Overall
- Mobile
- 88.1
- Huntington-Ashland
- 88.4
Diff +0.3 RPP
Mobile vs Huntington-Ashland
Cost of living comparison based on BEA Regional Price Parities. Huntington-Ashland is 0.4% more expensive than Mobile.
0.4% more expensive
Huntington-Ashland, WV-KY-OH is 0.4% more expensive than Mobile, AL on BEA Regional Price Parities (overall RPP 88.4 vs 88.1). A $100,000 salary in Mobile buys about the same as $100,368 in Huntington-Ashland; the largest component gap is rents.
- Overall RPP 88.1 (Mobile) vs 88.4 (Huntington-Ashland)
- $100k in Mobile ≈ $100,368 purchasing power in Huntington-Ashland
- Rents drives the gap (-8.9 RPP points)
RPP parity plate
Pair AL:WV 88.1→88.4
PHOTO-FINISH · CROSS-STATE · SPLIT-BUDGET · BOTH-BELOW · PP-PAR
- PHOTO-FINISH Photo finish
- CROSS-STATE AL × WV
- 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.
Mobile
88.1
Cost Index
Huntington-Ashland
88.4
Cost Index
What This Comparison Actually Tells You
Mobile, AL and Huntington-Ashland, WV-KY-OH are a photo finish on overall price level, only 0.3 RPP points apart. A salary conversion is therefore a fine adjustment, not evidence of a fundamentally different cost regime.
Rents creates the largest separation: Huntington-Ashland is 8.9 points lower. But rents 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 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 housing-sensitive move, validate the rent gap first: HUD Fair Market Rent and the actual unit size can overturn what the blended index implies. On the BEA ratio alone, $100,000 in Mobile corresponds to $100,368 in Huntington-Ashland.
Category Breakdown
Goods
- Mobile
- 96.4
- Huntington-Ashland
- 96.3
Diff -0.1 RPP
Services
- Mobile
- 84.2
- Huntington-Ashland
- 87.9
Diff +3.7 RPP
Rents
- Mobile
- 60.1
- Huntington-Ashland
- 51.3
Diff -8.9 RPP
| Category | Mobile | Huntington-Ashland | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Overall | 88.1 | 88.4 | +0.3 |
| Goods | 96.4 | 96.3 | -0.1 |
| Services | 84.2 | 87.9 | +3.7 |
| Rents | 60.1 | 51.3 | -8.9 |
Visual Comparison
Overall
Mobile 88.1
Huntington-Ashland 88.4
Goods
Mobile 96.4
Huntington-Ashland 96.3
Services
Mobile 84.2
Huntington-Ashland 87.9
Rents
Mobile 60.1
Huntington-Ashland 51.3
Vertical line = national average (100)
How the Price Gap Changed
Mobile and Huntington-Ashland share 17 published annual releases from 2008 through 2024. Their overall gap narrowed, moving from 2.5 to 0.3 RPP points. Huntington-Ashland remained the higher-index metro in the latest release.
Services changed the most within this pair: its gap moved 21.0 points between the first and latest shared releases (17.3 to 3.7 points). This describes a relative price-index history, not a forecast or a household budget.
| Release Year | Mobile RPP | Huntington-Ashland RPP | Relative Gap |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2008 | 90.5 | 88.0 | 2.5 points Mobile higher |
| 2012 | 93.0 | 89.5 | 3.5 points Mobile higher |
| 2016 | 92.3 | 90.3 | 1.9 points Mobile higher |
| 2020 | 87.5 | 86.9 | 0.7 points Mobile higher |
| 2024 | 88.1 | 88.4 | 0.3 points Huntington-Ashland 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 Mobile would need to be in Huntington-Ashland for the same purchasing power:
| In Mobile | In Huntington-Ashland | Difference |
|---|---|---|
| $50,000 | $50,184 | +$184 |
| $75,000 | $75,276 | +$276 |
| $100,000 | $100,368 | +$368 |
| $150,000 | $150,552 | +$552 |
$ in Mobile = in Huntington-Ashland
Same BEA Regional Price Parity ratio as the table above (88.1 → 88.4), computed live from your number, nothing is sent anywhere.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Huntington-Ashland more expensive than Mobile?
Huntington-Ashland is 0.4% more expensive than Mobile. The overall cost index is 88.4 vs 88.1 (national average = 100).
What salary in Huntington-Ashland equals $100K in Mobile?
A $100,000 salary in Mobile has the same purchasing power as $100,368 in Huntington-Ashland. This is based on the BEA Regional Price Parity indexes.
How do rents compare between Mobile and Huntington-Ashland?
Rents in Mobile are indexed at 60.1 while Huntington-Ashland is at 51.3 (national average = 100). Mobile 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.