Overall
Diff -14.5 RPP
New York-Newark-Jersey City vs Hilton Head Island-Bluffton-Port Royal
Cost of living comparison based on BEA Regional Price Parities. Hilton Head Island-Bluffton-Port Royal is 12.9% less expensive than New York-Newark-Jersey City.
12.9% less expensive
Hilton Head Island-Bluffton-Port Royal, SC is 12.9% less expensive than New York-Newark-Jersey City, NY-NJ on BEA Regional Price Parities (overall RPP 98.0 vs 112.6). A $100,000 salary in New York-Newark-Jersey City buys about the same as $87,077 in Hilton Head Island-Bluffton-Port Royal; the largest component gap is rents.
- Overall RPP 112.6 (New York-Newark-Jersey City) vs 98.0 (Hilton Head Island-Bluffton-Port Royal)
- $100k in New York-Newark-Jersey City ≈ $87,077 purchasing power in Hilton Head Island-Bluffton-Port Royal
- Rents drives the gap (-47.4 RPP points)
RPP parity plate
Pair NY:SC 112.6→98.0
TIER-GAP · CROSS-STATE · RENT-LED · BENCH-CROSS · PP-SHIFT
- TIER-GAP Clear tier gap
- CROSS-STATE NY × SC
- RENT-LED Rent-led gap
- 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.
Salary Equivalents
What a salary in New York-Newark-Jersey City would need to be in Hilton Head Island-Bluffton-Port Royal for the same purchasing power:
| In New York-Newark-Jersey City | In Hilton Head Island-Bluffton-Port Royal | Difference |
|---|---|---|
| $50,000 | $43,539 | $-6,461 |
| $75,000 | $65,308 | $-9,692 |
| $100,000 | $87,077 | $-12,923 |
| $150,000 | $130,616 | $-19,384 |
$ in New York-Newark-Jersey City = in Hilton Head Island-Bluffton-Port Royal
Same BEA Regional Price Parity ratio as the table above (112.6 → 98.0), computed live from your number, nothing is sent anywhere.
What This Comparison Actually Tells You
New York-Newark-Jersey City, NY-NJ and Hilton Head Island-Bluffton-Port Royal, SC sit in clearly different price tiers, separated by 14.5 RPP points. At this distance, treating the same nominal salary as equivalent would materially change purchasing power.
This route crosses the national benchmark: New York-Newark-Jersey City is above 100 while Hilton Head Island-Bluffton-Port Royal is below it. That makes the move a change of price regime, not merely a rank swap.
Rents leads the difference, with Hilton Head Island-Bluffton-Port Royal 47.4 points lower than New York-Newark-Jersey City. 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 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 York-Newark-Jersey City corresponds to $87,077 in Hilton Head Island-Bluffton-Port Royal.
Category Breakdown
Goods
Diff -13.9 RPP
Services
Diff -38.9 RPP
Rents
Diff -47.4 RPP
| Category | New York-Newark-Jersey City | Hilton Head Island-Bluffton-Port Royal | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Overall | 112.6 | 98.0 | -14.5 |
| Goods | 110.3 | 96.3 | -13.9 |
| Services | 127.0 | 88.1 | -38.9 |
| Rents | 148.6 | 101.2 | -47.4 |
Visual Comparison
Overall
New York-Newark-Jersey City 112.6
Hilton Head Island-Bluffton-Port Royal 98.0
Goods
New York-Newark-Jersey City 110.3
Hilton Head Island-Bluffton-Port Royal 96.3
Services
New York-Newark-Jersey City 127.0
Hilton Head Island-Bluffton-Port Royal 88.1
Rents
New York-Newark-Jersey City 148.6
Hilton Head Island-Bluffton-Port Royal 101.2
Vertical line = national average (100)
New York-Newark-Jersey City
112.6
Cost Index
Hilton Head Island-Bluffton-Port Royal
98.0
Cost Index
How the Price Gap Changed
New York-Newark-Jersey City and Hilton Head Island-Bluffton-Port Royal share 17 published annual releases from 2008 through 2024. Their overall gap narrowed, moving from 18.4 to 14.5 RPP points. New York-Newark-Jersey City remained the higher-index metro in the latest release.
Services changed the most within this pair: its gap moved 29.0 points between the first and latest shared releases (67.9 to 38.9 points). This describes a relative price-index history, not a forecast or a household budget.
| Release Year | New York-Newark-Jersey City RPP | Hilton Head Island-Bluffton-Port Royal RPP | Relative Gap |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2008 | 113.5 | 95.1 | 18.4 points New York-Newark-Jersey City higher |
| 2012 | 113.8 | 93.6 | 20.2 points New York-Newark-Jersey City higher |
| 2016 | 113.7 | 96.0 | 17.8 points New York-Newark-Jersey City higher |
| 2020 | 115.6 | 93.6 | 22.0 points New York-Newark-Jersey City higher |
| 2024 | 112.6 | 98.0 | 14.5 points New York-Newark-Jersey City 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 Hilton Head Island-Bluffton-Port Royal more expensive than New York-Newark-Jersey City?
Hilton Head Island-Bluffton-Port Royal is 12.9% less expensive than New York-Newark-Jersey City. The overall cost index is 98.0 vs 112.6 (national average = 100).
What salary in Hilton Head Island-Bluffton-Port Royal equals $100K in New York-Newark-Jersey City?
A $100,000 salary in New York-Newark-Jersey City has the same purchasing power as $87,077 in Hilton Head Island-Bluffton-Port Royal. This is based on the BEA Regional Price Parity indexes.
How do rents compare between New York-Newark-Jersey City and Hilton Head Island-Bluffton-Port Royal?
Rents in New York-Newark-Jersey City are indexed at 148.6 while Hilton Head Island-Bluffton-Port Royal is at 101.2 (national average = 100). New York-Newark-Jersey City 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.