Overall
- Pittsfield
- 95.1
Diff -0.4 RPP
Pittsfield vs Daphne-Fairhope-Foley
Cost of living comparison based on BEA Regional Price Parities. Daphne-Fairhope-Foley is 0.4% less expensive than Pittsfield.
0.4% less expensive
Daphne-Fairhope-Foley, AL is 0.4% less expensive than Pittsfield, MA on BEA Regional Price Parities (overall RPP 94.7 vs 95.1). A $100,000 salary in Pittsfield buys about the same as $99,563 in Daphne-Fairhope-Foley; the largest component gap is services.
- Overall RPP 95.1 (Pittsfield) vs 94.7 (Daphne-Fairhope-Foley)
- $100k in Pittsfield ≈ $99,563 purchasing power in Daphne-Fairhope-Foley
- Services drives the gap (-70.4 RPP points)
RPP parity plate
Pair MA:AL 95.1→94.7
PHOTO-FINISH · CROSS-STATE · SPLIT-BUDGET · BOTH-BELOW · PP-PAR
- PHOTO-FINISH Photo finish
- CROSS-STATE MA × 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.
Pittsfield
95.1
Cost Index
Daphne-Fairhope-Foley
94.7
Cost Index
What This Comparison Actually Tells You
Pittsfield, MA and Daphne-Fairhope-Foley, AL 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: Daphne-Fairhope-Foley is 70.4 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 Pittsfield to $99,563 in Daphne-Fairhope-Foley, but it is not a personal spending weight.
Category Breakdown
Goods
- Pittsfield
- 97.0
Diff -0.6 RPP
Services
- Pittsfield
- 153.7
Diff -70.4 RPP
Rents
- Pittsfield
- 73.5
Diff +15.7 RPP
| Category | Pittsfield | Daphne-Fairhope-Foley | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Overall | 95.1 | 94.7 | -0.4 |
| Goods | 97.0 | 96.4 | -0.6 |
| Services | 153.7 | 83.3 | -70.4 |
| Rents | 73.5 | 89.2 | +15.7 |
Visual Comparison
Overall
Pittsfield 95.1
Daphne-Fairhope-Foley 94.7
Goods
Pittsfield 97.0
Daphne-Fairhope-Foley 96.4
Services
Pittsfield 153.7
Daphne-Fairhope-Foley 83.3
Rents
Pittsfield 73.5
Daphne-Fairhope-Foley 89.2
Vertical line = national average (100)
How the Price Gap Changed
Pittsfield and Daphne-Fairhope-Foley share 17 published annual releases from 2008 through 2024. Their overall gap narrowed, moving from 4.4 to 0.4 RPP points. Pittsfield remained the higher-index metro in the latest release.
Services changed the most within this pair: its gap moved 21.9 points between the first and latest shared releases (48.6 to 70.4 points). This describes a relative price-index history, not a forecast or a household budget.
| Release Year | Pittsfield RPP | Daphne-Fairhope-Foley RPP | Relative Gap |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2008 | 99.6 | 95.3 | 4.4 points Pittsfield higher |
| 2012 | 97.8 | 95.9 | 1.9 points Pittsfield higher |
| 2016 | 100.5 | 94.8 | 5.6 points Pittsfield higher |
| 2020 | 99.5 | 90.8 | 8.7 points Pittsfield higher |
| 2024 | 95.1 | 94.7 | 0.4 points Pittsfield 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 Pittsfield would need to be in Daphne-Fairhope-Foley for the same purchasing power:
| In Pittsfield | In Daphne-Fairhope-Foley | Difference |
|---|---|---|
| $50,000 | $49,781 | $-219 |
| $75,000 | $74,672 | $-328 |
| $100,000 | $99,563 | $-437 |
| $150,000 | $149,344 | $-656 |
$ in Pittsfield = in Daphne-Fairhope-Foley
Same BEA Regional Price Parity ratio as the table above (95.1 → 94.7), computed live from your number, nothing is sent anywhere.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Daphne-Fairhope-Foley more expensive than Pittsfield?
Daphne-Fairhope-Foley is 0.4% less expensive than Pittsfield. The overall cost index is 94.7 vs 95.1 (national average = 100).
What salary in Daphne-Fairhope-Foley equals $100K in Pittsfield?
A $100,000 salary in Pittsfield has the same purchasing power as $99,563 in Daphne-Fairhope-Foley. This is based on the BEA Regional Price Parity indexes.
How do rents compare between Pittsfield and Daphne-Fairhope-Foley?
Rents in Pittsfield are indexed at 73.5 while Daphne-Fairhope-Foley is at 89.2 (national average = 100). Daphne-Fairhope-Foley 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.