Rockford vs Jacksonville

Cost of living comparison based on BEA Regional Price Parities. Jacksonville is 0.1% less expensive than Rockford.

0.1% less expensive

Jacksonville, NC is 0.1% less expensive than Rockford, IL on BEA Regional Price Parities (overall RPP 92.1 vs 92.2). A $100,000 salary in Rockford buys about the same as $99,925 in Jacksonville; the largest component gap is goods.

  • Overall RPP 92.2 (Rockford) vs 92.1 (Jacksonville)
  • $100k in Rockford ≈ $99,925 purchasing power in Jacksonville
  • Goods drives the gap (+3.0 RPP points)

RPP parity plate

Pair IL:NC 92.2→92.1

PHOTO-FINISH · CROSS-STATE · SPLIT-BUDGET · BOTH-BELOW · PP-PAR

  • PHOTO-FINISH Photo finish
  • CROSS-STATE IL × NC
  • 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
Jacksonville
92.1
Cost Index

What This Comparison Actually Tells You

Rockford, IL and Jacksonville, NC are a photo finish on overall price level, only 0.1 RPP points apart. A salary conversion is therefore a fine adjustment, not evidence of a fundamentally different cost regime.

Goods creates the largest separation: Jacksonville is 3.0 points higher. But goods and rents 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 $99,925 in Jacksonville as the BEA equivalent of $100,000 in Rockford, then replace the national basket with your own.

Category Breakdown

Visual Comparison

Overall
Rockford
92.2
Jacksonville
92.1
Goods
Rockford
93.6
Jacksonville
96.6
Services
Rockford
89.4
Jacksonville
87.2
Rents
Rockford
70.1
Jacksonville
72.1

Vertical line = national average (100)

Salary Equivalents

What a salary in Rockford would need to be in Jacksonville for the same purchasing power:

In Rockford In Jacksonville Difference
$50,000 $49,963 $-37
$75,000 $74,944 $-56
$100,000 $99,925 $-75
$150,000 $149,888 $-112
$ in Rockford = in Jacksonville

Same BEA Regional Price Parity ratio as the table above (92.2 → 92.1), computed live from your number, nothing is sent anywhere.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is Jacksonville more expensive than Rockford?

Jacksonville is 0.1% less expensive than Rockford. The overall cost index is 92.1 vs 92.2 (national average = 100).

What salary in Jacksonville equals $100K in Rockford?

A $100,000 salary in Rockford has the same purchasing power as $99,925 in Jacksonville. This is based on the BEA Regional Price Parity indexes.

How do rents compare between Rockford and Jacksonville?

Rents in Rockford are indexed at 70.1 while Jacksonville is at 72.1 (national average = 100). Jacksonville has higher rents.

Data sourced from official public datasets, Regional Price Parities (2024), index where national average = 100. Retrieved and formatted by PlainCost. See our methodology for details.

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.