Naples-Marco Island vs Des Moines-West Des Moines

Cost of living comparison based on BEA Regional Price Parities. Des Moines-West Des Moines is 11.1% less expensive than Naples-Marco Island.

11.1% less expensive

Des Moines-West Des Moines, IA is 11.1% less expensive than Naples-Marco Island, FL on BEA Regional Price Parities (overall RPP 91.7 vs 103.2). A $100,000 salary in Naples-Marco Island buys about the same as $88,858 in Des Moines-West Des Moines; the largest component gap is rents.

  • Overall RPP 103.2 (Naples-Marco Island) vs 91.7 (Des Moines-West Des Moines)
  • $100k in Naples-Marco Island ≈ $88,858 purchasing power in Des Moines-West Des Moines
  • Rents drives the gap (-44.7 RPP points)

RPP parity plate

Pair FL:IA 103.2→91.7

TIER-GAP · CROSS-STATE · RENT-LED · BENCH-CROSS · PP-SHIFT

  • TIER-GAP Clear tier gap
  • CROSS-STATE FL × IA
  • RENT-LED Rent-led gap
  • BENCH-CROSS Benchmark cross
  • PP-SHIFT PP shift

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.

Salary Equivalents

What a salary in Naples-Marco Island would need to be in Des Moines-West Des Moines for the same purchasing power:

In Naples-Marco Island In Des Moines-West Des Moines Difference
$50,000 $44,429 $-5,571
$75,000 $66,643 $-8,357
$100,000 $88,858 $-11,142
$150,000 $133,286 $-16,714
$ in Naples-Marco Island = in Des Moines-West Des Moines

Same BEA Regional Price Parity ratio as the table above (103.2 → 91.7), computed live from your number, nothing is sent anywhere.

What This Comparison Actually Tells You

Naples-Marco Island, FL and Des Moines-West Des Moines, IA sit in clearly different price tiers, separated by 11.5 RPP points. At this distance, treating the same nominal salary as equivalent would materially change purchasing power.

This route crosses the national benchmark: Naples-Marco Island is above 100 while Des Moines-West Des Moines is below it. That makes the move a change of price regime, not merely a rank swap.

Rents leads the difference, with Des Moines-West Des Moines 44.7 points lower than Naples-Marco Island. 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.

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 Naples-Marco Island corresponds to $88,858 in Des Moines-West Des Moines.

Category Breakdown

Visual Comparison

Overall
Naples-Marco Island
103.2
Des Moines-West Des Moines
91.7
Goods
Naples-Marco Island
96.2
Des Moines-West Des Moines
93.7
Services
Naples-Marco Island
87.8
Des Moines-West Des Moines
84.6
Rents
Naples-Marco Island
129.4
Des Moines-West Des Moines
84.7

Vertical line = national average (100)

Naples-Marco Island
103.2
Cost Index
Des Moines-West Des Moines
91.7
Cost Index

How the Price Gap Changed

Naples-Marco Island and Des Moines-West Des Moines share 17 published annual releases from 2008 through 2024. Their overall gap widened, moving from 9.2 to 11.5 RPP points. Naples-Marco Island remained the higher-index metro in the latest release.

Rents changed the most within this pair: its gap moved 6.6 points between the first and latest shared releases (51.3 to 44.7 points). This describes a relative price-index history, not a forecast or a household budget.

Release Year Naples-Marco Island RPP Des Moines-West Des Moines RPP Relative Gap
2008 104.3 95.1 9.2 points Naples-Marco Island higher
2012 101.6 95.5 6.1 points Naples-Marco Island higher
2016 103.8 94.6 9.2 points Naples-Marco Island higher
2020 99.1 93.8 5.3 points Naples-Marco Island higher
2024 103.2 91.7 11.5 points Naples-Marco Island 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.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is Des Moines-West Des Moines more expensive than Naples-Marco Island?

Des Moines-West Des Moines is 11.1% less expensive than Naples-Marco Island. The overall cost index is 91.7 vs 103.2 (national average = 100).

What salary in Des Moines-West Des Moines equals $100K in Naples-Marco Island?

A $100,000 salary in Naples-Marco Island has the same purchasing power as $88,858 in Des Moines-West Des Moines. This is based on the BEA Regional Price Parity indexes.

How do rents compare between Naples-Marco Island and Des Moines-West Des Moines?

Rents in Naples-Marco Island are indexed at 129.4 while Des Moines-West Des Moines is at 84.7 (national average = 100). Naples-Marco Island has higher rents.

Data sourced from official public datasets, Regional Price Parities (2024), index where national average = 100. Retrieved and formatted by PlainCost. See our methodology for details.

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.