Overall
- Albuquerque
- 95.5
Diff -0.4 RPP
Racine-Mount Pleasant vs Albuquerque
Cost of living comparison based on BEA Regional Price Parities. Albuquerque is 0.4% less expensive than Racine-Mount Pleasant.
0.4% less expensive
Albuquerque, NM is 0.4% less expensive than Racine-Mount Pleasant, WI on BEA Regional Price Parities (overall RPP 95.5 vs 96.0). A $100,000 salary in Racine-Mount Pleasant buys about the same as $99,568 in Albuquerque; the largest component gap is services.
- Overall RPP 96.0 (Racine-Mount Pleasant) vs 95.5 (Albuquerque)
- $100k in Racine-Mount Pleasant ≈ $99,568 purchasing power in Albuquerque
- Services drives the gap (-12.2 RPP points)
RPP parity plate
Pair WI:NM 96.0→95.5
PHOTO-FINISH · CROSS-STATE · SPLIT-BUDGET · BOTH-BELOW · PP-PAR
- PHOTO-FINISH Photo finish
- CROSS-STATE WI × NM
- 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.
Racine-Mount Pleasant
96.0
Cost Index
Albuquerque
95.5
Cost Index
What This Comparison Actually Tells You
Racine-Mount Pleasant, WI and Albuquerque, NM 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: Albuquerque is 12.2 points lower. But 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 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 Racine-Mount Pleasant to $99,568 in Albuquerque, but it is not a personal spending weight.
Category Breakdown
Goods
- Albuquerque
- 96.1
Diff +2.4 RPP
Services
- Albuquerque
- 77.9
Diff -12.2 RPP
Rents
- Albuquerque
- 89.2
Diff -2.9 RPP
| Category | Racine-Mount Pleasant | Albuquerque | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Overall | 96.0 | 95.5 | -0.4 |
| Goods | 93.8 | 96.1 | +2.4 |
| Services | 90.0 | 77.9 | -12.2 |
| Rents | 92.0 | 89.2 | -2.9 |
Visual Comparison
Overall
Racine-Mount Pleasant 96.0
Albuquerque 95.5
Goods
Racine-Mount Pleasant 93.8
Albuquerque 96.1
Services
Racine-Mount Pleasant 90.0
Albuquerque 77.9
Rents
Racine-Mount Pleasant 92.0
Albuquerque 89.2
Vertical line = national average (100)
How the Price Gap Changed
Racine-Mount Pleasant and Albuquerque share 17 published annual releases from 2008 through 2024. Their overall gap narrowed, moving from 0.6 to 0.4 RPP points. Racine-Mount Pleasant remained the higher-index metro in the latest release.
Rents changed the most within this pair: its gap moved 10.0 points between the first and latest shared releases (7.2 to 2.9 points). This describes a relative price-index history, not a forecast or a household budget.
| Release Year | Racine-Mount Pleasant RPP | Albuquerque RPP | Relative Gap |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2008 | 96.3 | 97.0 | 0.6 points Albuquerque higher |
| 2012 | 94.4 | 99.6 | 5.1 points Albuquerque higher |
| 2016 | 94.6 | 96.6 | 2.0 points Albuquerque higher |
| 2020 | 93.9 | 94.2 | 0.3 points Albuquerque higher |
| 2024 | 96.0 | 95.5 | 0.4 points Racine-Mount Pleasant 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 Racine-Mount Pleasant would need to be in Albuquerque for the same purchasing power:
| In Racine-Mount Pleasant | In Albuquerque | Difference |
|---|---|---|
| $50,000 | $49,784 | $-216 |
| $75,000 | $74,676 | $-324 |
| $100,000 | $99,568 | $-432 |
| $150,000 | $149,351 | $-649 |
$ in Racine-Mount Pleasant = in Albuquerque
Same BEA Regional Price Parity ratio as the table above (96.0 → 95.5), computed live from your number, nothing is sent anywhere.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Albuquerque more expensive than Racine-Mount Pleasant?
Albuquerque is 0.4% less expensive than Racine-Mount Pleasant. The overall cost index is 95.5 vs 96.0 (national average = 100).
What salary in Albuquerque equals $100K in Racine-Mount Pleasant?
A $100,000 salary in Racine-Mount Pleasant has the same purchasing power as $99,568 in Albuquerque. This is based on the BEA Regional Price Parity indexes.
How do rents compare between Racine-Mount Pleasant and Albuquerque?
Rents in Racine-Mount Pleasant are indexed at 92.0 while Albuquerque is at 89.2 (national average = 100). Racine-Mount Pleasant 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.