Overall
Diff -12.1 RPP
Salem vs Lincoln
Cost of living comparison based on BEA Regional Price Parities. Lincoln is 11.6% less expensive than Salem.
11.6% less expensive
Lincoln, NE is 11.6% less expensive than Salem, OR on BEA Regional Price Parities (overall RPP 91.6 vs 103.6). A $100,000 salary in Salem buys about the same as $88,357 in Lincoln; the largest component gap is services.
- Overall RPP 103.6 (Salem) vs 91.6 (Lincoln)
- $100k in Salem ≈ $88,357 purchasing power in Lincoln
- Services drives the gap (-27.9 RPP points)
RPP parity plate
Pair OR:NE 103.6→91.6
TIER-GAP · CROSS-STATE · SERVICES-LED · BENCH-CROSS · PP-SHIFT
- TIER-GAP Clear tier gap
- CROSS-STATE OR × NE
- SERVICES-LED Services-led gap
- BENCH-CROSS Benchmark cross
- PP-SHIFT PP shift
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.
What This Comparison Actually Tells You
Salem, OR and Lincoln, NE sit in clearly different price tiers, separated by 12.1 RPP points. At this distance, treating the same nominal salary as equivalent would materially change purchasing power.
This route crosses the national benchmark: Salem is above 100 while Lincoln is below it. That makes the move a change of price regime, not merely a rank swap.
Services leads the difference, with Lincoln 27.9 points lower than Salem. Goods, services, and rents all point in the same broad direction, making the headline comparison more transferable across household types.
Comparable population context is incomplete for this pair, so no market-scale explanation is inferred from the price indexes.
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 Salem to $88,357 in Lincoln, but it is not a personal spending weight.
How the Price Gap Changed
Salem and Lincoln share 17 published annual releases from 2008 through 2024. Their overall gap widened, moving from 0.8 to 12.1 RPP points. Salem remained the higher-index metro in the latest release.
Rents changed the most within this pair: its gap moved 22.7 points between the first and latest shared releases (3.4 to 26.1 points). This describes a relative price-index history, not a forecast or a household budget.
| Release Year | Salem RPP | Lincoln RPP | Relative Gap |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2008 | 94.1 | 95.0 | 0.8 points Lincoln higher |
| 2012 | 101.1 | 93.8 | 7.2 points Salem higher |
| 2016 | 97.1 | 93.3 | 3.9 points Salem higher |
| 2020 | 100.9 | 95.2 | 5.7 points Salem higher |
| 2024 | 103.6 | 91.6 | 12.1 points Salem 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.
Category Breakdown
Goods
Diff -11.2 RPP
Services
Diff -27.9 RPP
Rents
Diff -26.1 RPP
| Category | Salem | Lincoln | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Overall | 103.6 | 91.6 | -12.1 |
| Goods | 105.3 | 94.1 | -11.2 |
| Services | 104.7 | 76.8 | -27.9 |
| Rents | 110.3 | 84.2 | -26.1 |
Visual Comparison
Overall
Salem 103.6
Lincoln 91.6
Goods
Salem 105.3
Lincoln 94.1
Services
Salem 104.7
Lincoln 76.8
Rents
Salem 110.3
Lincoln 84.2
Vertical line = national average (100)
Salary Equivalents
What a salary in Salem would need to be in Lincoln for the same purchasing power:
| In Salem | In Lincoln | Difference |
|---|---|---|
| $50,000 | $44,178 | $-5,822 |
| $75,000 | $66,268 | $-8,732 |
| $100,000 | $88,357 | $-11,643 |
| $150,000 | $132,535 | $-17,465 |
$ in Salem = in Lincoln
Same BEA Regional Price Parity ratio as the table above (103.6 → 91.6), computed live from your number, nothing is sent anywhere.
Salem
103.6
Cost Index
Lincoln
91.6
Cost Index
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Lincoln more expensive than Salem?
Lincoln is 11.6% less expensive than Salem. The overall cost index is 91.6 vs 103.6 (national average = 100).
What salary in Lincoln equals $100K in Salem?
A $100,000 salary in Salem has the same purchasing power as $88,357 in Lincoln. This is based on the BEA Regional Price Parity indexes.
How do rents compare between Salem and Lincoln?
Rents in Salem are indexed at 110.3 while Lincoln is at 84.2 (national average = 100). Salem 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.