Overall
- Johnson City
- 87.9
Diff -0.4 RPP
Pinehurst-Southern Pines vs Johnson City
Cost of living comparison based on BEA Regional Price Parities. Johnson City is 0.5% less expensive than Pinehurst-Southern Pines.
0.5% less expensive
Johnson City, TN is 0.5% less expensive than Pinehurst-Southern Pines, NC on BEA Regional Price Parities (overall RPP 87.9 vs 88.3). A $100,000 salary in Pinehurst-Southern Pines buys about the same as $99,538 in Johnson City; the largest component gap is services.
- Overall RPP 88.3 (Pinehurst-Southern Pines) vs 87.9 (Johnson City)
- $100k in Pinehurst-Southern Pines ≈ $99,538 purchasing power in Johnson City
- Services drives the gap (-16.2 RPP points)
RPP parity plate
Pair NC:TN 88.3→87.9
PHOTO-FINISH · CROSS-STATE · SPLIT-BUDGET · BOTH-BELOW · PP-PAR
- PHOTO-FINISH Photo finish
- CROSS-STATE NC × TN
- 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.
Pinehurst-Southern Pines
88.3
Cost Index
Johnson City
87.9
Cost Index
What This Comparison Actually Tells You
Pinehurst-Southern Pines, NC and Johnson City, TN are a photo finish on overall price level, only 0.4 RPP points apart. A salary conversion is therefore a fine adjustment, not evidence of a fundamentally different cost regime.
Services creates the largest separation: Johnson City is 16.2 points lower. But rents 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 Pinehurst-Southern Pines to $99,538 in Johnson City, but it is not a personal spending weight.
Category Breakdown
Goods
- Johnson City
- 96.2
Diff -0.4 RPP
Services
- Johnson City
- 71.9
Diff -16.2 RPP
Rents
- Johnson City
- 63.2
Diff +3.9 RPP
| Category | Pinehurst-Southern Pines | Johnson City | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Overall | 88.3 | 87.9 | -0.4 |
| Goods | 96.6 | 96.2 | -0.4 |
| Services | 88.2 | 71.9 | -16.2 |
| Rents | 59.3 | 63.2 | +3.9 |
Visual Comparison
Overall
Pinehurst-Southern Pines 88.3
Johnson City 87.9
Goods
Pinehurst-Southern Pines 96.6
Johnson City 96.2
Services
Pinehurst-Southern Pines 88.2
Johnson City 71.9
Rents
Pinehurst-Southern Pines 59.3
Johnson City 63.2
Vertical line = national average (100)
Salary Equivalents
What a salary in Pinehurst-Southern Pines would need to be in Johnson City for the same purchasing power:
| In Pinehurst-Southern Pines | In Johnson City | Difference |
|---|---|---|
| $50,000 | $49,769 | $-231 |
| $75,000 | $74,654 | $-346 |
| $100,000 | $99,538 | $-462 |
| $150,000 | $149,307 | $-693 |
$ in Pinehurst-Southern Pines = in Johnson City
Same BEA Regional Price Parity ratio as the table above (88.3 → 87.9), computed live from your number, nothing is sent anywhere.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Johnson City more expensive than Pinehurst-Southern Pines?
Johnson City is 0.5% less expensive than Pinehurst-Southern Pines. The overall cost index is 87.9 vs 88.3 (national average = 100).
What salary in Johnson City equals $100K in Pinehurst-Southern Pines?
A $100,000 salary in Pinehurst-Southern Pines has the same purchasing power as $99,538 in Johnson City. This is based on the BEA Regional Price Parity indexes.
How do rents compare between Pinehurst-Southern Pines and Johnson City?
Rents in Pinehurst-Southern Pines are indexed at 59.3 while Johnson City is at 63.2 (national average = 100). Johnson City 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.