97.5 | -58.0 |
Visual Comparison
Overall
Miami-Fort Lauderdale-West Palm Beach 114.2
Amherst Town-Northampton 100.2
Goods
Miami-Fort Lauderdale-West Palm Beach 103.6
Amherst Town-Northampton 97.0
Services
Miami-Fort Lauderdale-West Palm Beach 97.2
Amherst Town-Northampton 155.7
Rents
Miami-Fort Lauderdale-West Palm Beach 155.6
Amherst Town-Northampton 97.5
Vertical line = national average (100)
What This Comparison Actually Tells You
Services creates the largest separation: Amherst Town-Northampton is 58.5 points higher. But services move against the overall direction, so this is a split budget rather than a clean across-the-board winner.
Miami-Fort Lauderdale-West Palm Beach, FL and Amherst Town-Northampton, MA sit in clearly different price tiers, separated by 13.9 RPP points. At this distance, treating the same nominal salary as equivalent would materially change purchasing power.
Both metros exceed the U.S. benchmark of 100. The choice is between two national premiums, so local wages need to clear the higher baseline in either market.
Comparable population context is incomplete for this pair, so no market-scale explanation is inferred from the price indexes.
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 Miami-Fort Lauderdale-West Palm Beach to $87,813 in Amherst Town-Northampton, but it is not a personal spending weight.
Miami-Fort Lauderdale-West Palm Beach
114.2
Cost Index
Amherst Town-Northampton
100.2
Cost Index
Salary Equivalents
What a salary in Miami-Fort Lauderdale-West Palm Beach would need to be in Amherst Town-Northampton for the same purchasing power:
| In Miami-Fort Lauderdale-West Palm Beach | In Amherst Town-Northampton | Difference |
|---|---|---|
| $50,000 | $43,907 | $-6,093 |
| $75,000 | $65,860 | $-9,140 |
| $100,000 | $87,813 | $-12,187 |
| $150,000 | $131,720 | $-18,280 |
$ in Miami-Fort Lauderdale-West Palm Beach = in Amherst Town-Northampton
Same BEA Regional Price Parity ratio as the table above (114.2 → 100.2), computed live from your number, nothing is sent anywhere.
How the Price Gap Changed
Miami-Fort Lauderdale-West Palm Beach and Amherst Town-Northampton share 17 published annual releases from 2008 through 2024. Their overall gap widened, moving from 6.8 to 13.9 RPP points. Miami-Fort Lauderdale-West Palm Beach remained the higher-index metro in the latest release.
Services changed the most within this pair: its gap moved 22.5 points between the first and latest shared releases (36.0 to 58.5 points). This describes a relative price-index history, not a forecast or a household budget.
| Release Year | Miami-Fort Lauderdale-West Palm Beach RPP | Amherst Town-Northampton RPP | Relative Gap |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2008 | 106.5 | 99.7 | 6.8 points Miami-Fort Lauderdale-West Palm Beach higher |
| 2012 | 107.5 | 99.3 | 8.1 points Miami-Fort Lauderdale-West Palm Beach higher |
| 2016 | 107.9 | 99.7 | 8.2 points Miami-Fort Lauderdale-West Palm Beach higher |
| 2020 | 109.5 | 101.8 | 7.7 points Miami-Fort Lauderdale-West Palm Beach higher |
| 2024 | 114.2 | 100.2 | 13.9 points Miami-Fort Lauderdale-West Palm Beach 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 Amherst Town-Northampton more expensive than Miami-Fort Lauderdale-West Palm Beach?
Amherst Town-Northampton is 12.2% less expensive than Miami-Fort Lauderdale-West Palm Beach. The overall cost index is 100.2 vs 114.2 (national average = 100).
What salary in Amherst Town-Northampton equals $100K in Miami-Fort Lauderdale-West Palm Beach?
A $100,000 salary in Miami-Fort Lauderdale-West Palm Beach has the same purchasing power as $87,813 in Amherst Town-Northampton. This is based on the BEA Regional Price Parity indexes.
How do rents compare between Miami-Fort Lauderdale-West Palm Beach and Amherst Town-Northampton?
Rents in Miami-Fort Lauderdale-West Palm Beach are indexed at 155.6 while Amherst Town-Northampton is at 97.5 (national average = 100). Miami-Fort Lauderdale-West Palm Beach 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.