Overall
- Salem
- 103.6
- Urban Honolulu
- 111.0
Diff +7.3 RPP
Salem vs Urban Honolulu
Cost of living comparison based on BEA Regional Price Parities. Urban Honolulu is 7.1% more expensive than Salem.
7.1% more expensive
Urban Honolulu, HI is 7.1% more expensive than Salem, OR on BEA Regional Price Parities (overall RPP 111.0 vs 103.6). A $100,000 salary in Salem buys about the same as $107,055 in Urban Honolulu; the largest component gap is services.
- Overall RPP 103.6 (Salem) vs 111.0 (Urban Honolulu)
- $100k in Salem ≈ $107,055 purchasing power in Urban Honolulu
- Services drives the gap (+82.6 RPP points)
RPP parity plate
Pair OR:HI 103.6→111.0
TIER-NEAR · CROSS-STATE · SERVICES-LED · BOTH-ABOVE · PP-SHIFT
- TIER-NEAR Near tier
- CROSS-STATE OR × HI
- SERVICES-LED Services-led gap
- BOTH-ABOVE Both above 100
- 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
Both metros exceed the U.S. benchmark of 100. The choice is between two national premiums, so local wages need to clear the higher baseline in either market.
Urban Honolulu, HI is 7.1% more expensive than Salem, OR, a meaningful but not extreme shift. The move decision turns on which budget category creates the 7.3-point overall gap.
Services leads the difference, with Urban Honolulu 82.6 points higher 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 $107,055 in Urban Honolulu, but it is not a personal spending weight.
How the Price Gap Changed
Salem and Urban Honolulu share 17 published annual releases from 2008 through 2024. Their overall gap narrowed, moving from 17.7 to 7.3 RPP points. Urban Honolulu remained the higher-index metro in the latest release.
Services changed the most within this pair: its gap moved 93.3 points between the first and latest shared releases (175.9 to 82.6 points). This describes a relative price-index history, not a forecast or a household budget.
| Release Year | Salem RPP | Urban Honolulu RPP | Relative Gap |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2008 | 94.1 | 111.9 | 17.7 points Urban Honolulu higher |
| 2012 | 101.1 | 112.4 | 11.3 points Urban Honolulu higher |
| 2016 | 97.1 | 113.4 | 16.3 points Urban Honolulu higher |
| 2020 | 100.9 | 115.7 | 14.7 points Urban Honolulu higher |
| 2024 | 103.6 | 111.0 | 7.3 points Urban Honolulu 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
- Salem
- 105.3
- Urban Honolulu
- 111.6
Diff +6.3 RPP
Services
- Salem
- 104.7
- Urban Honolulu
- 187.3
Diff +82.6 RPP
Rents
- Salem
- 110.3
- Urban Honolulu
- 135.5
Diff +25.2 RPP
| Category | Salem | Urban Honolulu | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Overall | 103.6 | 111.0 | +7.3 |
| Goods | 105.3 | 111.6 | +6.3 |
| Services | 104.7 | 187.3 | +82.6 |
| Rents | 110.3 | 135.5 | +25.2 |
Visual Comparison
Overall
Salem 103.6
Urban Honolulu 111.0
Goods
Salem 105.3
Urban Honolulu 111.6
Services
Salem 104.7
Urban Honolulu 187.3
Rents
Salem 110.3
Urban Honolulu 135.5
Vertical line = national average (100)
Salary Equivalents
What a salary in Salem would need to be in Urban Honolulu for the same purchasing power:
| In Salem | In Urban Honolulu | Difference |
|---|---|---|
| $50,000 | $53,527 | +$3,527 |
| $75,000 | $80,291 | +$5,291 |
| $100,000 | $107,055 | +$7,055 |
| $150,000 | $160,582 | +$10,582 |
$ in Salem = in Urban Honolulu
Same BEA Regional Price Parity ratio as the table above (103.6 → 111.0), computed live from your number, nothing is sent anywhere.
Salem
103.6
Cost Index
Urban Honolulu
111.0
Cost Index
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Urban Honolulu more expensive than Salem?
Urban Honolulu is 7.1% more expensive than Salem. The overall cost index is 111.0 vs 103.6 (national average = 100).
What salary in Urban Honolulu equals $100K in Salem?
A $100,000 salary in Salem has the same purchasing power as $107,055 in Urban Honolulu. This is based on the BEA Regional Price Parity indexes.
How do rents compare between Salem and Urban Honolulu?
Rents in Salem are indexed at 110.3 while Urban Honolulu is at 135.5 (national average = 100). Urban Honolulu 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.