Overall
- Pittsfield
- 95.1
- Salem
- 103.6
Diff +8.5 RPP
Pittsfield vs Salem
Cost of living comparison based on BEA Regional Price Parities. Salem is 9% more expensive than Pittsfield.
9% more expensive
Salem, OR is 9% more expensive than Pittsfield, MA on BEA Regional Price Parities (overall RPP 103.6 vs 95.1). A $100,000 salary in Pittsfield buys about the same as $108,983 in Salem; the largest component gap is services.
- Overall RPP 95.1 (Pittsfield) vs 103.6 (Salem)
- $100k in Pittsfield ≈ $108,983 purchasing power in Salem
- Services drives the gap (-49.0 RPP points)
RPP parity plate
Pair MA:OR 95.1→103.6
TIER-GAP · CROSS-STATE · SPLIT-BUDGET · BENCH-CROSS · PP-SHIFT
- TIER-GAP Clear tier gap
- CROSS-STATE MA × OR
- SPLIT-BUDGET Split budget
- BENCH-CROSS Benchmark cross
- PP-SHIFT PP shift
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.
Category Breakdown
Goods
- Pittsfield
- 97.0
- Salem
- 105.3
Diff +8.2 RPP
Services
- Pittsfield
- 153.7
- Salem
- 104.7
Diff -49.0 RPP
Rents
- Pittsfield
- 73.5
- Salem
- 110.3
Diff +36.9 RPP
| Category | Pittsfield | Salem | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Overall | 95.1 | 103.6 | +8.5 |
| Goods | 97.0 | 105.3 | +8.2 |
| Services | 153.7 | 104.7 | -49.0 |
| Rents | 73.5 | 110.3 | +36.9 |
Visual Comparison
Overall
Pittsfield 95.1
Salem 103.6
Goods
Pittsfield 97.0
Salem 105.3
Services
Pittsfield 153.7
Salem 104.7
Rents
Pittsfield 73.5
Salem 110.3
Vertical line = national average (100)
What This Comparison Actually Tells You
Services creates the largest separation: Salem is 49.0 points lower. But services move against the overall direction, so this is a split budget rather than a clean across-the-board winner.
Pittsfield, MA and Salem, OR sit in clearly different price tiers, separated by 8.5 RPP points. At this distance, treating the same nominal salary as equivalent would materially change purchasing power.
This route crosses the national benchmark: Salem is above 100 while Pittsfield is below it. That makes the move a change of price regime, not merely a rank swap.
Comparable population context is incomplete for this pair, so no market-scale explanation is inferred from the price indexes.
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 $108,983 in Salem, but it is not a personal spending weight.
Pittsfield
95.1
Cost Index
Salem
103.6
Cost Index
Salary Equivalents
What a salary in Pittsfield would need to be in Salem for the same purchasing power:
| In Pittsfield | In Salem | Difference |
|---|---|---|
| $50,000 | $54,491 | +$4,491 |
| $75,000 | $81,737 | +$6,737 |
| $100,000 | $108,983 | +$8,983 |
| $150,000 | $163,474 | +$13,474 |
$ in Pittsfield = in Salem
Same BEA Regional Price Parity ratio as the table above (95.1 → 103.6), computed live from your number, nothing is sent anywhere.
How the Price Gap Changed
Pittsfield and Salem share 17 published annual releases from 2008 through 2024. Their overall gap widened, moving from 5.5 to 8.5 RPP points. Salem remained the higher-index metro in the latest release.
Rents changed the most within this pair: its gap moved 44.8 points between the first and latest shared releases (8.0 to 36.9 points). This describes a relative price-index history, not a forecast or a household budget.
| Release Year | Pittsfield RPP | Salem RPP | Relative Gap |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2008 | 99.6 | 94.1 | 5.5 points Pittsfield higher |
| 2012 | 97.8 | 101.1 | 3.3 points Salem higher |
| 2016 | 100.5 | 97.1 | 3.4 points Pittsfield higher |
| 2020 | 99.5 | 100.9 | 1.5 points Salem higher |
| 2024 | 95.1 | 103.6 | 8.5 points Salem 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.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Salem more expensive than Pittsfield?
Salem is 9% more expensive than Pittsfield. The overall cost index is 103.6 vs 95.1 (national average = 100).
What salary in Salem equals $100K in Pittsfield?
A $100,000 salary in Pittsfield has the same purchasing power as $108,983 in Salem. This is based on the BEA Regional Price Parity indexes.
How do rents compare between Pittsfield and Salem?
Rents in Pittsfield are indexed at 73.5 while Salem is at 110.3 (national average = 100). Salem 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.