Overall
- Salem
- 103.6
Diff -10.1 RPP
Salem vs Scranton--Wilkes-Barre
Cost of living comparison based on BEA Regional Price Parities. Scranton--Wilkes-Barre is 9.7% less expensive than Salem.
9.7% less expensive
Scranton--Wilkes-Barre, PA is 9.7% less expensive than Salem, OR on BEA Regional Price Parities (overall RPP 93.6 vs 103.6). A $100,000 salary in Salem buys about the same as $90,262 in Scranton--Wilkes-Barre; the largest component gap is rents.
- Overall RPP 103.6 (Salem) vs 93.6 (Scranton--Wilkes-Barre)
- $100k in Salem ≈ $90,262 purchasing power in Scranton--Wilkes-Barre
- Rents drives the gap (-43.3 RPP points)
RPP parity plate
Pair OR:PA 103.6→93.6
TIER-GAP · CROSS-STATE · SPLIT-BUDGET · BENCH-CROSS · PP-SHIFT
- TIER-GAP Clear tier gap
- CROSS-STATE OR × PA
- SPLIT-BUDGET Split budget
- 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.
Category Breakdown
Goods
- Salem
- 105.3
- Scranton--Wilkes-Barre
- 100.7
Diff -4.6 RPP
Services
- Salem
- 104.7
- Scranton--Wilkes-Barre
- 106.5
Diff +1.8 RPP
Rents
- Salem
- 110.3
Diff -43.3 RPP
| Category | Salem | Scranton--Wilkes-Barre | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Overall | 103.6 | 93.6 | -10.1 |
| Goods | 105.3 | 100.7 | -4.6 |
| Services | 104.7 | 106.5 | +1.8 |
| Rents | 110.3 | 67.0 | -43.3 |
Visual Comparison
Overall
Salem 103.6
Scranton--Wilkes-Barre 93.6
Goods
Salem 105.3
Scranton--Wilkes-Barre 100.7
Services
Salem 104.7
Scranton--Wilkes-Barre 106.5
Rents
Salem 110.3
Scranton--Wilkes-Barre 67.0
Vertical line = national average (100)
What This Comparison Actually Tells You
Rents creates the largest separation: Scranton--Wilkes-Barre is 43.3 points lower. But services move against the overall direction, so this is a split budget rather than a clean across-the-board winner.
Salem, OR and Scranton--Wilkes-Barre, PA sit in clearly different price tiers, separated by 10.1 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 Scranton--Wilkes-Barre 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 Salem corresponds to $90,262 in Scranton--Wilkes-Barre.
Salem
103.6
Cost Index
Scranton--Wilkes-Barre
93.6
Cost Index
Salary Equivalents
What a salary in Salem would need to be in Scranton--Wilkes-Barre for the same purchasing power:
| In Salem | In Scranton--Wilkes-Barre | Difference |
|---|---|---|
| $50,000 | $45,131 | $-4,869 |
| $75,000 | $67,697 | $-7,303 |
| $100,000 | $90,262 | $-9,738 |
| $150,000 | $135,393 | $-14,607 |
$ in Salem = in Scranton--Wilkes-Barre
Same BEA Regional Price Parity ratio as the table above (103.6 → 93.6), computed live from your number, nothing is sent anywhere.
How the Price Gap Changed
Salem and Scranton--Wilkes-Barre share 17 published annual releases from 2008 through 2024. Their overall gap widened, moving from 0.9 to 10.1 RPP points. Salem remained the higher-index metro in the latest release.
Rents changed the most within this pair: its gap moved 27.4 points between the first and latest shared releases (16.0 to 43.3 points). This describes a relative price-index history, not a forecast or a household budget.
| Release Year | Salem RPP | Scranton--Wilkes-Barre RPP | Relative Gap |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2008 | 94.1 | 95.1 | 0.9 points Scranton--Wilkes-Barre higher |
| 2012 | 101.1 | 94.0 | 7.1 points Salem higher |
| 2016 | 97.1 | 94.8 | 2.3 points Salem higher |
| 2020 | 100.9 | 93.1 | 7.9 points Salem higher |
| 2024 | 103.6 | 93.6 | 10.1 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.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Scranton--Wilkes-Barre more expensive than Salem?
Scranton--Wilkes-Barre is 9.7% less expensive than Salem. The overall cost index is 93.6 vs 103.6 (national average = 100).
What salary in Scranton--Wilkes-Barre equals $100K in Salem?
A $100,000 salary in Salem has the same purchasing power as $90,262 in Scranton--Wilkes-Barre. This is based on the BEA Regional Price Parity indexes.
How do rents compare between Salem and Scranton--Wilkes-Barre?
Rents in Salem are indexed at 110.3 while Scranton--Wilkes-Barre is at 67.0 (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.