Overall
- Rocky Mount
- 88.0
- Naples-Marco Island
- 103.2
Diff +15.2 RPP
Rocky Mount vs Naples-Marco Island
Cost of living comparison based on BEA Regional Price Parities. Naples-Marco Island is 17.3% more expensive than Rocky Mount.
17.3% more expensive
Naples-Marco Island, FL is 17.3% more expensive than Rocky Mount, NC on BEA Regional Price Parities (overall RPP 103.2 vs 88.0). A $100,000 salary in Rocky Mount buys about the same as $117,257 in Naples-Marco Island; the largest component gap is rents.
- Overall RPP 88.0 (Rocky Mount) vs 103.2 (Naples-Marco Island)
- $100k in Rocky Mount ≈ $117,257 purchasing power in Naples-Marco Island
- Rents drives the gap (+73.3 RPP points)
RPP parity plate
Pair NC:FL 88.0→103.2
TIER-GAP · CROSS-STATE · SPLIT-BUDGET · BENCH-CROSS · PP-STEEP
- TIER-GAP Clear tier gap
- CROSS-STATE NC × FL
- SPLIT-BUDGET Split budget
- BENCH-CROSS Benchmark cross
- PP-STEEP Steep PP convert
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
- Rocky Mount
- 96.6
- Naples-Marco Island
- 96.2
Diff -0.4 RPP
Services
- Rocky Mount
- 88.4
- Naples-Marco Island
- 87.8
Diff -0.6 RPP
Rents
- Rocky Mount
- 56.1
- Naples-Marco Island
- 129.4
Diff +73.3 RPP
| Category | Rocky Mount | Naples-Marco Island | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Overall | 88.0 | 103.2 | +15.2 |
| Goods | 96.6 | 96.2 | -0.4 |
| Services | 88.4 | 87.8 | -0.6 |
| Rents | 56.1 | 129.4 | +73.3 |
Visual Comparison
Overall
Rocky Mount 88.0
Naples-Marco Island 103.2
Goods
Rocky Mount 96.6
Naples-Marco Island 96.2
Services
Rocky Mount 88.4
Naples-Marco Island 87.8
Rents
Rocky Mount 56.1
Naples-Marco Island 129.4
Vertical line = national average (100)
What This Comparison Actually Tells You
Rents creates the largest separation: Naples-Marco Island is 73.3 points higher. But services and goods move against the overall direction, so this is a split budget rather than a clean across-the-board winner.
Rocky Mount, NC and Naples-Marco Island, FL sit in clearly different price tiers, separated by 15.2 RPP points. At this distance, treating the same nominal salary as equivalent would materially change purchasing power.
This route crosses the national benchmark: Naples-Marco Island is above 100 while Rocky Mount 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 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 Rocky Mount corresponds to $117,257 in Naples-Marco Island.
Rocky Mount
88.0
Cost Index
Naples-Marco Island
103.2
Cost Index
Salary Equivalents
What a salary in Rocky Mount would need to be in Naples-Marco Island for the same purchasing power:
| In Rocky Mount | In Naples-Marco Island | Difference |
|---|---|---|
| $50,000 | $58,628 | +$8,628 |
| $75,000 | $87,943 | +$12,943 |
| $100,000 | $117,257 | +$17,257 |
| $150,000 | $175,885 | +$25,885 |
$ in Rocky Mount = in Naples-Marco Island
Same BEA Regional Price Parity ratio as the table above (88.0 → 103.2), computed live from your number, nothing is sent anywhere.
How the Price Gap Changed
Rocky Mount and Naples-Marco Island share 17 published annual releases from 2008 through 2024. Their overall gap held broadly steady, moving from 15.6 to 15.2 RPP points. Naples-Marco Island remained the higher-index metro in the latest release.
Services changed the most within this pair: its gap moved 6.9 points between the first and latest shared releases (6.3 to 0.6 points). This describes a relative price-index history, not a forecast or a household budget.
| Release Year | Rocky Mount RPP | Naples-Marco Island RPP | Relative Gap |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2008 | 88.7 | 104.3 | 15.6 points Naples-Marco Island higher |
| 2012 | 89.1 | 101.6 | 12.5 points Naples-Marco Island higher |
| 2016 | 87.8 | 103.8 | 15.9 points Naples-Marco Island higher |
| 2020 | 83.8 | 99.1 | 15.3 points Naples-Marco Island higher |
| 2024 | 88.0 | 103.2 | 15.2 points Naples-Marco Island 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 Naples-Marco Island more expensive than Rocky Mount?
Naples-Marco Island is 17.3% more expensive than Rocky Mount. The overall cost index is 103.2 vs 88.0 (national average = 100).
What salary in Naples-Marco Island equals $100K in Rocky Mount?
A $100,000 salary in Rocky Mount has the same purchasing power as $117,257 in Naples-Marco Island. This is based on the BEA Regional Price Parity indexes.
How do rents compare between Rocky Mount and Naples-Marco Island?
Rents in Rocky Mount are indexed at 56.1 while Naples-Marco Island is at 129.4 (national average = 100). Naples-Marco Island 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.