Overall
- Barnstable Town
- 98.4
Diff -12.2 RPP
Oxnard-Thousand Oaks-Ventura vs Barnstable Town
Cost of living comparison based on BEA Regional Price Parities. Barnstable Town is 11% less expensive than Oxnard-Thousand Oaks-Ventura.
11% less expensive
Barnstable Town, MA is 11% less expensive than Oxnard-Thousand Oaks-Ventura, CA on BEA Regional Price Parities (overall RPP 98.4 vs 110.5). A $100,000 salary in Oxnard-Thousand Oaks-Ventura buys about the same as $88,978 in Barnstable Town; the largest component gap is rents.
- Overall RPP 110.5 (Oxnard-Thousand Oaks-Ventura) vs 98.4 (Barnstable Town)
- $100k in Oxnard-Thousand Oaks-Ventura ≈ $88,978 purchasing power in Barnstable Town
- Rents drives the gap (-81.1 RPP points)
RPP parity plate
Pair CA:MA 110.5→98.4
TIER-GAP · CROSS-STATE · SPLIT-BUDGET · BENCH-CROSS · PP-SHIFT
- TIER-GAP Clear tier gap
- CROSS-STATE CA × MA
- SPLIT-BUDGET Split budget
- 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.
Category Breakdown
Goods
- Barnstable Town
- 97.0
Diff -8.2 RPP
Services
- Barnstable Town
- 158.4
Diff +5.5 RPP
Rents
- Barnstable Town
- 90.0
Diff -81.1 RPP
| Category | Oxnard-Thousand Oaks-Ventura | Barnstable Town | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Overall | 110.5 | 98.4 | -12.2 |
| Goods | 105.2 | 97.0 | -8.2 |
| Services | 152.9 | 158.4 | +5.5 |
| Rents | 171.1 | 90.0 | -81.1 |
Visual Comparison
Overall
Oxnard-Thousand Oaks-Ventura 110.5
Barnstable Town 98.4
Goods
Oxnard-Thousand Oaks-Ventura 105.2
Barnstable Town 97.0
Services
Oxnard-Thousand Oaks-Ventura 152.9
Barnstable Town 158.4
Rents
Oxnard-Thousand Oaks-Ventura 171.1
Barnstable Town 90.0
Vertical line = national average (100)
What This Comparison Actually Tells You
Rents creates the largest separation: Barnstable Town is 81.1 points lower. But services move against the overall direction, so this is a split budget rather than a clean across-the-board winner.
Oxnard-Thousand Oaks-Ventura, CA and Barnstable Town, MA sit in clearly different price tiers, separated by 12.2 RPP points. At this distance, treating the same nominal salary as equivalent would materially change purchasing power.
This route crosses the national benchmark: Oxnard-Thousand Oaks-Ventura is above 100 while Barnstable Town 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 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 Oxnard-Thousand Oaks-Ventura corresponds to $88,978 in Barnstable Town.
Oxnard-Thousand Oaks-Ventura
110.5
Cost Index
Barnstable Town
98.4
Cost Index
Salary Equivalents
What a salary in Oxnard-Thousand Oaks-Ventura would need to be in Barnstable Town for the same purchasing power:
| In Oxnard-Thousand Oaks-Ventura | In Barnstable Town | Difference |
|---|---|---|
| $50,000 | $44,489 | $-5,511 |
| $75,000 | $66,734 | $-8,266 |
| $100,000 | $88,978 | $-11,022 |
| $150,000 | $133,467 | $-16,533 |
$ in Oxnard-Thousand Oaks-Ventura = in Barnstable Town
Same BEA Regional Price Parity ratio as the table above (110.5 → 98.4), computed live from your number, nothing is sent anywhere.
How the Price Gap Changed
Oxnard-Thousand Oaks-Ventura and Barnstable Town share 17 published annual releases from 2008 through 2024. Their overall gap widened, moving from 6.7 to 12.2 RPP points. Oxnard-Thousand Oaks-Ventura remained the higher-index metro in the latest release.
Services changed the most within this pair: its gap moved 20.2 points between the first and latest shared releases (25.7 to 5.5 points). This describes a relative price-index history, not a forecast or a household budget.
| Release Year | Oxnard-Thousand Oaks-Ventura RPP | Barnstable Town RPP | Relative Gap |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2008 | 109.5 | 102.8 | 6.7 points Oxnard-Thousand Oaks-Ventura higher |
| 2012 | 110.4 | 100.9 | 9.5 points Oxnard-Thousand Oaks-Ventura higher |
| 2016 | 111.2 | 105.8 | 5.4 points Oxnard-Thousand Oaks-Ventura higher |
| 2020 | 111.3 | 101.3 | 10.1 points Oxnard-Thousand Oaks-Ventura higher |
| 2024 | 110.5 | 98.4 | 12.2 points Oxnard-Thousand Oaks-Ventura 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 Barnstable Town more expensive than Oxnard-Thousand Oaks-Ventura?
Barnstable Town is 11% less expensive than Oxnard-Thousand Oaks-Ventura. The overall cost index is 98.4 vs 110.5 (national average = 100).
What salary in Barnstable Town equals $100K in Oxnard-Thousand Oaks-Ventura?
A $100,000 salary in Oxnard-Thousand Oaks-Ventura has the same purchasing power as $88,978 in Barnstable Town. This is based on the BEA Regional Price Parity indexes.
How do rents compare between Oxnard-Thousand Oaks-Ventura and Barnstable Town?
Rents in Oxnard-Thousand Oaks-Ventura are indexed at 171.1 while Barnstable Town is at 90.0 (national average = 100). Oxnard-Thousand Oaks-Ventura 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.