Overall
- Barnstable Town
- 98.4
Diff -12.1 RPP
San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara vs Barnstable Town
Cost of living comparison based on BEA Regional Price Parities. Barnstable Town is 10.9% less expensive than San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara.
10.9% less expensive
Barnstable Town, MA is 10.9% less expensive than San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, CA on BEA Regional Price Parities (overall RPP 98.4 vs 110.4). A $100,000 salary in San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara buys about the same as $89,067 in Barnstable Town; the largest component gap is rents.
- Overall RPP 110.4 (San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara) vs 98.4 (Barnstable Town)
- $100k in San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara ≈ $89,067 purchasing power in Barnstable Town
- Rents drives the gap (-121.9 RPP points)
RPP parity plate
Pair CA:MA 110.4→98.4
TIER-GAP · CROSS-STATE · SPLIT-BUDGET · BENCH-CROSS · PP-SHIFT
- TIER-GAP Clear tier gap
- CROSS-STATE CA × MA
- 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
- Barnstable Town
- 97.0
Diff -8.2 RPP
Services
- Barnstable Town
- 158.4
Diff +1.8 RPP
Rents
- Barnstable Town
- 90.0
Diff -121.9 RPP
| Category | San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara | Barnstable Town | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Overall | 110.4 | 98.4 | -12.1 |
| Goods | 105.2 | 97.0 | -8.2 |
| Services | 156.7 | 158.4 | +1.8 |
| Rents | 211.9 | 90.0 | -121.9 |
Visual Comparison
Overall
San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara 110.4
Barnstable Town 98.4
Goods
San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara 105.2
Barnstable Town 97.0
Services
San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara 156.7
Barnstable Town 158.4
Rents
San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara 211.9
Barnstable Town 90.0
Vertical line = national average (100)
What This Comparison Actually Tells You
Rents creates the largest separation: Barnstable Town is 121.9 points lower. But services move against the overall direction, so this is a split budget rather than a clean across-the-board winner.
San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, CA and Barnstable Town, MA 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: San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara is above 100 while Barnstable Town 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 San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara corresponds to $89,067 in Barnstable Town.
San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara
110.4
Cost Index
Barnstable Town
98.4
Cost Index
Salary Equivalents
What a salary in San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara would need to be in Barnstable Town for the same purchasing power:
| In San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara | In Barnstable Town | Difference |
|---|---|---|
| $50,000 | $44,534 | $-5,466 |
| $75,000 | $66,801 | $-8,199 |
| $100,000 | $89,067 | $-10,933 |
| $150,000 | $133,601 | $-16,399 |
$ in San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara = in Barnstable Town
Same BEA Regional Price Parity ratio as the table above (110.4 → 98.4), computed live from your number, nothing is sent anywhere.
How the Price Gap Changed
San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara and Barnstable Town share 17 published annual releases from 2008 through 2024. Their overall gap narrowed, moving from 16.5 to 12.1 RPP points. San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara remained the higher-index metro in the latest release.
Rents changed the most within this pair: its gap moved 24.4 points between the first and latest shared releases (97.5 to 121.9 points). This describes a relative price-index history, not a forecast or a household budget.
| Release Year | San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara RPP | Barnstable Town RPP | Relative Gap |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2008 | 119.3 | 102.8 | 16.5 points San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara higher |
| 2012 | 113.4 | 100.9 | 12.4 points San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara higher |
| 2016 | 117.7 | 105.8 | 11.9 points San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara higher |
| 2020 | 113.5 | 101.3 | 12.2 points San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara higher |
| 2024 | 110.4 | 98.4 | 12.1 points San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara 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 Barnstable Town more expensive than San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara?
Barnstable Town is 10.9% less expensive than San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara. The overall cost index is 98.4 vs 110.4 (national average = 100).
What salary in Barnstable Town equals $100K in San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara?
A $100,000 salary in San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara has the same purchasing power as $89,067 in Barnstable Town. This is based on the BEA Regional Price Parity indexes.
How do rents compare between San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara and Barnstable Town?
Rents in San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara are indexed at 211.9 while Barnstable Town is at 90.0 (national average = 100). San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara 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.