Overall
- New Haven
- 104.6
Diff +2.1 RPP
New Haven vs Sacramento-Roseville-Folsom
Cost of living comparison based on BEA Regional Price Parities. Sacramento-Roseville-Folsom is 2% more expensive than New Haven.
2% more expensive
Sacramento-Roseville-Folsom, CA is 2% more expensive than New Haven, CT on BEA Regional Price Parities (overall RPP 106.7 vs 104.6). A $100,000 salary in New Haven buys about the same as $102,019 in Sacramento-Roseville-Folsom; the largest component gap is goods.
- Overall RPP 104.6 (New Haven) vs 106.7 (Sacramento-Roseville-Folsom)
- $100k in New Haven ≈ $102,019 purchasing power in Sacramento-Roseville-Folsom
- Goods drives the gap (+7.8 RPP points)
RPP parity plate
Pair CT:CA 104.6→106.7
TIER-NEAR · CROSS-STATE · GOODS-LED · BOTH-ABOVE · PP-PAR
- TIER-NEAR Near tier
- CROSS-STATE CT × CA
- GOODS-LED Goods-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.
What This Comparison Actually Tells You
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.
Sacramento-Roseville-Folsom, CA is 2% more expensive than New Haven, CT, a meaningful but not extreme shift. The move decision turns on which budget category creates the 2.1-point overall gap.
Goods leads the difference, with Sacramento-Roseville-Folsom 7.8 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.
For a goods-led difference, remember that many tradable prices vary less by address than housing or labor-priced services. Use $102,019 in Sacramento-Roseville-Folsom as the BEA equivalent of $100,000 in New Haven, then replace the national basket with your own.
New Haven
104.6
Cost Index
Sacramento-Roseville-Folsom
106.7
Cost Index
How the Price Gap Changed
New Haven and Sacramento-Roseville-Folsom share 17 published annual releases from 2008 through 2024. Their overall gap narrowed, moving from 13.3 to 2.1 RPP points. Sacramento-Roseville-Folsom remained the higher-index metro in the latest release.
Services changed the most within this pair: its gap moved 64.0 points between the first and latest shared releases (57.5 to 6.4 points). This describes a relative price-index history, not a forecast or a household budget.
| Release Year | New Haven RPP | Sacramento-Roseville-Folsom RPP | Relative Gap |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2008 | 114.6 | 101.3 | 13.3 points New Haven higher |
| 2012 | 111.0 | 104.9 | 6.1 points New Haven higher |
| 2016 | 109.3 | 101.1 | 8.2 points New Haven higher |
| 2020 | 104.0 | 107.0 | 3.0 points Sacramento-Roseville-Folsom higher |
| 2024 | 104.6 | 106.7 | 2.1 points Sacramento-Roseville-Folsom 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.
Category Breakdown
Goods
- New Haven
- 97.3
Diff +7.8 RPP
Services
- New Haven
- 144.8
Diff +6.4 RPP
Rents
- New Haven
- 124.3
Diff +5.9 RPP
| Category | New Haven | Sacramento-Roseville-Folsom | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Overall | 104.6 | 106.7 | +2.1 |
| Goods | 97.3 | 105.2 | +7.8 |
| Services | 144.8 | 151.3 | +6.4 |
| Rents | 124.3 | 130.2 | +5.9 |
Visual Comparison
Overall
New Haven 104.6
Sacramento-Roseville-Folsom 106.7
Goods
New Haven 97.3
Sacramento-Roseville-Folsom 105.2
Services
New Haven 144.8
Sacramento-Roseville-Folsom 151.3
Rents
New Haven 124.3
Sacramento-Roseville-Folsom 130.2
Vertical line = national average (100)
Salary Equivalents
What a salary in New Haven would need to be in Sacramento-Roseville-Folsom for the same purchasing power:
| In New Haven | In Sacramento-Roseville-Folsom | Difference |
|---|---|---|
| $50,000 | $51,009 | +$1,009 |
| $75,000 | $76,514 | +$1,514 |
| $100,000 | $102,019 | +$2,019 |
| $150,000 | $153,028 | +$3,028 |
$ in New Haven = in Sacramento-Roseville-Folsom
Same BEA Regional Price Parity ratio as the table above (104.6 → 106.7), computed live from your number, nothing is sent anywhere.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Sacramento-Roseville-Folsom more expensive than New Haven?
Sacramento-Roseville-Folsom is 2% more expensive than New Haven. The overall cost index is 106.7 vs 104.6 (national average = 100).
What salary in Sacramento-Roseville-Folsom equals $100K in New Haven?
A $100,000 salary in New Haven has the same purchasing power as $102,019 in Sacramento-Roseville-Folsom. This is based on the BEA Regional Price Parity indexes.
How do rents compare between New Haven and Sacramento-Roseville-Folsom?
Rents in New Haven are indexed at 124.3 while Sacramento-Roseville-Folsom is at 130.2 (national average = 100). Sacramento-Roseville-Folsom 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.