Overall
- Minot
- 87.0
- Grand Island
- 86.7
Diff -0.4 RPP
Minot vs Grand Island
Cost of living comparison based on BEA Regional Price Parities. Grand Island is 0.4% less expensive than Minot.
0.4% less expensive
Grand Island, NE is 0.4% less expensive than Minot, ND on BEA Regional Price Parities (overall RPP 86.7 vs 87.0). A $100,000 salary in Minot buys about the same as $99,574 in Grand Island; the largest component gap is goods.
- Overall RPP 87.0 (Minot) vs 86.7 (Grand Island)
- $100k in Minot ≈ $99,574 purchasing power in Grand Island
- Goods drives the gap (-1.6 RPP points)
RPP parity plate
Pair ND:NE 87.0→86.7
PHOTO-FINISH · CROSS-STATE · SPLIT-BUDGET · BOTH-BELOW · PP-PAR
- PHOTO-FINISH Photo finish
- CROSS-STATE ND × NE
- SPLIT-BUDGET Split budget
- 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.
Minot
87.0
Cost Index
Grand Island
86.7
Cost Index
What This Comparison Actually Tells You
Minot, ND and Grand Island, NE are a photo finish on overall price level, only 0.4 RPP points apart. A salary conversion is therefore a fine adjustment, not evidence of a fundamentally different cost regime.
Goods creates the largest separation: Grand Island is 1.6 points lower. But services 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 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 goods-led difference, remember that many tradable prices vary less by address than housing or labor-priced services. Use $99,574 in Grand Island as the BEA equivalent of $100,000 in Minot, then replace the national basket with your own.
Category Breakdown
Goods
- Minot
- 95.7
- Grand Island
- 94.1
Diff -1.6 RPP
Services
- Minot
- 72.9
- Grand Island
- 74.2
Diff +1.3 RPP
Rents
- Minot
- 63.2
- Grand Island
- 61.7
Diff -1.5 RPP
| Category | Minot | Grand Island | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Overall | 87.0 | 86.7 | -0.4 |
| Goods | 95.7 | 94.1 | -1.6 |
| Services | 72.9 | 74.2 | +1.3 |
| Rents | 63.2 | 61.7 | -1.5 |
Visual Comparison
Overall
Minot 87.0
Grand Island 86.7
Goods
Minot 95.7
Grand Island 94.1
Services
Minot 72.9
Grand Island 74.2
Rents
Minot 63.2
Grand Island 61.7
Vertical line = national average (100)
How the Price Gap Changed
Minot and Grand Island share 17 published annual releases from 2008 through 2024. Their overall gap narrowed, moving from 2.6 to 0.4 RPP points. Minot remained the higher-index metro in the latest release.
Rents changed the most within this pair: its gap moved 8.0 points between the first and latest shared releases (6.5 to 1.5 points). This describes a relative price-index history, not a forecast or a household budget.
| Release Year | Minot RPP | Grand Island RPP | Relative Gap |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2008 | 79.2 | 81.8 | 2.6 points Grand Island higher |
| 2012 | 90.9 | 85.0 | 6.0 points Minot higher |
| 2016 | 89.6 | 87.7 | 1.9 points Minot higher |
| 2020 | 92.5 | 90.5 | 2.0 points Minot higher |
| 2024 | 87.0 | 86.7 | 0.4 points Minot 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 Minot would need to be in Grand Island for the same purchasing power:
| In Minot | In Grand Island | Difference |
|---|---|---|
| $50,000 | $49,787 | $-213 |
| $75,000 | $74,680 | $-320 |
| $100,000 | $99,574 | $-426 |
| $150,000 | $149,361 | $-639 |
$ in Minot = in Grand Island
Same BEA Regional Price Parity ratio as the table above (87.0 → 86.7), computed live from your number, nothing is sent anywhere.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Grand Island more expensive than Minot?
Grand Island is 0.4% less expensive than Minot. The overall cost index is 86.7 vs 87.0 (national average = 100).
What salary in Grand Island equals $100K in Minot?
A $100,000 salary in Minot has the same purchasing power as $99,574 in Grand Island. This is based on the BEA Regional Price Parity indexes.
How do rents compare between Minot and Grand Island?
Rents in Minot are indexed at 63.2 while Grand Island is at 61.7 (national average = 100). Minot 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.