Overall
- Mobile
- 88.1
- Rocky Mount
- 88.0
Diff -0.1 RPP
Mobile vs Rocky Mount
Cost of living comparison based on BEA Regional Price Parities. Rocky Mount is 0.1% less expensive than Mobile.
0.1% less expensive
Rocky Mount, NC is 0.1% less expensive than Mobile, AL on BEA Regional Price Parities (overall RPP 88.0 vs 88.1). A $100,000 salary in Mobile buys about the same as $99,902 in Rocky Mount; the largest component gap is services.
- Overall RPP 88.1 (Mobile) vs 88.0 (Rocky Mount)
- $100k in Mobile ≈ $99,902 purchasing power in Rocky Mount
- Services drives the gap (+4.2 RPP points)
RPP parity plate
Pair AL:NC 88.1→88.0
PHOTO-FINISH · CROSS-STATE · SPLIT-BUDGET · BOTH-BELOW · PP-PAR
- PHOTO-FINISH Photo finish
- CROSS-STATE AL × NC
- 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
Rocky Mount
88.0
Cost Index
What This Comparison Actually Tells You
Mobile, AL and Rocky Mount, NC are a photo finish on overall price level, only 0.1 RPP points apart. A salary conversion is therefore a fine adjustment, not evidence of a fundamentally different cost regime.
Services creates the largest separation: Rocky Mount is 4.2 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 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 service-heavy household, test childcare, health, and other locally supplied costs before relying on rent alone. The BEA ratio converts $100,000 in Mobile to $99,902 in Rocky Mount, but it is not a personal spending weight.
Category Breakdown
Goods
- Mobile
- 96.4
- Rocky Mount
- 96.6
Diff +0.2 RPP
Services
- Mobile
- 84.2
- Rocky Mount
- 88.4
Diff +4.2 RPP
Rents
- Mobile
- 60.1
- Rocky Mount
- 56.1
Diff -4.0 RPP
| Category | Mobile | Rocky Mount | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Overall | 88.1 | 88.0 | -0.1 |
| Goods | 96.4 | 96.6 | +0.2 |
| Services | 84.2 | 88.4 | +4.2 |
| Rents | 60.1 | 56.1 | -4.0 |
Visual Comparison
Overall
Mobile 88.1
Rocky Mount 88.0
Goods
Mobile 96.4
Rocky Mount 96.6
Services
Mobile 84.2
Rocky Mount 88.4
Rents
Mobile 60.1
Rocky Mount 56.1
Vertical line = national average (100)
How the Price Gap Changed
Mobile and Rocky Mount share 17 published annual releases from 2008 through 2024. Their overall gap narrowed, moving from 1.8 to 0.1 RPP points. Mobile remained the higher-index metro in the latest release.
Services changed the most within this pair: its gap moved 9.6 points between the first and latest shared releases (5.4 to 4.2 points). This describes a relative price-index history, not a forecast or a household budget.
| Release Year | Mobile RPP | Rocky Mount RPP | Relative Gap |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2008 | 90.5 | 88.7 | 1.8 points Mobile higher |
| 2012 | 93.0 | 89.1 | 3.9 points Mobile higher |
| 2016 | 92.3 | 87.8 | 4.4 points Mobile higher |
| 2020 | 87.5 | 83.8 | 3.7 points Mobile higher |
| 2024 | 88.1 | 88.0 | 0.1 points Mobile 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 Rocky Mount for the same purchasing power:
| In Mobile | In Rocky Mount | Difference |
|---|---|---|
| $50,000 | $49,951 | $-49 |
| $75,000 | $74,927 | $-73 |
| $100,000 | $99,902 | $-98 |
| $150,000 | $149,854 | $-146 |
$ in Mobile = in Rocky Mount
Same BEA Regional Price Parity ratio as the table above (88.1 → 88.0), computed live from your number, nothing is sent anywhere.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Rocky Mount more expensive than Mobile?
Rocky Mount is 0.1% less expensive than Mobile. The overall cost index is 88.0 vs 88.1 (national average = 100).
What salary in Rocky Mount equals $100K in Mobile?
A $100,000 salary in Mobile has the same purchasing power as $99,902 in Rocky Mount. This is based on the BEA Regional Price Parity indexes.
How do rents compare between Mobile and Rocky Mount?
Rents in Mobile are indexed at 60.1 while Rocky Mount is at 56.1 (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.