Overall
- Midland
- 95.8
- Chicago-Naperville-Elgin
- 103.6
Diff +7.8 RPP
Midland vs Chicago-Naperville-Elgin
Cost of living comparison based on BEA Regional Price Parities. Chicago-Naperville-Elgin is 8.2% more expensive than Midland.
8.2% more expensive
Chicago-Naperville-Elgin, IL-IN is 8.2% more expensive than Midland, TX on BEA Regional Price Parities (overall RPP 103.6 vs 95.8). A $100,000 salary in Midland buys about the same as $108,156 in Chicago-Naperville-Elgin; the largest component gap is goods.
- Overall RPP 95.8 (Midland) vs 103.6 (Chicago-Naperville-Elgin)
- $100k in Midland ≈ $108,156 purchasing power in Chicago-Naperville-Elgin
- Goods drives the gap (+13.5 RPP points)
RPP parity plate
Pair TX:IL 95.8→103.6
TIER-NEAR · CROSS-STATE · GOODS-LED · BENCH-CROSS · PP-SHIFT
- TIER-NEAR Near tier
- CROSS-STATE TX × IL
- GOODS-LED Goods-led gap
- BENCH-CROSS Benchmark cross
- 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.
What This Comparison Actually Tells You
Chicago-Naperville-Elgin, IL-IN is 8.2% more expensive than Midland, TX, a meaningful but not extreme shift. The move decision turns on which budget category creates the 7.8-point overall gap.
This route crosses the national benchmark: Chicago-Naperville-Elgin is above 100 while Midland is below it. That makes the move a change of price regime, not merely a rank swap.
Goods leads the difference, with Chicago-Naperville-Elgin 13.5 points higher than Midland. 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.
For a goods-led difference, remember that many tradable prices vary less by address than housing or labor-priced services. Use $108,156 in Chicago-Naperville-Elgin as the BEA equivalent of $100,000 in Midland, then replace the national basket with your own.
Midland
95.8
Cost Index
Chicago-Naperville-Elgin
103.6
Cost Index
How the Price Gap Changed
Midland and Chicago-Naperville-Elgin share 17 published annual releases from 2008 through 2024. Their overall gap narrowed, moving from 8.9 to 7.8 RPP points. Chicago-Naperville-Elgin remained the higher-index metro in the latest release.
Rents changed the most within this pair: its gap moved 24.9 points between the first and latest shared releases (35.4 to 10.5 points). This describes a relative price-index history, not a forecast or a household budget.
| Release Year | Midland RPP | Chicago-Naperville-Elgin RPP | Relative Gap |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2008 | 96.5 | 105.4 | 8.9 points Chicago-Naperville-Elgin higher |
| 2012 | 100.3 | 105.1 | 4.8 points Chicago-Naperville-Elgin higher |
| 2016 | 102.6 | 103.8 | 1.2 points Chicago-Naperville-Elgin higher |
| 2020 | 95.8 | 104.5 | 8.6 points Chicago-Naperville-Elgin higher |
| 2024 | 95.8 | 103.6 | 7.8 points Chicago-Naperville-Elgin 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.
Category Breakdown
Goods
- Midland
- 93.8
- Chicago-Naperville-Elgin
- 107.3
Diff +13.5 RPP
Services
- Midland
- 83.2
Diff +0.3 RPP
Rents
- Midland
- 101.5
- Chicago-Naperville-Elgin
- 112.0
Diff +10.5 RPP
| Category | Midland | Chicago-Naperville-Elgin | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Overall | 95.8 | 103.6 | +7.8 |
| Goods | 93.8 | 107.3 | +13.5 |
| Services | 83.2 | 83.6 | +0.3 |
| Rents | 101.5 | 112.0 | +10.5 |
Visual Comparison
Overall
Midland 95.8
Chicago-Naperville-Elgin 103.6
Goods
Midland 93.8
Chicago-Naperville-Elgin 107.3
Services
Midland 83.2
Chicago-Naperville-Elgin 83.6
Rents
Midland 101.5
Chicago-Naperville-Elgin 112.0
Vertical line = national average (100)
Salary Equivalents
What a salary in Midland would need to be in Chicago-Naperville-Elgin for the same purchasing power:
| In Midland | In Chicago-Naperville-Elgin | Difference |
|---|---|---|
| $50,000 | $54,078 | +$4,078 |
| $75,000 | $81,117 | +$6,117 |
| $100,000 | $108,156 | +$8,156 |
| $150,000 | $162,234 | +$12,234 |
$ in Midland = in Chicago-Naperville-Elgin
Same BEA Regional Price Parity ratio as the table above (95.8 → 103.6), computed live from your number, nothing is sent anywhere.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Chicago-Naperville-Elgin more expensive than Midland?
Chicago-Naperville-Elgin is 8.2% more expensive than Midland. The overall cost index is 103.6 vs 95.8 (national average = 100).
What salary in Chicago-Naperville-Elgin equals $100K in Midland?
A $100,000 salary in Midland has the same purchasing power as $108,156 in Chicago-Naperville-Elgin. This is based on the BEA Regional Price Parity indexes.
How do rents compare between Midland and Chicago-Naperville-Elgin?
Rents in Midland are indexed at 101.5 while Chicago-Naperville-Elgin is at 112.0 (national average = 100). Chicago-Naperville-Elgin 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.