Overall
Diff -0.2 RPP
Roanoke vs Akron
Cost of living comparison based on BEA Regional Price Parities. Akron is 0.3% less expensive than Roanoke.
0.3% less expensive
Akron, OH is 0.3% less expensive than Roanoke, VA on BEA Regional Price Parities (overall RPP 93.4 vs 93.6). A $100,000 salary in Roanoke buys about the same as $99,735 in Akron; the largest component gap is services.
- Overall RPP 93.6 (Roanoke) vs 93.4 (Akron)
- $100k in Roanoke ≈ $99,735 purchasing power in Akron
- Services drives the gap (+7.5 RPP points)
RPP parity plate
Pair VA:OH 93.6→93.4
PHOTO-FINISH · CROSS-STATE · SPLIT-BUDGET · BOTH-BELOW · PP-PAR
- PHOTO-FINISH Photo finish
- CROSS-STATE VA × OH
- 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.
Roanoke
93.6
Cost Index
Akron
93.4
Cost Index
What This Comparison Actually Tells You
Roanoke, VA and Akron, OH are a photo finish on overall price level, only 0.2 RPP points apart. A salary conversion is therefore a fine adjustment, not evidence of a fundamentally different cost regime.
Services creates the largest separation: Akron is 7.5 points higher. But 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 service-heavy household, test childcare, health, and other locally supplied costs before relying on rent alone. The BEA ratio converts $100,000 in Roanoke to $99,735 in Akron, but it is not a personal spending weight.
Category Breakdown
Goods
Diff -3.1 RPP
Services
Diff +7.5 RPP
Rents
Diff -1.7 RPP
| Category | Roanoke | Akron | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Overall | 93.6 | 93.4 | -0.2 |
| Goods | 96.8 | 93.6 | -3.1 |
| Services | 88.9 | 96.4 | +7.5 |
| Rents | 78.5 | 76.8 | -1.7 |
Visual Comparison
Overall
Roanoke 93.6
Akron 93.4
Goods
Roanoke 96.8
Akron 93.6
Services
Roanoke 88.9
Akron 96.4
Rents
Roanoke 78.5
Akron 76.8
Vertical line = national average (100)
How the Price Gap Changed
Roanoke and Akron share 17 published annual releases from 2008 through 2024. Their overall gap held broadly steady, moving from 0.1 to 0.2 RPP points. Roanoke remained the higher-index metro in the latest release.
Services changed the most within this pair: its gap moved 15.8 points between the first and latest shared releases (23.3 to 7.5 points). This describes a relative price-index history, not a forecast or a household budget.
| Release Year | Roanoke RPP | Akron RPP | Relative Gap |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2008 | 92.4 | 92.5 | 0.1 points Akron higher |
| 2012 | 93.1 | 95.5 | 2.4 points Akron higher |
| 2016 | 92.0 | 95.2 | 3.2 points Akron higher |
| 2020 | 90.2 | 93.5 | 3.3 points Akron higher |
| 2024 | 93.6 | 93.4 | 0.2 points Roanoke 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 Roanoke would need to be in Akron for the same purchasing power:
| In Roanoke | In Akron | Difference |
|---|---|---|
| $50,000 | $49,868 | $-132 |
| $75,000 | $74,801 | $-199 |
| $100,000 | $99,735 | $-265 |
| $150,000 | $149,603 | $-397 |
$ in Roanoke = in Akron
Same BEA Regional Price Parity ratio as the table above (93.6 → 93.4), computed live from your number, nothing is sent anywhere.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Akron more expensive than Roanoke?
Akron is 0.3% less expensive than Roanoke. The overall cost index is 93.4 vs 93.6 (national average = 100).
What salary in Akron equals $100K in Roanoke?
A $100,000 salary in Roanoke has the same purchasing power as $99,735 in Akron. This is based on the BEA Regional Price Parity indexes.
How do rents compare between Roanoke and Akron?
Rents in Roanoke are indexed at 78.5 while Akron is at 76.8 (national average = 100). Roanoke 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.