Overall
- Owensboro
- 88.6
Diff -0.1 RPP
Owensboro vs Hickory-Lenoir-Morganton
Cost of living comparison based on BEA Regional Price Parities. Hickory-Lenoir-Morganton is 0.1% less expensive than Owensboro.
0.1% less expensive
Hickory-Lenoir-Morganton, NC is 0.1% less expensive than Owensboro, KY on BEA Regional Price Parities (overall RPP 88.5 vs 88.6). A $100,000 salary in Owensboro buys about the same as $99,860 in Hickory-Lenoir-Morganton; the largest component gap is services.
- Overall RPP 88.6 (Owensboro) vs 88.5 (Hickory-Lenoir-Morganton)
- $100k in Owensboro ≈ $99,860 purchasing power in Hickory-Lenoir-Morganton
- Services drives the gap (+12.6 RPP points)
RPP parity plate
Pair KY:NC 88.6→88.5
PHOTO-FINISH · CROSS-STATE · SPLIT-BUDGET · BOTH-BELOW · PP-PAR
- PHOTO-FINISH Photo finish
- CROSS-STATE KY × NC
- SPLIT-BUDGET Split budget
- BOTH-BELOW Both below 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.
Owensboro
88.6
Cost Index
Hickory-Lenoir-Morganton
88.5
Cost Index
What This Comparison Actually Tells You
Owensboro, KY and Hickory-Lenoir-Morganton, NC are a photo finish on overall price level, only 0.1 RPP points apart. A salary conversion is therefore a fine adjustment, not evidence of a fundamentally different cost regime.
Services creates the largest separation: Hickory-Lenoir-Morganton is 12.6 points higher. But services and rents and goods move against the overall direction, so this is a split budget rather than a clean across-the-board winner.
Comparable population context is incomplete for this pair, so no market-scale explanation is inferred from the price indexes.
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.
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 Owensboro to $99,860 in Hickory-Lenoir-Morganton, but it is not a personal spending weight.
Category Breakdown
Goods
- Owensboro
- 96.2
Diff +0.4 RPP
Services
- Owensboro
- 75.2
Diff +12.6 RPP
Rents
- Owensboro
- 55.7
Diff +3.9 RPP
| Category | Owensboro | Hickory-Lenoir-Morganton | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Overall | 88.6 | 88.5 | -0.1 |
| Goods | 96.2 | 96.6 | +0.4 |
| Services | 75.2 | 87.8 | +12.6 |
| Rents | 55.7 | 59.6 | +3.9 |
Visual Comparison
Overall
Owensboro 88.6
Hickory-Lenoir-Morganton 88.5
Goods
Owensboro 96.2
Hickory-Lenoir-Morganton 96.6
Services
Owensboro 75.2
Hickory-Lenoir-Morganton 87.8
Rents
Owensboro 55.7
Hickory-Lenoir-Morganton 59.6
Vertical line = national average (100)
How the Price Gap Changed
Owensboro and Hickory-Lenoir-Morganton share 17 published annual releases from 2008 through 2024. Their overall gap narrowed, moving from 1.4 to 0.1 RPP points. Owensboro remained the higher-index metro in the latest release.
Services changed the most within this pair: its gap moved 4.7 points between the first and latest shared releases (8.0 to 12.6 points). This describes a relative price-index history, not a forecast or a household budget.
| Release Year | Owensboro RPP | Hickory-Lenoir-Morganton RPP | Relative Gap |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2008 | 88.6 | 90.0 | 1.4 points Hickory-Lenoir-Morganton higher |
| 2012 | 93.7 | 90.9 | 2.8 points Owensboro higher |
| 2016 | 92.1 | 90.9 | 1.2 points Owensboro higher |
| 2020 | 89.0 | 87.0 | 2.0 points Owensboro higher |
| 2024 | 88.6 | 88.5 | 0.1 points Owensboro 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 Owensboro would need to be in Hickory-Lenoir-Morganton for the same purchasing power:
| In Owensboro | In Hickory-Lenoir-Morganton | Difference |
|---|---|---|
| $50,000 | $49,930 | $-70 |
| $75,000 | $74,895 | $-105 |
| $100,000 | $99,860 | $-140 |
| $150,000 | $149,790 | $-210 |
$ in Owensboro = in Hickory-Lenoir-Morganton
Same BEA Regional Price Parity ratio as the table above (88.6 → 88.5), computed live from your number, nothing is sent anywhere.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Hickory-Lenoir-Morganton more expensive than Owensboro?
Hickory-Lenoir-Morganton is 0.1% less expensive than Owensboro. The overall cost index is 88.5 vs 88.6 (national average = 100).
What salary in Hickory-Lenoir-Morganton equals $100K in Owensboro?
A $100,000 salary in Owensboro has the same purchasing power as $99,860 in Hickory-Lenoir-Morganton. This is based on the BEA Regional Price Parity indexes.
How do rents compare between Owensboro and Hickory-Lenoir-Morganton?
Rents in Owensboro are indexed at 55.7 while Hickory-Lenoir-Morganton is at 59.6 (national average = 100). Hickory-Lenoir-Morganton 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.