Overall
- Charlottesville
- 99.1
Diff -0.9 RPP
Palm Bay-Melbourne-Titusville vs Charlottesville
Cost of living comparison based on BEA Regional Price Parities. Charlottesville is 0.9% less expensive than Palm Bay-Melbourne-Titusville.
0.9% less expensive
Charlottesville, VA is 0.9% less expensive than Palm Bay-Melbourne-Titusville, FL on BEA Regional Price Parities (overall RPP 99.1 vs 100.0). A $100,000 salary in Palm Bay-Melbourne-Titusville buys about the same as $99,141 in Charlottesville; the largest component gap is rents.
- Overall RPP 100.0 (Palm Bay-Melbourne-Titusville) vs 99.1 (Charlottesville)
- $100k in Palm Bay-Melbourne-Titusville ≈ $99,141 purchasing power in Charlottesville
- Rents drives the gap (-4.7 RPP points)
RPP parity plate
Pair FL:VA 100.0→99.1
PHOTO-FINISH · CROSS-STATE · SPLIT-BUDGET · BENCH-CROSS · PP-PAR
- PHOTO-FINISH Photo finish
- CROSS-STATE FL × VA
- 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.
Palm Bay-Melbourne-Titusville
100.0
Cost Index
Charlottesville
99.1
Cost Index
What This Comparison Actually Tells You
Palm Bay-Melbourne-Titusville, FL and Charlottesville, VA are a photo finish on overall price level, only 0.9 RPP points apart. A salary conversion is therefore a fine adjustment, not evidence of a fundamentally different cost regime.
Rents creates the largest separation: Charlottesville is 4.7 points lower. But services 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.
This route crosses the national benchmark: Palm Bay-Melbourne-Titusville is above 100 while Charlottesville is below it. That makes the move a change of price regime, not merely a rank swap.
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 Palm Bay-Melbourne-Titusville corresponds to $99,141 in Charlottesville.
Category Breakdown
Goods
- Charlottesville
- 96.8
Diff +0.5 RPP
Services
- Charlottesville
- 89.0
Diff +0.9 RPP
Rents
- Charlottesville
- 107.0
Diff -4.7 RPP
| Category | Palm Bay-Melbourne-Titusville | Charlottesville | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Overall | 100.0 | 99.1 | -0.9 |
| Goods | 96.2 | 96.8 | +0.5 |
| Services | 88.1 | 89.0 | +0.9 |
| Rents | 111.7 | 107.0 | -4.7 |
Visual Comparison
Overall
Palm Bay-Melbourne-Titusville 100.0
Charlottesville 99.1
Goods
Palm Bay-Melbourne-Titusville 96.2
Charlottesville 96.8
Services
Palm Bay-Melbourne-Titusville 88.1
Charlottesville 89.0
Rents
Palm Bay-Melbourne-Titusville 111.7
Charlottesville 107.0
Vertical line = national average (100)
Salary Equivalents
What a salary in Palm Bay-Melbourne-Titusville would need to be in Charlottesville for the same purchasing power:
| In Palm Bay-Melbourne-Titusville | In Charlottesville | Difference |
|---|---|---|
| $50,000 | $49,571 | $-429 |
| $75,000 | $74,356 | $-644 |
| $100,000 | $99,141 | $-859 |
| $150,000 | $148,712 | $-1,288 |
$ in Palm Bay-Melbourne-Titusville = in Charlottesville
Same BEA Regional Price Parity ratio as the table above (100.0 → 99.1), computed live from your number, nothing is sent anywhere.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Charlottesville more expensive than Palm Bay-Melbourne-Titusville?
Charlottesville is 0.9% less expensive than Palm Bay-Melbourne-Titusville. The overall cost index is 99.1 vs 100.0 (national average = 100).
What salary in Charlottesville equals $100K in Palm Bay-Melbourne-Titusville?
A $100,000 salary in Palm Bay-Melbourne-Titusville has the same purchasing power as $99,141 in Charlottesville. This is based on the BEA Regional Price Parity indexes.
How do rents compare between Palm Bay-Melbourne-Titusville and Charlottesville?
Rents in Palm Bay-Melbourne-Titusville are indexed at 111.7 while Charlottesville is at 107.0 (national average = 100). Palm Bay-Melbourne-Titusville 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.