Overall
- New Haven
- 104.6
Diff +1.9 RPP
New Haven vs Riverside-San Bernardino-Ontario
Cost of living comparison based on BEA Regional Price Parities. Riverside-San Bernardino-Ontario is 1.8% more expensive than New Haven.
1.8% more expensive
Riverside-San Bernardino-Ontario, CA is 1.8% more expensive than New Haven, CT on BEA Regional Price Parities (overall RPP 106.4 vs 104.6). A $100,000 salary in New Haven buys about the same as $101,801 in Riverside-San Bernardino-Ontario; the largest component gap is rents.
- Overall RPP 104.6 (New Haven) vs 106.4 (Riverside-San Bernardino-Ontario)
- $100k in New Haven ≈ $101,801 purchasing power in Riverside-San Bernardino-Ontario
- Rents drives the gap (+5.0 RPP points)
RPP parity plate
Pair CT:CA 104.6→106.4
PHOTO-FINISH · CROSS-STATE · RENT-LED · BOTH-ABOVE · PP-PAR
- PHOTO-FINISH Photo finish
- CROSS-STATE CT × CA
- RENT-LED Rent-led gap
- BOTH-ABOVE Both above 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.
New Haven
104.6
Cost Index
Riverside-San Bernardino-Ontario
106.4
Cost Index
What This Comparison Actually Tells You
New Haven, CT and Riverside-San Bernardino-Ontario, CA are a photo finish on overall price level, only 1.9 RPP points apart. A salary conversion is therefore a fine adjustment, not evidence of a fundamentally different cost regime.
Rents leads the difference, with Riverside-San Bernardino-Ontario 5.0 points higher than New Haven. 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 exceed the U.S. benchmark of 100. The choice is between two national premiums, so local wages need to clear the higher baseline in either market.
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 New Haven corresponds to $101,801 in Riverside-San Bernardino-Ontario.
Category Breakdown
Goods
- New Haven
- 97.3
Diff +4.1 RPP
Services
- New Haven
- 144.8
Diff +3.8 RPP
Rents
- New Haven
- 124.3
Diff +5.0 RPP
| Category | New Haven | Riverside-San Bernardino-Ontario | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Overall | 104.6 | 106.4 | +1.9 |
| Goods | 97.3 | 101.4 | +4.1 |
| Services | 144.8 | 148.6 | +3.8 |
| Rents | 124.3 | 129.3 | +5.0 |
Visual Comparison
Overall
New Haven 104.6
Riverside-San Bernardino-Ontario 106.4
Goods
New Haven 97.3
Riverside-San Bernardino-Ontario 101.4
Services
New Haven 144.8
Riverside-San Bernardino-Ontario 148.6
Rents
New Haven 124.3
Riverside-San Bernardino-Ontario 129.3
Vertical line = national average (100)
How the Price Gap Changed
New Haven and Riverside-San Bernardino-Ontario share 17 published annual releases from 2008 through 2024. Their overall gap narrowed, moving from 8.3 to 1.9 RPP points. Riverside-San Bernardino-Ontario remained the higher-index metro in the latest release.
Services changed the most within this pair: its gap moved 45.1 points between the first and latest shared releases (41.4 to 3.8 points). This describes a relative price-index history, not a forecast or a household budget.
| Release Year | New Haven RPP | Riverside-San Bernardino-Ontario RPP | Relative Gap |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2008 | 114.6 | 106.3 | 8.3 points New Haven higher |
| 2012 | 111.0 | 104.5 | 6.5 points New Haven higher |
| 2016 | 109.3 | 105.6 | 3.6 points New Haven higher |
| 2020 | 104.0 | 104.4 | 0.4 points Riverside-San Bernardino-Ontario higher |
| 2024 | 104.6 | 106.4 | 1.9 points Riverside-San Bernardino-Ontario 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 New Haven would need to be in Riverside-San Bernardino-Ontario for the same purchasing power:
| In New Haven | In Riverside-San Bernardino-Ontario | Difference |
|---|---|---|
| $50,000 | $50,900 | +$900 |
| $75,000 | $76,351 | +$1,351 |
| $100,000 | $101,801 | +$1,801 |
| $150,000 | $152,701 | +$2,701 |
$ in New Haven = in Riverside-San Bernardino-Ontario
Same BEA Regional Price Parity ratio as the table above (104.6 → 106.4), computed live from your number, nothing is sent anywhere.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Riverside-San Bernardino-Ontario more expensive than New Haven?
Riverside-San Bernardino-Ontario is 1.8% more expensive than New Haven. The overall cost index is 106.4 vs 104.6 (national average = 100).
What salary in Riverside-San Bernardino-Ontario equals $100K in New Haven?
A $100,000 salary in New Haven has the same purchasing power as $101,801 in Riverside-San Bernardino-Ontario. This is based on the BEA Regional Price Parity indexes.
How do rents compare between New Haven and Riverside-San Bernardino-Ontario?
Rents in New Haven are indexed at 124.3 while Riverside-San Bernardino-Ontario is at 129.3 (national average = 100). Riverside-San Bernardino-Ontario 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.