Overall
- Monroe
- 83.6
Diff +1.2 RPP
Monroe vs Florence-Muscle Shoals
Cost of living comparison based on BEA Regional Price Parities. Florence-Muscle Shoals is 1.5% more expensive than Monroe.
1.5% more expensive
Florence-Muscle Shoals, AL is 1.5% more expensive than Monroe, LA on BEA Regional Price Parities (overall RPP 84.8 vs 83.6). A $100,000 salary in Monroe buys about the same as $101,459 in Florence-Muscle Shoals; the largest component gap is services.
- Overall RPP 83.6 (Monroe) vs 84.8 (Florence-Muscle Shoals)
- $100k in Monroe ≈ $101,459 purchasing power in Florence-Muscle Shoals
- Services drives the gap (+13.6 RPP points)
RPP parity plate
Pair LA:AL 83.6→84.8
PHOTO-FINISH · CROSS-STATE · SERVICES-LED · BOTH-BELOW · PP-PAR
- PHOTO-FINISH Photo finish
- CROSS-STATE LA × AL
- SERVICES-LED Services-led gap
- 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.
Monroe
83.6
Cost Index
Florence-Muscle Shoals
84.8
Cost Index
What This Comparison Actually Tells You
Monroe, LA and Florence-Muscle Shoals, AL are a photo finish on overall price level, only 1.2 RPP points apart. A salary conversion is therefore a fine adjustment, not evidence of a fundamentally different cost regime.
Services leads the difference, with Florence-Muscle Shoals 13.6 points higher than Monroe. 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.
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 Monroe to $101,459 in Florence-Muscle Shoals, but it is not a personal spending weight.
Category Breakdown
Goods
- Monroe
- 93.7
Diff +2.7 RPP
Services
- Monroe
- 72.2
Diff +13.6 RPP
Rents
- Monroe
- 42.8
Diff +4.9 RPP
| Category | Monroe | Florence-Muscle Shoals | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Overall | 83.6 | 84.8 | +1.2 |
| Goods | 93.7 | 96.4 | +2.7 |
| Services | 72.2 | 85.8 | +13.6 |
| Rents | 42.8 | 47.7 | +4.9 |
Visual Comparison
Overall
Monroe 83.6
Florence-Muscle Shoals 84.8
Goods
Monroe 93.7
Florence-Muscle Shoals 96.4
Services
Monroe 72.2
Florence-Muscle Shoals 85.8
Rents
Monroe 42.8
Florence-Muscle Shoals 47.7
Vertical line = national average (100)
How the Price Gap Changed
Monroe and Florence-Muscle Shoals share 17 published annual releases from 2008 through 2024. Their overall gap narrowed, moving from 3.0 to 1.2 RPP points. Florence-Muscle Shoals remained the higher-index metro in the latest release.
Services changed the most within this pair: its gap moved 8.5 points between the first and latest shared releases (5.1 to 13.6 points). This describes a relative price-index history, not a forecast or a household budget.
| Release Year | Monroe RPP | Florence-Muscle Shoals RPP | Relative Gap |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2008 | 86.3 | 83.3 | 3.0 points Monroe higher |
| 2012 | 86.4 | 88.6 | 2.3 points Florence-Muscle Shoals higher |
| 2016 | 86.1 | 85.9 | 0.2 points Monroe higher |
| 2020 | 83.4 | 82.8 | 0.6 points Monroe higher |
| 2024 | 83.6 | 84.8 | 1.2 points Florence-Muscle Shoals 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 Monroe would need to be in Florence-Muscle Shoals for the same purchasing power:
| In Monroe | In Florence-Muscle Shoals | Difference |
|---|---|---|
| $50,000 | $50,730 | +$730 |
| $75,000 | $76,095 | +$1,095 |
| $100,000 | $101,459 | +$1,459 |
| $150,000 | $152,189 | +$2,189 |
$ in Monroe = in Florence-Muscle Shoals
Same BEA Regional Price Parity ratio as the table above (83.6 → 84.8), computed live from your number, nothing is sent anywhere.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Florence-Muscle Shoals more expensive than Monroe?
Florence-Muscle Shoals is 1.5% more expensive than Monroe. The overall cost index is 84.8 vs 83.6 (national average = 100).
What salary in Florence-Muscle Shoals equals $100K in Monroe?
A $100,000 salary in Monroe has the same purchasing power as $101,459 in Florence-Muscle Shoals. This is based on the BEA Regional Price Parity indexes.
How do rents compare between Monroe and Florence-Muscle Shoals?
Rents in Monroe are indexed at 42.8 while Florence-Muscle Shoals is at 47.7 (national average = 100). Florence-Muscle Shoals 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.