Overall
Diff -2.1 RPP
Ogden vs Lancaster
Cost of living comparison based on BEA Regional Price Parities. Lancaster is 2.1% less expensive than Ogden.
2.1% less expensive
Lancaster, PA is 2.1% less expensive than Ogden, UT on BEA Regional Price Parities (overall RPP 98.3 vs 100.3). A $100,000 salary in Ogden buys about the same as $97,915 in Lancaster; the largest component gap is services.
- Overall RPP 100.3 (Ogden) vs 98.3 (Lancaster)
- $100k in Ogden ≈ $97,915 purchasing power in Lancaster
- Services drives the gap (+28.5 RPP points)
RPP parity plate
Pair UT:PA 100.3→98.3
TIER-NEAR · CROSS-STATE · SPLIT-BUDGET · BENCH-CROSS · PP-PAR
- TIER-NEAR Near tier
- CROSS-STATE UT × PA
- SPLIT-BUDGET Split budget
- BENCH-CROSS Benchmark cross
- 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.
Category Breakdown
Goods
Diff +4.2 RPP
Services
Diff +28.5 RPP
Rents
Diff -24.1 RPP
| Category | Ogden | Lancaster | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Overall | 100.3 | 98.3 | -2.1 |
| Goods | 96.4 | 100.7 | +4.2 |
| Services | 78.8 | 107.3 | +28.5 |
| Rents | 117.9 | 93.8 | -24.1 |
Visual Comparison
Overall
Ogden 100.3
Lancaster 98.3
Goods
Ogden 96.4
Lancaster 100.7
Services
Ogden 78.8
Lancaster 107.3
Rents
Ogden 117.9
Lancaster 93.8
Vertical line = national average (100)
What This Comparison Actually Tells You
Services creates the largest separation: Lancaster is 28.5 points higher. But services and goods move against the overall direction, so this is a split budget rather than a clean across-the-board winner.
Lancaster, PA is 2.1% less expensive than Ogden, UT, a meaningful but not extreme shift. The move decision turns on which budget category creates the 2.1-point overall gap.
This route crosses the national benchmark: Ogden is above 100 while Lancaster 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 service-heavy household, test childcare, health, and other locally supplied costs before relying on rent alone. The BEA ratio converts $100,000 in Ogden to $97,915 in Lancaster, but it is not a personal spending weight.
Ogden
100.3
Cost Index
Lancaster
98.3
Cost Index
Salary Equivalents
What a salary in Ogden would need to be in Lancaster for the same purchasing power:
| In Ogden | In Lancaster | Difference |
|---|---|---|
| $50,000 | $48,958 | $-1,042 |
| $75,000 | $73,436 | $-1,564 |
| $100,000 | $97,915 | $-2,085 |
| $150,000 | $146,873 | $-3,127 |
$ in Ogden = in Lancaster
Same BEA Regional Price Parity ratio as the table above (100.3 → 98.3), computed live from your number, nothing is sent anywhere.
How the Price Gap Changed
Ogden and Lancaster share 17 published annual releases from 2008 through 2024. Their overall gap narrowed, moving from 5.1 to 2.1 RPP points. Ogden remained the higher-index metro in the latest release.
Rents changed the most within this pair: its gap moved 27.6 points between the first and latest shared releases (3.5 to 24.1 points). This describes a relative price-index history, not a forecast or a household budget.
| Release Year | Ogden RPP | Lancaster RPP | Relative Gap |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2008 | 95.0 | 100.2 | 5.1 points Lancaster higher |
| 2012 | 100.9 | 97.8 | 3.1 points Ogden higher |
| 2016 | 96.3 | 99.4 | 3.1 points Lancaster higher |
| 2020 | 95.8 | 97.9 | 2.1 points Lancaster higher |
| 2024 | 100.3 | 98.3 | 2.1 points Ogden 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 Lancaster more expensive than Ogden?
Lancaster is 2.1% less expensive than Ogden. The overall cost index is 98.3 vs 100.3 (national average = 100).
What salary in Lancaster equals $100K in Ogden?
A $100,000 salary in Ogden has the same purchasing power as $97,915 in Lancaster. This is based on the BEA Regional Price Parity indexes.
How do rents compare between Ogden and Lancaster?
Rents in Ogden are indexed at 117.9 while Lancaster is at 93.8 (national average = 100). Ogden 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.