Overall
- Naples-Marco Island
- 103.2
- Mobile
- 88.1
Diff -15.1 RPP
Naples-Marco Island vs Mobile
Cost of living comparison based on BEA Regional Price Parities. Mobile is 14.6% less expensive than Naples-Marco Island.
14.6% less expensive
Mobile, AL is 14.6% less expensive than Naples-Marco Island, FL on BEA Regional Price Parities (overall RPP 88.1 vs 103.2). A $100,000 salary in Naples-Marco Island buys about the same as $85,366 in Mobile; the largest component gap is rents.
- Overall RPP 103.2 (Naples-Marco Island) vs 88.1 (Mobile)
- $100k in Naples-Marco Island ≈ $85,366 purchasing power in Mobile
- Rents drives the gap (-69.3 RPP points)
RPP parity plate
Pair FL:AL 103.2→88.1
TIER-GAP · CROSS-STATE · SPLIT-BUDGET · BENCH-CROSS · PP-SHIFT
- TIER-GAP Clear tier gap
- CROSS-STATE FL × AL
- 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
- Mobile
- 96.4
Diff +0.2 RPP
Services
- Naples-Marco Island
- 87.8
- Mobile
- 84.2
Diff -3.6 RPP
Rents
- Naples-Marco Island
- 129.4
- Mobile
- 60.1
Diff -69.3 RPP
| Category | Naples-Marco Island | Mobile | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Overall | 103.2 | 88.1 | -15.1 |
| Goods | 96.2 | 96.4 | +0.2 |
| Services | 87.8 | 84.2 | -3.6 |
| Rents | 129.4 | 60.1 | -69.3 |
Visual Comparison
Overall
Naples-Marco Island 103.2
Mobile 88.1
Goods
Naples-Marco Island 96.2
Mobile 96.4
Services
Naples-Marco Island 87.8
Mobile 84.2
Rents
Naples-Marco Island 129.4
Mobile 60.1
Vertical line = national average (100)
What This Comparison Actually Tells You
Rents creates the largest separation: Mobile is 69.3 points lower. But goods move against the overall direction, so this is a split budget rather than a clean across-the-board winner.
Naples-Marco Island, FL and Mobile, AL sit in clearly different price tiers, separated by 15.1 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 Mobile 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 $85,366 in Mobile.
Naples-Marco Island
103.2
Cost Index
Mobile
88.1
Cost Index
Salary Equivalents
What a salary in Naples-Marco Island would need to be in Mobile for the same purchasing power:
| In Naples-Marco Island | In Mobile | Difference |
|---|---|---|
| $50,000 | $42,683 | $-7,317 |
| $75,000 | $64,025 | $-10,975 |
| $100,000 | $85,366 | $-14,634 |
| $150,000 | $128,049 | $-21,951 |
$ in Naples-Marco Island = in Mobile
Same BEA Regional Price Parity ratio as the table above (103.2 → 88.1), computed live from your number, nothing is sent anywhere.
How the Price Gap Changed
Naples-Marco Island and Mobile share 17 published annual releases from 2008 through 2024. Their overall gap widened, moving from 13.8 to 15.1 RPP points. Naples-Marco Island remained the higher-index metro in the latest release.
Services changed the most within this pair: its gap moved 2.7 points between the first and latest shared releases (0.9 to 3.6 points). This describes a relative price-index history, not a forecast or a household budget.
| Release Year | Naples-Marco Island RPP | Mobile RPP | Relative Gap |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2008 | 104.3 | 90.5 | 13.8 points Naples-Marco Island higher |
| 2012 | 101.6 | 93.0 | 8.6 points Naples-Marco Island higher |
| 2016 | 103.8 | 92.3 | 11.5 points Naples-Marco Island higher |
| 2020 | 99.1 | 87.5 | 11.6 points Naples-Marco Island higher |
| 2024 | 103.2 | 88.1 | 15.1 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 Mobile more expensive than Naples-Marco Island?
Mobile is 14.6% less expensive than Naples-Marco Island. The overall cost index is 88.1 vs 103.2 (national average = 100).
What salary in Mobile equals $100K in Naples-Marco Island?
A $100,000 salary in Naples-Marco Island has the same purchasing power as $85,366 in Mobile. This is based on the BEA Regional Price Parity indexes.
How do rents compare between Naples-Marco Island and Mobile?
Rents in Naples-Marco Island are indexed at 129.4 while Mobile is at 60.1 (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.