Overall
- Fairbanks-College
- 103.2
Diff -1.6 RPP
Minneapolis-St. Paul-Bloomington vs Fairbanks-College
Cost of living comparison based on BEA Regional Price Parities. Fairbanks-College is 1.5% less expensive than Minneapolis-St. Paul-Bloomington.
1.5% less expensive
Fairbanks-College, AK is 1.5% less expensive than Minneapolis-St. Paul-Bloomington, MN-WI on BEA Regional Price Parities (overall RPP 103.2 vs 104.8). A $100,000 salary in Minneapolis-St. Paul-Bloomington buys about the same as $98,460 in Fairbanks-College; the largest component gap is services.
- Overall RPP 104.8 (Minneapolis-St. Paul-Bloomington) vs 103.2 (Fairbanks-College)
- $100k in Minneapolis-St. Paul-Bloomington ≈ $98,460 purchasing power in Fairbanks-College
- Services drives the gap (+26.3 RPP points)
RPP parity plate
Pair MN:AK 104.8→103.2
PHOTO-FINISH · CROSS-STATE · SPLIT-BUDGET · BOTH-ABOVE · PP-PAR
- PHOTO-FINISH Photo finish
- CROSS-STATE MN × AK
- SPLIT-BUDGET Split budget
- BOTH-ABOVE Both above 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.
Minneapolis-St. Paul-Bloomington
104.8
Cost Index
Fairbanks-College
103.2
Cost Index
What This Comparison Actually Tells You
Minneapolis-St. Paul-Bloomington, MN-WI and Fairbanks-College, AK are a photo finish on overall price level, only 1.6 RPP points apart. A salary conversion is therefore a fine adjustment, not evidence of a fundamentally different cost regime.
Services creates the largest separation: Fairbanks-College is 26.3 points higher. But services and goods 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 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.
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 Minneapolis-St. Paul-Bloomington to $98,460 in Fairbanks-College, but it is not a personal spending weight.
Category Breakdown
Goods
- Fairbanks-College
- 107.3
Diff +4.3 RPP
Services
- Fairbanks-College
- 119.8
Diff +26.3 RPP
Rents
- Fairbanks-College
- 92.6
Diff -19.3 RPP
| Category | Minneapolis-St. Paul-Bloomington | Fairbanks-College | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Overall | 104.8 | 103.2 | -1.6 |
| Goods | 103.1 | 107.3 | +4.3 |
| Services | 93.5 | 119.8 | +26.3 |
| Rents | 111.8 | 92.6 | -19.3 |
Visual Comparison
Overall
Minneapolis-St. Paul-Bloomington 104.8
Fairbanks-College 103.2
Goods
Minneapolis-St. Paul-Bloomington 103.1
Fairbanks-College 107.3
Services
Minneapolis-St. Paul-Bloomington 93.5
Fairbanks-College 119.8
Rents
Minneapolis-St. Paul-Bloomington 111.8
Fairbanks-College 92.6
Vertical line = national average (100)
How the Price Gap Changed
Minneapolis-St. Paul-Bloomington and Fairbanks-College share 17 published annual releases from 2008 through 2024. Their overall gap narrowed, moving from 1.7 to 1.6 RPP points. Minneapolis-St. Paul-Bloomington remained the higher-index metro in the latest release.
Rents changed the most within this pair: its gap moved 19.8 points between the first and latest shared releases (0.6 to 19.3 points). This describes a relative price-index history, not a forecast or a household budget.
| Release Year | Minneapolis-St. Paul-Bloomington RPP | Fairbanks-College RPP | Relative Gap |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2008 | 102.9 | 104.7 | 1.7 points Fairbanks-College higher |
| 2012 | 101.2 | 97.9 | 3.3 points Minneapolis-St. Paul-Bloomington higher |
| 2016 | 102.3 | 100.4 | 1.9 points Minneapolis-St. Paul-Bloomington higher |
| 2020 | 102.4 | 99.4 | 3.0 points Minneapolis-St. Paul-Bloomington higher |
| 2024 | 104.8 | 103.2 | 1.6 points Minneapolis-St. Paul-Bloomington 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 Minneapolis-St. Paul-Bloomington would need to be in Fairbanks-College for the same purchasing power:
| In Minneapolis-St. Paul-Bloomington | In Fairbanks-College | Difference |
|---|---|---|
| $50,000 | $49,230 | $-770 |
| $75,000 | $73,845 | $-1,155 |
| $100,000 | $98,460 | $-1,540 |
| $150,000 | $147,690 | $-2,310 |
$ in Minneapolis-St. Paul-Bloomington = in Fairbanks-College
Same BEA Regional Price Parity ratio as the table above (104.8 → 103.2), computed live from your number, nothing is sent anywhere.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Fairbanks-College more expensive than Minneapolis-St. Paul-Bloomington?
Fairbanks-College is 1.5% less expensive than Minneapolis-St. Paul-Bloomington. The overall cost index is 103.2 vs 104.8 (national average = 100).
What salary in Fairbanks-College equals $100K in Minneapolis-St. Paul-Bloomington?
A $100,000 salary in Minneapolis-St. Paul-Bloomington has the same purchasing power as $98,460 in Fairbanks-College. This is based on the BEA Regional Price Parity indexes.
How do rents compare between Minneapolis-St. Paul-Bloomington and Fairbanks-College?
Rents in Minneapolis-St. Paul-Bloomington are indexed at 111.8 while Fairbanks-College is at 92.6 (national average = 100). Minneapolis-St. Paul-Bloomington 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.