Overall
Diff -0.6 RPP
Richmond vs Madison
Cost of living comparison based on BEA Regional Price Parities. Madison is 0.6% less expensive than Richmond.
0.6% less expensive
Madison, WI is 0.6% less expensive than Richmond, VA on BEA Regional Price Parities (overall RPP 97.3 vs 97.9). A $100,000 salary in Richmond buys about the same as $99,417 in Madison; the largest component gap is goods.
- Overall RPP 97.9 (Richmond) vs 97.3 (Madison)
- $100k in Richmond ≈ $99,417 purchasing power in Madison
- Goods drives the gap (-3.0 RPP points)
RPP parity plate
Pair VA:WI 97.9→97.3
PHOTO-FINISH · CROSS-STATE · SPLIT-BUDGET · BOTH-BELOW · PP-PAR
- PHOTO-FINISH Photo finish
- CROSS-STATE VA × WI
- 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.
Richmond
97.9
Cost Index
Madison
97.3
Cost Index
What This Comparison Actually Tells You
Richmond, VA and Madison, WI are a photo finish on overall price level, only 0.6 RPP points apart. A salary conversion is therefore a fine adjustment, not evidence of a fundamentally different cost regime.
Goods creates the largest separation: Madison is 3.0 points lower. But rents and services 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 goods-led difference, remember that many tradable prices vary less by address than housing or labor-priced services. Use $99,417 in Madison as the BEA equivalent of $100,000 in Richmond, then replace the national basket with your own.
Category Breakdown
Goods
Diff -3.0 RPP
Services
Diff +0.6 RPP
Rents
Diff +0.6 RPP
| Category | Richmond | Madison | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Overall | 97.9 | 97.3 | -0.6 |
| Goods | 96.8 | 93.8 | -3.0 |
| Services | 89.2 | 89.8 | +0.6 |
| Rents | 99.1 | 99.7 | +0.6 |
Visual Comparison
Overall
Richmond 97.9
Madison 97.3
Goods
Richmond 96.8
Madison 93.8
Services
Richmond 89.2
Madison 89.8
Rents
Richmond 99.1
Madison 99.7
Vertical line = national average (100)
How the Price Gap Changed
Richmond and Madison share 17 published annual releases from 2008 through 2024. Their overall gap held broadly steady, moving from 0.0 to 0.6 RPP points. Richmond remained the higher-index metro in the latest release.
Services changed the most within this pair: its gap moved 11.3 points between the first and latest shared releases (11.9 to 0.6 points). This describes a relative price-index history, not a forecast or a household budget.
| Release Year | Richmond RPP | Madison RPP | Relative Gap |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2008 | 98.1 | 98.1 | 0.0 points Madison higher |
| 2012 | 98.6 | 97.4 | 1.3 points Richmond higher |
| 2016 | 99.3 | 95.9 | 3.5 points Richmond higher |
| 2020 | 95.9 | 95.9 | 0.0 points Richmond higher |
| 2024 | 97.9 | 97.3 | 0.6 points Richmond 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 Richmond would need to be in Madison for the same purchasing power:
| In Richmond | In Madison | Difference |
|---|---|---|
| $50,000 | $49,708 | $-292 |
| $75,000 | $74,562 | $-438 |
| $100,000 | $99,417 | $-583 |
| $150,000 | $149,125 | $-875 |
$ in Richmond = in Madison
Same BEA Regional Price Parity ratio as the table above (97.9 → 97.3), computed live from your number, nothing is sent anywhere.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Madison more expensive than Richmond?
Madison is 0.6% less expensive than Richmond. The overall cost index is 97.3 vs 97.9 (national average = 100).
What salary in Madison equals $100K in Richmond?
A $100,000 salary in Richmond has the same purchasing power as $99,417 in Madison. This is based on the BEA Regional Price Parity indexes.
How do rents compare between Richmond and Madison?
Rents in Richmond are indexed at 99.1 while Madison is at 99.7 (national average = 100). Madison 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.