Overall
- Salisbury
- 95.6
Diff +0.3 RPP
Salisbury vs Racine-Mount Pleasant
Cost of living comparison based on BEA Regional Price Parities. Racine-Mount Pleasant is 0.4% more expensive than Salisbury.
0.4% more expensive
Racine-Mount Pleasant, WI is 0.4% more expensive than Salisbury, MD on BEA Regional Price Parities (overall RPP 96.0 vs 95.6). A $100,000 salary in Salisbury buys about the same as $100,360 in Racine-Mount Pleasant; the largest component gap is services.
- Overall RPP 95.6 (Salisbury) vs 96.0 (Racine-Mount Pleasant)
- $100k in Salisbury ≈ $100,360 purchasing power in Racine-Mount Pleasant
- Services drives the gap (-12.8 RPP points)
RPP parity plate
Pair MD:WI 95.6→96.0
PHOTO-FINISH · CROSS-STATE · SPLIT-BUDGET · BOTH-BELOW · PP-PAR
- PHOTO-FINISH Photo finish
- CROSS-STATE MD × WI
- 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.
Salisbury
95.6
Cost Index
Racine-Mount Pleasant
96.0
Cost Index
What This Comparison Actually Tells You
Salisbury, MD and Racine-Mount Pleasant, WI are a photo finish on overall price level, only 0.3 RPP points apart. A salary conversion is therefore a fine adjustment, not evidence of a fundamentally different cost regime.
Services creates the largest separation: Racine-Mount Pleasant is 12.8 points lower. But services and goods 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 service-heavy household, test childcare, health, and other locally supplied costs before relying on rent alone. The BEA ratio converts $100,000 in Salisbury to $100,360 in Racine-Mount Pleasant, but it is not a personal spending weight.
Category Breakdown
Goods
- Salisbury
- 96.6
Diff -2.8 RPP
Services
- Salisbury
- 102.8
Diff -12.8 RPP
Rents
- Salisbury
- 87.2
Diff +4.8 RPP
| Category | Salisbury | Racine-Mount Pleasant | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Overall | 95.6 | 96.0 | +0.3 |
| Goods | 96.6 | 93.8 | -2.8 |
| Services | 102.8 | 90.0 | -12.8 |
| Rents | 87.2 | 92.0 | +4.8 |
Visual Comparison
Overall
Salisbury 95.6
Racine-Mount Pleasant 96.0
Goods
Salisbury 96.6
Racine-Mount Pleasant 93.8
Services
Salisbury 102.8
Racine-Mount Pleasant 90.0
Rents
Salisbury 87.2
Racine-Mount Pleasant 92.0
Vertical line = national average (100)
How the Price Gap Changed
Salisbury and Racine-Mount Pleasant share 17 published annual releases from 2008 through 2024. Their overall gap narrowed, moving from 2.5 to 0.3 RPP points. Racine-Mount Pleasant remained the higher-index metro in the latest release.
Services changed the most within this pair: its gap moved 15.7 points between the first and latest shared releases (2.9 to 12.8 points). This describes a relative price-index history, not a forecast or a household budget.
| Release Year | Salisbury RPP | Racine-Mount Pleasant RPP | Relative Gap |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2008 | 93.8 | 96.3 | 2.5 points Racine-Mount Pleasant higher |
| 2012 | 92.8 | 94.4 | 1.7 points Racine-Mount Pleasant higher |
| 2016 | 91.4 | 94.6 | 3.3 points Racine-Mount Pleasant higher |
| 2020 | 91.0 | 93.9 | 2.9 points Racine-Mount Pleasant higher |
| 2024 | 95.6 | 96.0 | 0.3 points Racine-Mount Pleasant 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.
Salary Equivalents
What a salary in Salisbury would need to be in Racine-Mount Pleasant for the same purchasing power:
| In Salisbury | In Racine-Mount Pleasant | Difference |
|---|---|---|
| $50,000 | $50,180 | +$180 |
| $75,000 | $75,270 | +$270 |
| $100,000 | $100,360 | +$360 |
| $150,000 | $150,540 | +$540 |
$ in Salisbury = in Racine-Mount Pleasant
Same BEA Regional Price Parity ratio as the table above (95.6 → 96.0), computed live from your number, nothing is sent anywhere.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Racine-Mount Pleasant more expensive than Salisbury?
Racine-Mount Pleasant is 0.4% more expensive than Salisbury. The overall cost index is 96.0 vs 95.6 (national average = 100).
What salary in Racine-Mount Pleasant equals $100K in Salisbury?
A $100,000 salary in Salisbury has the same purchasing power as $100,360 in Racine-Mount Pleasant. This is based on the BEA Regional Price Parity indexes.
How do rents compare between Salisbury and Racine-Mount Pleasant?
Rents in Salisbury are indexed at 87.2 while Racine-Mount Pleasant is at 92.0 (national average = 100). Racine-Mount Pleasant 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.