Overall
- Punta Gorda
- 100.5
- Port St. Lucie
- 100.2
Diff -0.3 RPP
Punta Gorda vs Port St. Lucie
Cost of living comparison based on BEA Regional Price Parities. Port St. Lucie is 0.3% less expensive than Punta Gorda.
0.3% less expensive
Port St. Lucie, FL is 0.3% less expensive than Punta Gorda, FL on BEA Regional Price Parities (overall RPP 100.2 vs 100.5). A $100,000 salary in Punta Gorda buys about the same as $99,705 in Port St. Lucie; the largest component gap is rents.
- Overall RPP 100.5 (Punta Gorda) vs 100.2 (Port St. Lucie)
- $100k in Punta Gorda ≈ $99,705 purchasing power in Port St. Lucie
- Rents drives the gap (+0.4 RPP points)
RPP parity plate
Pair FL:FL 100.5→100.2
PHOTO-FINISH · SAME-STATE · SPLIT-BUDGET · BOTH-ABOVE · PP-PAR
- PHOTO-FINISH Photo finish
- SAME-STATE Same state · FL
- SPLIT-BUDGET Split budget
- BOTH-ABOVE Both above 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.
Punta Gorda
100.5
Cost Index
Port St. Lucie
100.2
Cost Index
What This Comparison Actually Tells You
Punta Gorda, FL and Port St. Lucie, FL are a photo finish on overall price level, only 0.3 RPP points apart. A salary conversion is therefore a fine adjustment, not evidence of a fundamentally different cost regime.
Rents creates the largest separation: Port St. Lucie is 0.4 points higher. But rents and 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.
Both metros exceed the U.S. benchmark of 100. The choice is between two national premiums, so local wages need to clear the higher baseline in either market.
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 Punta Gorda corresponds to $99,705 in Port St. Lucie.
Category Breakdown
Goods
- Punta Gorda
- 96.2
- Port St. Lucie
- 96.2
Diff 0.0 RPP
Services
- Punta Gorda
- 87.3
- Port St. Lucie
- 87.0
Diff -0.3 RPP
Rents
- Punta Gorda
- 113.3
- Port St. Lucie
- 113.6
Diff +0.4 RPP
| Category | Punta Gorda | Port St. Lucie | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Overall | 100.5 | 100.2 | -0.3 |
| Goods | 96.2 | 96.2 | 0.0 |
| Services | 87.3 | 87.0 | -0.3 |
| Rents | 113.3 | 113.6 | +0.4 |
Visual Comparison
Overall
Punta Gorda 100.5
Port St. Lucie 100.2
Goods
Punta Gorda 96.2
Port St. Lucie 96.2
Services
Punta Gorda 87.3
Port St. Lucie 87.0
Rents
Punta Gorda 113.3
Port St. Lucie 113.6
Vertical line = national average (100)
How the Price Gap Changed
Punta Gorda and Port St. Lucie share 17 published annual releases from 2008 through 2024. Their overall gap narrowed, moving from 3.6 to 0.3 RPP points. Punta Gorda remained the higher-index metro in the latest release.
Rents changed the most within this pair: its gap moved 18.2 points between the first and latest shared releases (18.6 to 0.4 points). This describes a relative price-index history, not a forecast or a household budget.
| Release Year | Punta Gorda RPP | Port St. Lucie RPP | Relative Gap |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2008 | 97.5 | 101.1 | 3.6 points Port St. Lucie higher |
| 2012 | 97.9 | 99.2 | 1.3 points Port St. Lucie higher |
| 2016 | 98.7 | 100.5 | 1.8 points Port St. Lucie higher |
| 2020 | 98.9 | 98.6 | 0.2 points Punta Gorda higher |
| 2024 | 100.5 | 100.2 | 0.3 points Punta Gorda 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 Punta Gorda would need to be in Port St. Lucie for the same purchasing power:
| In Punta Gorda | In Port St. Lucie | Difference |
|---|---|---|
| $50,000 | $49,852 | $-148 |
| $75,000 | $74,778 | $-222 |
| $100,000 | $99,705 | $-295 |
| $150,000 | $149,557 | $-443 |
$ in Punta Gorda = in Port St. Lucie
Same BEA Regional Price Parity ratio as the table above (100.5 → 100.2), computed live from your number, nothing is sent anywhere.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Port St. Lucie more expensive than Punta Gorda?
Port St. Lucie is 0.3% less expensive than Punta Gorda. The overall cost index is 100.2 vs 100.5 (national average = 100).
What salary in Port St. Lucie equals $100K in Punta Gorda?
A $100,000 salary in Punta Gorda has the same purchasing power as $99,705 in Port St. Lucie. This is based on the BEA Regional Price Parity indexes.
How do rents compare between Punta Gorda and Port St. Lucie?
Rents in Punta Gorda are indexed at 113.3 while Port St. Lucie is at 113.6 (national average = 100). Port St. Lucie 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.