Overall
- Chicago-Naperville-Elgin
- 103.6
Diff -6.9 RPP
Oxnard-Thousand Oaks-Ventura vs Chicago-Naperville-Elgin
Cost of living comparison based on BEA Regional Price Parities. Chicago-Naperville-Elgin is 6.3% less expensive than Oxnard-Thousand Oaks-Ventura.
6.3% less expensive
Chicago-Naperville-Elgin, IL-IN is 6.3% less expensive than Oxnard-Thousand Oaks-Ventura, CA on BEA Regional Price Parities (overall RPP 103.6 vs 110.5). A $100,000 salary in Oxnard-Thousand Oaks-Ventura buys about the same as $93,722 in Chicago-Naperville-Elgin; the largest component gap is services.
- Overall RPP 110.5 (Oxnard-Thousand Oaks-Ventura) vs 103.6 (Chicago-Naperville-Elgin)
- $100k in Oxnard-Thousand Oaks-Ventura ≈ $93,722 purchasing power in Chicago-Naperville-Elgin
- Services drives the gap (-69.3 RPP points)
RPP parity plate
Pair CA:IL 110.5→103.6
TIER-NEAR · CROSS-STATE · SPLIT-BUDGET · BOTH-ABOVE · PP-SHIFT
- TIER-NEAR Near tier
- CROSS-STATE CA × IL
- SPLIT-BUDGET Split budget
- BOTH-ABOVE Both above 100
- 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
- Chicago-Naperville-Elgin
- 107.3
Diff +2.1 RPP
Services
Diff -69.3 RPP
Rents
- Chicago-Naperville-Elgin
- 112.0
Diff -59.1 RPP
| Category | Oxnard-Thousand Oaks-Ventura | Chicago-Naperville-Elgin | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Overall | 110.5 | 103.6 | -6.9 |
| Goods | 105.2 | 107.3 | +2.1 |
| Services | 152.9 | 83.6 | -69.3 |
| Rents | 171.1 | 112.0 | -59.1 |
Visual Comparison
Overall
Oxnard-Thousand Oaks-Ventura 110.5
Chicago-Naperville-Elgin 103.6
Goods
Oxnard-Thousand Oaks-Ventura 105.2
Chicago-Naperville-Elgin 107.3
Services
Oxnard-Thousand Oaks-Ventura 152.9
Chicago-Naperville-Elgin 83.6
Rents
Oxnard-Thousand Oaks-Ventura 171.1
Chicago-Naperville-Elgin 112.0
Vertical line = national average (100)
What This Comparison Actually Tells You
Services creates the largest separation: Chicago-Naperville-Elgin is 69.3 points lower. But goods move against the overall direction, so this is a split budget rather than a clean across-the-board winner.
Chicago-Naperville-Elgin, IL-IN is 6.3% less expensive than Oxnard-Thousand Oaks-Ventura, CA, a meaningful but not extreme shift. The move decision turns on which budget category creates the 6.9-point overall gap.
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.
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 Oxnard-Thousand Oaks-Ventura to $93,722 in Chicago-Naperville-Elgin, but it is not a personal spending weight.
Oxnard-Thousand Oaks-Ventura
110.5
Cost Index
Chicago-Naperville-Elgin
103.6
Cost Index
Salary Equivalents
What a salary in Oxnard-Thousand Oaks-Ventura would need to be in Chicago-Naperville-Elgin for the same purchasing power:
| In Oxnard-Thousand Oaks-Ventura | In Chicago-Naperville-Elgin | Difference |
|---|---|---|
| $50,000 | $46,861 | $-3,139 |
| $75,000 | $70,292 | $-4,708 |
| $100,000 | $93,722 | $-6,278 |
| $150,000 | $140,583 | $-9,417 |
$ in Oxnard-Thousand Oaks-Ventura = in Chicago-Naperville-Elgin
Same BEA Regional Price Parity ratio as the table above (110.5 → 103.6), computed live from your number, nothing is sent anywhere.
How the Price Gap Changed
Oxnard-Thousand Oaks-Ventura and Chicago-Naperville-Elgin share 17 published annual releases from 2008 through 2024. Their overall gap widened, moving from 4.1 to 6.9 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 51.1 points between the first and latest shared releases (18.2 to 69.3 points). This describes a relative price-index history, not a forecast or a household budget.
| Release Year | Oxnard-Thousand Oaks-Ventura RPP | Chicago-Naperville-Elgin RPP | Relative Gap |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2008 | 109.5 | 105.4 | 4.1 points Oxnard-Thousand Oaks-Ventura higher |
| 2012 | 110.4 | 105.1 | 5.3 points Oxnard-Thousand Oaks-Ventura higher |
| 2016 | 111.2 | 103.8 | 7.4 points Oxnard-Thousand Oaks-Ventura higher |
| 2020 | 111.3 | 104.5 | 6.9 points Oxnard-Thousand Oaks-Ventura higher |
| 2024 | 110.5 | 103.6 | 6.9 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 Chicago-Naperville-Elgin more expensive than Oxnard-Thousand Oaks-Ventura?
Chicago-Naperville-Elgin is 6.3% less expensive than Oxnard-Thousand Oaks-Ventura. The overall cost index is 103.6 vs 110.5 (national average = 100).
What salary in Chicago-Naperville-Elgin equals $100K in Oxnard-Thousand Oaks-Ventura?
A $100,000 salary in Oxnard-Thousand Oaks-Ventura has the same purchasing power as $93,722 in Chicago-Naperville-Elgin. This is based on the BEA Regional Price Parity indexes.
How do rents compare between Oxnard-Thousand Oaks-Ventura and Chicago-Naperville-Elgin?
Rents in Oxnard-Thousand Oaks-Ventura are indexed at 171.1 while Chicago-Naperville-Elgin is at 112.0 (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.