Overall
Diff -0.3 RPP
Rockford vs Amarillo
Cost of living comparison based on BEA Regional Price Parities. Amarillo is 0.4% less expensive than Rockford.
0.4% less expensive
Amarillo, TX is 0.4% less expensive than Rockford, IL on BEA Regional Price Parities (overall RPP 91.8 vs 92.2). A $100,000 salary in Rockford buys about the same as $99,638 in Amarillo; the largest component gap is rents.
- Overall RPP 92.2 (Rockford) vs 91.8 (Amarillo)
- $100k in Rockford ≈ $99,638 purchasing power in Amarillo
- Rents drives the gap (+8.3 RPP points)
RPP parity plate
Pair IL:TX 92.2→91.8
PHOTO-FINISH · CROSS-STATE · SPLIT-BUDGET · BOTH-BELOW · PP-PAR
- PHOTO-FINISH Photo finish
- CROSS-STATE IL × TX
- 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.
Rockford
92.2
Cost Index
Amarillo
91.8
Cost Index
What This Comparison Actually Tells You
Rockford, IL and Amarillo, TX are a photo finish on overall price level, only 0.3 RPP points apart. A salary conversion is therefore a fine adjustment, not evidence of a fundamentally different cost regime.
Rents creates the largest separation: Amarillo is 8.3 points higher. But rents and 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 housing-sensitive move, validate the rent gap first: HUD Fair Market Rent and the actual unit size can overturn what the blended index implies. On the BEA ratio alone, $100,000 in Rockford corresponds to $99,638 in Amarillo.
Category Breakdown
Goods
Diff +0.1 RPP
Services
Diff -5.9 RPP
Rents
Diff +8.3 RPP
| Category | Rockford | Amarillo | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Overall | 92.2 | 91.8 | -0.3 |
| Goods | 93.6 | 93.8 | +0.1 |
| Services | 89.4 | 83.5 | -5.9 |
| Rents | 70.1 | 78.4 | +8.3 |
Visual Comparison
Overall
Rockford 92.2
Amarillo 91.8
Goods
Rockford 93.6
Amarillo 93.8
Services
Rockford 89.4
Amarillo 83.5
Rents
Rockford 70.1
Amarillo 78.4
Vertical line = national average (100)
How the Price Gap Changed
Rockford and Amarillo share 17 published annual releases from 2008 through 2024. Their overall gap held broadly steady, moving from 0.9 to 0.3 RPP points. Rockford remained the higher-index metro in the latest release.
Services changed the most within this pair: its gap moved 8.0 points between the first and latest shared releases (2.0 to 5.9 points). This describes a relative price-index history, not a forecast or a household budget.
| Release Year | Rockford RPP | Amarillo RPP | Relative Gap |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2008 | 96.7 | 95.8 | 0.9 points Rockford higher |
| 2012 | 93.9 | 96.2 | 2.3 points Amarillo higher |
| 2016 | 93.3 | 97.2 | 3.9 points Amarillo higher |
| 2020 | 91.8 | 94.5 | 2.7 points Amarillo higher |
| 2024 | 92.2 | 91.8 | 0.3 points Rockford 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 Rockford would need to be in Amarillo for the same purchasing power:
| In Rockford | In Amarillo | Difference |
|---|---|---|
| $50,000 | $49,819 | $-181 |
| $75,000 | $74,728 | $-272 |
| $100,000 | $99,638 | $-362 |
| $150,000 | $149,456 | $-544 |
$ in Rockford = in Amarillo
Same BEA Regional Price Parity ratio as the table above (92.2 → 91.8), computed live from your number, nothing is sent anywhere.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Amarillo more expensive than Rockford?
Amarillo is 0.4% less expensive than Rockford. The overall cost index is 91.8 vs 92.2 (national average = 100).
What salary in Amarillo equals $100K in Rockford?
A $100,000 salary in Rockford has the same purchasing power as $99,638 in Amarillo. This is based on the BEA Regional Price Parity indexes.
How do rents compare between Rockford and Amarillo?
Rents in Rockford are indexed at 70.1 while Amarillo is at 78.4 (national average = 100). Amarillo 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.