Overall
Diff +2.5 RPP
Nashville-Davidson--Murfreesboro--Franklin vs Atlantic City-Hammonton
Cost of living comparison based on BEA Regional Price Parities. Atlantic City-Hammonton is 2.6% more expensive than Nashville-Davidson--Murfreesboro--Franklin.
2.6% more expensive
Atlantic City-Hammonton, NJ is 2.6% more expensive than Nashville-Davidson--Murfreesboro--Franklin, TN on BEA Regional Price Parities (overall RPP 98.9 vs 96.3). A $100,000 salary in Nashville-Davidson--Murfreesboro--Franklin buys about the same as $102,615 in Atlantic City-Hammonton; the largest component gap is services.
- Overall RPP 96.3 (Nashville-Davidson--Murfreesboro--Franklin) vs 98.9 (Atlantic City-Hammonton)
- $100k in Nashville-Davidson--Murfreesboro--Franklin ≈ $102,615 purchasing power in Atlantic City-Hammonton
- Services drives the gap (+37.3 RPP points)
RPP parity plate
Pair TN:NJ 96.3→98.9
TIER-NEAR · CROSS-STATE · SPLIT-BUDGET · BOTH-BELOW · PP-SHIFT
- TIER-NEAR Near tier
- CROSS-STATE TN × NJ
- SPLIT-BUDGET Split budget
- BOTH-BELOW Both below 100
- 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
| Category | Nashville-Davidson--Murfreesboro--Franklin | Atlantic City-Hammonton | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Overall | 96.3 | 98.9 | +2.5 |
| Goods | 96.2 | 99.8 | +3.5 |
| Services | 72.0 | 109.2 | +37.3 |
| Rents | 104.6 | 98.7 | -6.0 |
Visual Comparison
Overall
Nashville-Davidson--Murfreesboro--Franklin 96.3
Atlantic City-Hammonton 98.9
Goods
Nashville-Davidson--Murfreesboro--Franklin 96.2
Atlantic City-Hammonton 99.8
Services
Nashville-Davidson--Murfreesboro--Franklin 72.0
Atlantic City-Hammonton 109.2
Rents
Nashville-Davidson--Murfreesboro--Franklin 104.6
Atlantic City-Hammonton 98.7
Vertical line = national average (100)
What This Comparison Actually Tells You
Services creates the largest separation: Atlantic City-Hammonton is 37.3 points higher. But rents move against the overall direction, so this is a split budget rather than a clean across-the-board winner.
Atlantic City-Hammonton, NJ is 2.6% more expensive than Nashville-Davidson--Murfreesboro--Franklin, TN, a meaningful but not extreme shift. The move decision turns on which budget category creates the 2.5-point overall gap.
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.
Comparable population context is incomplete for this pair, so no market-scale explanation is inferred from the price indexes.
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 Nashville-Davidson--Murfreesboro--Franklin to $102,615 in Atlantic City-Hammonton, but it is not a personal spending weight.
Nashville-Davidson--Murfreesboro--Franklin
96.3
Cost Index
Atlantic City-Hammonton
98.9
Cost Index
Salary Equivalents
What a salary in Nashville-Davidson--Murfreesboro--Franklin would need to be in Atlantic City-Hammonton for the same purchasing power:
| In Nashville-Davidson--Murfreesboro--Franklin | In Atlantic City-Hammonton | Difference |
|---|---|---|
| $50,000 | $51,307 | +$1,307 |
| $75,000 | $76,961 | +$1,961 |
| $100,000 | $102,615 | +$2,615 |
| $150,000 | $153,922 | +$3,922 |
$ in Nashville-Davidson--Murfreesboro--Franklin = in Atlantic City-Hammonton
Same BEA Regional Price Parity ratio as the table above (96.3 → 98.9), computed live from your number, nothing is sent anywhere.
How the Price Gap Changed
Nashville-Davidson--Murfreesboro--Franklin and Atlantic City-Hammonton share 17 published annual releases from 2008 through 2024. Their overall gap narrowed, moving from 15.0 to 2.5 RPP points. Atlantic City-Hammonton remained the higher-index metro in the latest release.
Rents changed the most within this pair: its gap moved 49.5 points between the first and latest shared releases (43.5 to 6.0 points). This describes a relative price-index history, not a forecast or a household budget.
| Release Year | Nashville-Davidson--Murfreesboro--Franklin RPP | Atlantic City-Hammonton RPP | Relative Gap |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2008 | 95.7 | 110.7 | 15.0 points Atlantic City-Hammonton higher |
| 2012 | 97.4 | 104.6 | 7.2 points Atlantic City-Hammonton higher |
| 2016 | 99.3 | 102.6 | 3.3 points Atlantic City-Hammonton higher |
| 2020 | 95.9 | 101.2 | 5.2 points Atlantic City-Hammonton higher |
| 2024 | 96.3 | 98.9 | 2.5 points Atlantic City-Hammonton 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 Atlantic City-Hammonton more expensive than Nashville-Davidson--Murfreesboro--Franklin?
Atlantic City-Hammonton is 2.6% more expensive than Nashville-Davidson--Murfreesboro--Franklin. The overall cost index is 98.9 vs 96.3 (national average = 100).
What salary in Atlantic City-Hammonton equals $100K in Nashville-Davidson--Murfreesboro--Franklin?
A $100,000 salary in Nashville-Davidson--Murfreesboro--Franklin has the same purchasing power as $102,615 in Atlantic City-Hammonton. This is based on the BEA Regional Price Parity indexes.
How do rents compare between Nashville-Davidson--Murfreesboro--Franklin and Atlantic City-Hammonton?
Rents in Nashville-Davidson--Murfreesboro--Franklin are indexed at 104.6 while Atlantic City-Hammonton is at 98.7 (national average = 100). Nashville-Davidson--Murfreesboro--Franklin 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.