Overall
- Jacksonville
- 99.5
Diff -0.5 RPP
Palm Bay-Melbourne-Titusville vs Jacksonville
Cost of living comparison based on BEA Regional Price Parities. Jacksonville is 0.5% less expensive than Palm Bay-Melbourne-Titusville.
0.5% less expensive
Jacksonville, FL is 0.5% less expensive than Palm Bay-Melbourne-Titusville, FL on BEA Regional Price Parities (overall RPP 99.5 vs 100.0). A $100,000 salary in Palm Bay-Melbourne-Titusville buys about the same as $99,479 in Jacksonville; the largest component gap is rents.
- Overall RPP 100.0 (Palm Bay-Melbourne-Titusville) vs 99.5 (Jacksonville)
- $100k in Palm Bay-Melbourne-Titusville ≈ $99,479 purchasing power in Jacksonville
- Rents drives the gap (-2.0 RPP points)
RPP parity plate
Pair FL:FL 100.0→99.5
PHOTO-FINISH · SAME-STATE · SPLIT-BUDGET · BENCH-CROSS · PP-PAR
- PHOTO-FINISH Photo finish
- SAME-STATE Same state · FL
- 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
Jacksonville
99.5
Cost Index
What This Comparison Actually Tells You
Palm Bay-Melbourne-Titusville, FL and Jacksonville, FL are a photo finish on overall price level, only 0.5 RPP points apart. A salary conversion is therefore a fine adjustment, not evidence of a fundamentally different cost regime.
Rents creates the largest separation: Jacksonville is 2.0 points lower. But 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 Jacksonville 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 $99,479 in Jacksonville.
Category Breakdown
Goods
- Jacksonville
- 96.2
Diff 0.0 RPP
Services
- Jacksonville
- 87.5
Diff -0.5 RPP
Rents
- Jacksonville
- 109.8
Diff -2.0 RPP
| Category | Palm Bay-Melbourne-Titusville | Jacksonville | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Overall | 100.0 | 99.5 | -0.5 |
| Goods | 96.2 | 96.2 | 0.0 |
| Services | 88.1 | 87.5 | -0.5 |
| Rents | 111.7 | 109.8 | -2.0 |
Visual Comparison
Overall
Palm Bay-Melbourne-Titusville 100.0
Jacksonville 99.5
Goods
Palm Bay-Melbourne-Titusville 96.2
Jacksonville 96.2
Services
Palm Bay-Melbourne-Titusville 88.1
Jacksonville 87.5
Rents
Palm Bay-Melbourne-Titusville 111.7
Jacksonville 109.8
Vertical line = national average (100)
Salary Equivalents
What a salary in Palm Bay-Melbourne-Titusville would need to be in Jacksonville for the same purchasing power:
| In Palm Bay-Melbourne-Titusville | In Jacksonville | Difference |
|---|---|---|
| $50,000 | $49,740 | $-260 |
| $75,000 | $74,609 | $-391 |
| $100,000 | $99,479 | $-521 |
| $150,000 | $149,219 | $-781 |
$ in Palm Bay-Melbourne-Titusville = in Jacksonville
Same BEA Regional Price Parity ratio as the table above (100.0 → 99.5), computed live from your number, nothing is sent anywhere.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Jacksonville more expensive than Palm Bay-Melbourne-Titusville?
Jacksonville is 0.5% less expensive than Palm Bay-Melbourne-Titusville. The overall cost index is 99.5 vs 100.0 (national average = 100).
What salary in Jacksonville equals $100K in Palm Bay-Melbourne-Titusville?
A $100,000 salary in Palm Bay-Melbourne-Titusville has the same purchasing power as $99,479 in Jacksonville. This is based on the BEA Regional Price Parity indexes.
How do rents compare between Palm Bay-Melbourne-Titusville and Jacksonville?
Rents in Palm Bay-Melbourne-Titusville are indexed at 111.7 while Jacksonville is at 109.8 (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.