Overall
- Naples-Marco Island
- 103.2
- Durham-Chapel Hill
- 97.6
Diff -5.6 RPP
Naples-Marco Island vs Durham-Chapel Hill
Cost of living comparison based on BEA Regional Price Parities. Durham-Chapel Hill is 5.5% less expensive than Naples-Marco Island.
5.5% less expensive
Durham-Chapel Hill, NC is 5.5% less expensive than Naples-Marco Island, FL on BEA Regional Price Parities (overall RPP 97.6 vs 103.2). A $100,000 salary in Naples-Marco Island buys about the same as $94,547 in Durham-Chapel Hill; the largest component gap is rents.
- Overall RPP 103.2 (Naples-Marco Island) vs 97.6 (Durham-Chapel Hill)
- $100k in Naples-Marco Island ≈ $94,547 purchasing power in Durham-Chapel Hill
- Rents drives the gap (-30.5 RPP points)
RPP parity plate
Pair FL:NC 103.2→97.6
TIER-NEAR · CROSS-STATE · SPLIT-BUDGET · BENCH-CROSS · PP-SHIFT
- TIER-NEAR Near tier
- CROSS-STATE FL × NC
- SPLIT-BUDGET Split budget
- 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.
Category Breakdown
Goods
- Naples-Marco Island
- 96.2
- Durham-Chapel Hill
- 96.6
Diff +0.4 RPP
Services
- Naples-Marco Island
- 87.8
- Durham-Chapel Hill
- 89.3
Diff +1.6 RPP
Rents
- Naples-Marco Island
- 129.4
- Durham-Chapel Hill
- 98.9
Diff -30.5 RPP
| Category | Naples-Marco Island | Durham-Chapel Hill | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Overall | 103.2 | 97.6 | -5.6 |
| Goods | 96.2 | 96.6 | +0.4 |
| Services | 87.8 | 89.3 | +1.6 |
| Rents | 129.4 | 98.9 | -30.5 |
Visual Comparison
Overall
Naples-Marco Island 103.2
Durham-Chapel Hill 97.6
Goods
Naples-Marco Island 96.2
Durham-Chapel Hill 96.6
Services
Naples-Marco Island 87.8
Durham-Chapel Hill 89.3
Rents
Naples-Marco Island 129.4
Durham-Chapel Hill 98.9
Vertical line = national average (100)
What This Comparison Actually Tells You
Rents creates the largest separation: Durham-Chapel Hill is 30.5 points lower. But services and goods move against the overall direction, so this is a split budget rather than a clean across-the-board winner.
Durham-Chapel Hill, NC is 5.5% less expensive than Naples-Marco Island, FL, a meaningful but not extreme shift. The move decision turns on which budget category creates the 5.6-point overall gap.
This route crosses the national benchmark: Naples-Marco Island is above 100 while Durham-Chapel Hill is below it. That makes the move a change of price regime, not merely a rank swap.
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 $94,547 in Durham-Chapel Hill.
Naples-Marco Island
103.2
Cost Index
Durham-Chapel Hill
97.6
Cost Index
Salary Equivalents
What a salary in Naples-Marco Island would need to be in Durham-Chapel Hill for the same purchasing power:
| In Naples-Marco Island | In Durham-Chapel Hill | Difference |
|---|---|---|
| $50,000 | $47,273 | $-2,727 |
| $75,000 | $70,910 | $-4,090 |
| $100,000 | $94,547 | $-5,453 |
| $150,000 | $141,820 | $-8,180 |
$ in Naples-Marco Island = in Durham-Chapel Hill
Same BEA Regional Price Parity ratio as the table above (103.2 → 97.6), computed live from your number, nothing is sent anywhere.
How the Price Gap Changed
Naples-Marco Island and Durham-Chapel Hill share 17 published annual releases from 2008 through 2024. Their overall gap narrowed, moving from 7.0 to 5.6 RPP points. Naples-Marco Island remained the higher-index metro in the latest release.
Services changed the most within this pair: its gap moved 8.1 points between the first and latest shared releases (6.6 to 1.6 points). This describes a relative price-index history, not a forecast or a household budget.
| Release Year | Naples-Marco Island RPP | Durham-Chapel Hill RPP | Relative Gap |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2008 | 104.3 | 97.3 | 7.0 points Naples-Marco Island higher |
| 2012 | 101.6 | 96.7 | 4.9 points Naples-Marco Island higher |
| 2016 | 103.8 | 97.5 | 6.2 points Naples-Marco Island higher |
| 2020 | 99.1 | 94.8 | 4.3 points Naples-Marco Island higher |
| 2024 | 103.2 | 97.6 | 5.6 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 Durham-Chapel Hill more expensive than Naples-Marco Island?
Durham-Chapel Hill is 5.5% less expensive than Naples-Marco Island. The overall cost index is 97.6 vs 103.2 (national average = 100).
What salary in Durham-Chapel Hill equals $100K in Naples-Marco Island?
A $100,000 salary in Naples-Marco Island has the same purchasing power as $94,547 in Durham-Chapel Hill. This is based on the BEA Regional Price Parity indexes.
How do rents compare between Naples-Marco Island and Durham-Chapel Hill?
Rents in Naples-Marco Island are indexed at 129.4 while Durham-Chapel Hill is at 98.9 (national average = 100). Naples-Marco Island 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.