Overall
- Richmond
- 97.9
- Fairbanks-College
- 103.2
Diff +5.3 RPP
Richmond vs Fairbanks-College
Cost of living comparison based on BEA Regional Price Parities. Fairbanks-College is 5.5% more expensive than Richmond.
5.5% more expensive
Fairbanks-College, AK is 5.5% more expensive than Richmond, VA on BEA Regional Price Parities (overall RPP 103.2 vs 97.9). A $100,000 salary in Richmond buys about the same as $105,467 in Fairbanks-College; the largest component gap is services.
- Overall RPP 97.9 (Richmond) vs 103.2 (Fairbanks-College)
- $100k in Richmond ≈ $105,467 purchasing power in Fairbanks-College
- Services drives the gap (+30.6 RPP points)
RPP parity plate
Pair VA:AK 97.9→103.2
TIER-NEAR · CROSS-STATE · SPLIT-BUDGET · BENCH-CROSS · PP-SHIFT
- TIER-NEAR Near tier
- CROSS-STATE VA × AK
- 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
- Richmond
- 96.8
- Fairbanks-College
- 107.3
Diff +10.6 RPP
Services
- Richmond
- 89.2
- Fairbanks-College
- 119.8
Diff +30.6 RPP
Rents
- Richmond
- 99.1
- Fairbanks-College
- 92.6
Diff -6.6 RPP
| Category | Richmond | Fairbanks-College | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Overall | 97.9 | 103.2 | +5.3 |
| Goods | 96.8 | 107.3 | +10.6 |
| Services | 89.2 | 119.8 | +30.6 |
| Rents | 99.1 | 92.6 | -6.6 |
Visual Comparison
Overall
Richmond 97.9
Fairbanks-College 103.2
Goods
Richmond 96.8
Fairbanks-College 107.3
Services
Richmond 89.2
Fairbanks-College 119.8
Rents
Richmond 99.1
Fairbanks-College 92.6
Vertical line = national average (100)
What This Comparison Actually Tells You
Services creates the largest separation: Fairbanks-College is 30.6 points higher. But rents move against the overall direction, so this is a split budget rather than a clean across-the-board winner.
Fairbanks-College, AK is 5.5% more expensive than Richmond, VA, a meaningful but not extreme shift. The move decision turns on which budget category creates the 5.3-point overall gap.
This route crosses the national benchmark: Fairbanks-College is above 100 while Richmond 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 Richmond to $105,467 in Fairbanks-College, but it is not a personal spending weight.
Richmond
97.9
Cost Index
Fairbanks-College
103.2
Cost Index
Salary Equivalents
What a salary in Richmond would need to be in Fairbanks-College for the same purchasing power:
| In Richmond | In Fairbanks-College | Difference |
|---|---|---|
| $50,000 | $52,734 | +$2,734 |
| $75,000 | $79,100 | +$4,100 |
| $100,000 | $105,467 | +$5,467 |
| $150,000 | $158,201 | +$8,201 |
$ in Richmond = in Fairbanks-College
Same BEA Regional Price Parity ratio as the table above (97.9 → 103.2), computed live from your number, nothing is sent anywhere.
How the Price Gap Changed
Richmond and Fairbanks-College share 17 published annual releases from 2008 through 2024. Their overall gap narrowed, moving from 6.6 to 5.3 RPP points. Fairbanks-College remained the higher-index metro in the latest release.
Rents changed the most within this pair: its gap moved 26.8 points between the first and latest shared releases (20.2 to 6.6 points). This describes a relative price-index history, not a forecast or a household budget.
| Release Year | Richmond RPP | Fairbanks-College RPP | Relative Gap |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2008 | 98.1 | 104.7 | 6.6 points Fairbanks-College higher |
| 2012 | 98.6 | 97.9 | 0.7 points Richmond higher |
| 2016 | 99.3 | 100.4 | 1.1 points Fairbanks-College higher |
| 2020 | 95.9 | 99.4 | 3.5 points Fairbanks-College higher |
| 2024 | 97.9 | 103.2 | 5.3 points Fairbanks-College 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 Fairbanks-College more expensive than Richmond?
Fairbanks-College is 5.5% more expensive than Richmond. The overall cost index is 103.2 vs 97.9 (national average = 100).
What salary in Fairbanks-College equals $100K in Richmond?
A $100,000 salary in Richmond has the same purchasing power as $105,467 in Fairbanks-College. This is based on the BEA Regional Price Parity indexes.
How do rents compare between Richmond and Fairbanks-College?
Rents in Richmond are indexed at 99.1 while Fairbanks-College is at 92.6 (national average = 100). Richmond 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.