Overall
- Mobile
- 88.1
Diff -0.2 RPP
Pinehurst-Southern Pines vs Mobile
Cost of living comparison based on BEA Regional Price Parities. Mobile is 0.3% less expensive than Pinehurst-Southern Pines.
0.3% less expensive
Mobile, AL is 0.3% less expensive than Pinehurst-Southern Pines, NC on BEA Regional Price Parities (overall RPP 88.1 vs 88.3). A $100,000 salary in Pinehurst-Southern Pines buys about the same as $99,731 in Mobile; the largest component gap is services.
- Overall RPP 88.3 (Pinehurst-Southern Pines) vs 88.1 (Mobile)
- $100k in Pinehurst-Southern Pines ≈ $99,731 purchasing power in Mobile
- Services drives the gap (-4.0 RPP points)
RPP parity plate
Pair NC:AL 88.3→88.1
PHOTO-FINISH · CROSS-STATE · SPLIT-BUDGET · BOTH-BELOW · PP-PAR
- PHOTO-FINISH Photo finish
- CROSS-STATE NC × AL
- 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
Mobile
88.1
Cost Index
What This Comparison Actually Tells You
Pinehurst-Southern Pines, NC and Mobile, AL are a photo finish on overall price level, only 0.2 RPP points apart. A salary conversion is therefore a fine adjustment, not evidence of a fundamentally different cost regime.
Services creates the largest separation: Mobile is 4.0 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 $99,731 in Mobile, but it is not a personal spending weight.
Category Breakdown
Goods
- Mobile
- 96.4
Diff -0.2 RPP
Services
- Mobile
- 84.2
Diff -4.0 RPP
Rents
- Mobile
- 60.1
Diff +0.8 RPP
| Category | Pinehurst-Southern Pines | Mobile | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Overall | 88.3 | 88.1 | -0.2 |
| Goods | 96.6 | 96.4 | -0.2 |
| Services | 88.2 | 84.2 | -4.0 |
| Rents | 59.3 | 60.1 | +0.8 |
Visual Comparison
Overall
Pinehurst-Southern Pines 88.3
Mobile 88.1
Goods
Pinehurst-Southern Pines 96.6
Mobile 96.4
Services
Pinehurst-Southern Pines 88.2
Mobile 84.2
Rents
Pinehurst-Southern Pines 59.3
Mobile 60.1
Vertical line = national average (100)
How the Price Gap Changed
Pinehurst-Southern Pines and Mobile share 17 published annual releases from 2008 through 2024. Their overall gap narrowed, moving from 4.1 to 0.2 RPP points. Pinehurst-Southern Pines remained the higher-index metro in the latest release.
Services changed the most within this pair: its gap moved 16.9 points between the first and latest shared releases (12.9 to 4.0 points). This describes a relative price-index history, not a forecast or a household budget.
| Release Year | Pinehurst-Southern Pines RPP | Mobile RPP | Relative Gap |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2008 | 86.3 | 90.5 | 4.1 points Mobile higher |
| 2012 | 86.9 | 93.0 | 6.1 points Mobile higher |
| 2016 | 88.4 | 92.3 | 3.9 points Mobile higher |
| 2020 | 88.9 | 87.5 | 1.4 points Pinehurst-Southern Pines higher |
| 2024 | 88.3 | 88.1 | 0.2 points Pinehurst-Southern Pines 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.
Salary Equivalents
What a salary in Pinehurst-Southern Pines would need to be in Mobile for the same purchasing power:
| In Pinehurst-Southern Pines | In Mobile | Difference |
|---|---|---|
| $50,000 | $49,865 | $-135 |
| $75,000 | $74,798 | $-202 |
| $100,000 | $99,731 | $-269 |
| $150,000 | $149,596 | $-404 |
$ in Pinehurst-Southern Pines = in Mobile
Same BEA Regional Price Parity ratio as the table above (88.3 → 88.1), computed live from your number, nothing is sent anywhere.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Mobile more expensive than Pinehurst-Southern Pines?
Mobile is 0.3% less expensive than Pinehurst-Southern Pines. The overall cost index is 88.1 vs 88.3 (national average = 100).
What salary in Mobile equals $100K in Pinehurst-Southern Pines?
A $100,000 salary in Pinehurst-Southern Pines has the same purchasing power as $99,731 in Mobile. This is based on the BEA Regional Price Parity indexes.
How do rents compare between Pinehurst-Southern Pines and Mobile?
Rents in Pinehurst-Southern Pines are indexed at 59.3 while Mobile is at 60.1 (national average = 100). Mobile 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.