Overall
- Punta Gorda
- 100.5
- Santa Fe
- 98.8
Diff -1.8 RPP
Punta Gorda vs Santa Fe
Cost of living comparison based on BEA Regional Price Parities. Santa Fe is 1.7% less expensive than Punta Gorda.
1.7% less expensive
Santa Fe, NM is 1.7% less expensive than Punta Gorda, FL on BEA Regional Price Parities (overall RPP 98.8 vs 100.5). A $100,000 salary in Punta Gorda buys about the same as $98,251 in Santa Fe; the largest component gap is services.
- Overall RPP 100.5 (Punta Gorda) vs 98.8 (Santa Fe)
- $100k in Punta Gorda ≈ $98,251 purchasing power in Santa Fe
- Services drives the gap (-10.6 RPP points)
RPP parity plate
Pair FL:NM 100.5→98.8
PHOTO-FINISH · CROSS-STATE · SERVICES-LED · BENCH-CROSS · PP-PAR
- PHOTO-FINISH Photo finish
- CROSS-STATE FL × NM
- SERVICES-LED Services-led gap
- BENCH-CROSS Benchmark cross
- 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
Santa Fe
98.8
Cost Index
What This Comparison Actually Tells You
Punta Gorda, FL and Santa Fe, NM are a photo finish on overall price level, only 1.8 RPP points apart. A salary conversion is therefore a fine adjustment, not evidence of a fundamentally different cost regime.
Services leads the difference, with Santa Fe 10.6 points lower than Punta Gorda. Goods, services, and rents all point in the same broad direction, making the headline comparison more transferable across household types.
Comparable population context is incomplete for this pair, so no market-scale explanation is inferred from the price indexes.
This route crosses the national benchmark: Punta Gorda is above 100 while Santa Fe is below it. That makes the move a change of price regime, not merely a rank swap.
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 Punta Gorda to $98,251 in Santa Fe, but it is not a personal spending weight.
Category Breakdown
Goods
- Punta Gorda
- 96.2
- Santa Fe
- 96.1
Diff -0.1 RPP
Services
- Punta Gorda
- 87.3
- Santa Fe
- 76.7
Diff -10.6 RPP
Rents
- Punta Gorda
- 113.3
- Santa Fe
- 108.0
Diff -5.3 RPP
| Category | Punta Gorda | Santa Fe | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Overall | 100.5 | 98.8 | -1.8 |
| Goods | 96.2 | 96.1 | -0.1 |
| Services | 87.3 | 76.7 | -10.6 |
| Rents | 113.3 | 108.0 | -5.3 |
Visual Comparison
Overall
Punta Gorda 100.5
Santa Fe 98.8
Goods
Punta Gorda 96.2
Santa Fe 96.1
Services
Punta Gorda 87.3
Santa Fe 76.7
Rents
Punta Gorda 113.3
Santa Fe 108.0
Vertical line = national average (100)
How the Price Gap Changed
Punta Gorda and Santa Fe share 17 published annual releases from 2008 through 2024. Their overall gap widened, moving from 0.5 to 1.8 RPP points. Punta Gorda remained the higher-index metro in the latest release.
Rents changed the most within this pair: its gap moved 14.4 points between the first and latest shared releases (9.1 to 5.3 points). This describes a relative price-index history, not a forecast or a household budget.
| Release Year | Punta Gorda RPP | Santa Fe RPP | Relative Gap |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2008 | 97.5 | 98.0 | 0.5 points Santa Fe higher |
| 2012 | 97.9 | 102.1 | 4.2 points Santa Fe higher |
| 2016 | 98.7 | 98.4 | 0.3 points Punta Gorda higher |
| 2020 | 98.9 | 96.6 | 2.2 points Punta Gorda higher |
| 2024 | 100.5 | 98.8 | 1.8 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 Santa Fe for the same purchasing power:
| In Punta Gorda | In Santa Fe | Difference |
|---|---|---|
| $50,000 | $49,126 | $-874 |
| $75,000 | $73,688 | $-1,312 |
| $100,000 | $98,251 | $-1,749 |
| $150,000 | $147,377 | $-2,623 |
$ in Punta Gorda = in Santa Fe
Same BEA Regional Price Parity ratio as the table above (100.5 → 98.8), computed live from your number, nothing is sent anywhere.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Santa Fe more expensive than Punta Gorda?
Santa Fe is 1.7% less expensive than Punta Gorda. The overall cost index is 98.8 vs 100.5 (national average = 100).
What salary in Santa Fe equals $100K in Punta Gorda?
A $100,000 salary in Punta Gorda has the same purchasing power as $98,251 in Santa Fe. This is based on the BEA Regional Price Parity indexes.
How do rents compare between Punta Gorda and Santa Fe?
Rents in Punta Gorda are indexed at 113.3 while Santa Fe is at 108.0 (national average = 100). Punta Gorda 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.