Overall
Diff -3.7 RPP
Miami-Fort Lauderdale-West Palm Beach vs San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara
Cost of living comparison based on BEA Regional Price Parities. San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara is 3.3% less expensive than Miami-Fort Lauderdale-West Palm Beach.
3.3% less expensive
San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, CA is 3.3% less expensive than Miami-Fort Lauderdale-West Palm Beach, FL on BEA Regional Price Parities (overall RPP 110.4 vs 114.2). A $100,000 salary in Miami-Fort Lauderdale-West Palm Beach buys about the same as $96,731 in San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara; the largest component gap is services.
- Overall RPP 114.2 (Miami-Fort Lauderdale-West Palm Beach) vs 110.4 (San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara)
- $100k in Miami-Fort Lauderdale-West Palm Beach ≈ $96,731 purchasing power in San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara
- Services drives the gap (+59.4 RPP points)
RPP parity plate
Pair FL:CA 114.2→110.4
TIER-NEAR · CROSS-STATE · SPLIT-BUDGET · BOTH-ABOVE · PP-SHIFT
- TIER-NEAR Near tier
- CROSS-STATE FL × CA
- 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 +1.6 RPP
Services
Diff +59.4 RPP
Rents
Diff +56.4 RPP
| Category | Miami-Fort Lauderdale-West Palm Beach | San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Overall | 114.2 | 110.4 | -3.7 |
| Goods | 103.6 | 105.2 | +1.6 |
| Services | 97.2 | 156.7 | +59.4 |
| Rents | 155.6 | 211.9 | +56.4 |
Visual Comparison
Overall
Miami-Fort Lauderdale-West Palm Beach 114.2
San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara 110.4
Goods
Miami-Fort Lauderdale-West Palm Beach 103.6
San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara 105.2
Services
Miami-Fort Lauderdale-West Palm Beach 97.2
San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara 156.7
Rents
Miami-Fort Lauderdale-West Palm Beach 155.6
San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara 211.9
Vertical line = national average (100)
What This Comparison Actually Tells You
Services creates the largest separation: San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara is 59.4 points higher. But services and rents and goods move against the overall direction, so this is a split budget rather than a clean across-the-board winner.
San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, CA is 3.3% less expensive than Miami-Fort Lauderdale-West Palm Beach, FL, a meaningful but not extreme shift. The move decision turns on which budget category creates the 3.7-point overall gap.
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 $96,731 in San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, but it is not a personal spending weight.
Miami-Fort Lauderdale-West Palm Beach
114.2
Cost Index
San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara
110.4
Cost Index
Salary Equivalents
What a salary in Miami-Fort Lauderdale-West Palm Beach would need to be in San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara for the same purchasing power:
| In Miami-Fort Lauderdale-West Palm Beach | In San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara | Difference |
|---|---|---|
| $50,000 | $48,365 | $-1,635 |
| $75,000 | $72,548 | $-2,452 |
| $100,000 | $96,731 | $-3,269 |
| $150,000 | $145,096 | $-4,904 |
$ in Miami-Fort Lauderdale-West Palm Beach = in San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara
Same BEA Regional Price Parity ratio as the table above (114.2 → 110.4), computed live from your number, nothing is sent anywhere.
How the Price Gap Changed
Miami-Fort Lauderdale-West Palm Beach and San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara share 17 published annual releases from 2008 through 2024. Their overall gap narrowed, moving from 12.8 to 3.7 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 50.1 points between the first and latest shared releases (9.4 to 59.4 points). This describes a relative price-index history, not a forecast or a household budget.
| Release Year | Miami-Fort Lauderdale-West Palm Beach RPP | San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara RPP | Relative Gap |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2008 | 106.5 | 119.3 | 12.8 points San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara higher |
| 2012 | 107.5 | 113.4 | 5.9 points San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara higher |
| 2016 | 107.9 | 117.7 | 9.8 points San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara higher |
| 2020 | 109.5 | 113.5 | 4.0 points San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara higher |
| 2024 | 114.2 | 110.4 | 3.7 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 San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara more expensive than Miami-Fort Lauderdale-West Palm Beach?
San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara is 3.3% less expensive than Miami-Fort Lauderdale-West Palm Beach. The overall cost index is 110.4 vs 114.2 (national average = 100).
What salary in San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara 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 $96,731 in San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara. This is based on the BEA Regional Price Parity indexes.
How do rents compare between Miami-Fort Lauderdale-West Palm Beach and San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara?
Rents in Miami-Fort Lauderdale-West Palm Beach are indexed at 155.6 while San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara is at 211.9 (national average = 100). San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara 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.