Overall
- Santa Fe
- 98.8
- Fort Collins-Loveland
- 101.1
Diff +2.4 RPP
Santa Fe vs Fort Collins-Loveland
Cost of living comparison based on BEA Regional Price Parities. Fort Collins-Loveland is 2.4% more expensive than Santa Fe.
2.4% more expensive
Fort Collins-Loveland, CO is 2.4% more expensive than Santa Fe, NM on BEA Regional Price Parities (overall RPP 101.1 vs 98.8). A $100,000 salary in Santa Fe buys about the same as $102,390 in Fort Collins-Loveland; the largest component gap is rents.
- Overall RPP 98.8 (Santa Fe) vs 101.1 (Fort Collins-Loveland)
- $100k in Santa Fe ≈ $102,390 purchasing power in Fort Collins-Loveland
- Rents drives the gap (+12.6 RPP points)
RPP parity plate
Pair NM:CO 98.8→101.1
TIER-NEAR · CROSS-STATE · SPLIT-BUDGET · BENCH-CROSS · PP-PAR
- TIER-NEAR Near tier
- CROSS-STATE NM × CO
- SPLIT-BUDGET Split budget
- BENCH-CROSS Benchmark cross
- 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.
Category Breakdown
Goods
- Santa Fe
- 96.1
Diff -0.1 RPP
Services
- Santa Fe
- 76.7
Diff +5.5 RPP
Rents
- Santa Fe
- 108.0
- Fort Collins-Loveland
- 120.6
Diff +12.6 RPP
| Category | Santa Fe | Fort Collins-Loveland | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Overall | 98.8 | 101.1 | +2.4 |
| Goods | 96.1 | 96.1 | -0.1 |
| Services | 76.7 | 82.2 | +5.5 |
| Rents | 108.0 | 120.6 | +12.6 |
Visual Comparison
Overall
Santa Fe 98.8
Fort Collins-Loveland 101.1
Goods
Santa Fe 96.1
Fort Collins-Loveland 96.1
Services
Santa Fe 76.7
Fort Collins-Loveland 82.2
Rents
Santa Fe 108.0
Fort Collins-Loveland 120.6
Vertical line = national average (100)
What This Comparison Actually Tells You
Rents creates the largest separation: Fort Collins-Loveland is 12.6 points higher. But goods move against the overall direction, so this is a split budget rather than a clean across-the-board winner.
Fort Collins-Loveland, CO is 2.4% more expensive than Santa Fe, NM, a meaningful but not extreme shift. The move decision turns on which budget category creates the 2.4-point overall gap.
This route crosses the national benchmark: Fort Collins-Loveland is above 100 while Santa Fe 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 Santa Fe corresponds to $102,390 in Fort Collins-Loveland.
Santa Fe
98.8
Cost Index
Fort Collins-Loveland
101.1
Cost Index
Salary Equivalents
What a salary in Santa Fe would need to be in Fort Collins-Loveland for the same purchasing power:
| In Santa Fe | In Fort Collins-Loveland | Difference |
|---|---|---|
| $50,000 | $51,195 | +$1,195 |
| $75,000 | $76,793 | +$1,793 |
| $100,000 | $102,390 | +$2,390 |
| $150,000 | $153,586 | +$3,586 |
$ in Santa Fe = in Fort Collins-Loveland
Same BEA Regional Price Parity ratio as the table above (98.8 → 101.1), computed live from your number, nothing is sent anywhere.
How the Price Gap Changed
Santa Fe and Fort Collins-Loveland share 17 published annual releases from 2008 through 2024. Their overall gap widened, moving from 0.8 to 2.4 RPP points. Fort Collins-Loveland remained the higher-index metro in the latest release.
Rents changed the most within this pair: its gap moved 16.9 points between the first and latest shared releases (4.3 to 12.6 points). This describes a relative price-index history, not a forecast or a household budget.
| Release Year | Santa Fe RPP | Fort Collins-Loveland RPP | Relative Gap |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2008 | 98.0 | 97.2 | 0.8 points Santa Fe higher |
| 2012 | 102.1 | 104.7 | 2.6 points Fort Collins-Loveland higher |
| 2016 | 98.4 | 101.4 | 2.9 points Fort Collins-Loveland higher |
| 2020 | 96.6 | 98.5 | 1.9 points Fort Collins-Loveland higher |
| 2024 | 98.8 | 101.1 | 2.4 points Fort Collins-Loveland 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 Fort Collins-Loveland more expensive than Santa Fe?
Fort Collins-Loveland is 2.4% more expensive than Santa Fe. The overall cost index is 101.1 vs 98.8 (national average = 100).
What salary in Fort Collins-Loveland equals $100K in Santa Fe?
A $100,000 salary in Santa Fe has the same purchasing power as $102,390 in Fort Collins-Loveland. This is based on the BEA Regional Price Parity indexes.
How do rents compare between Santa Fe and Fort Collins-Loveland?
Rents in Santa Fe are indexed at 108.0 while Fort Collins-Loveland is at 120.6 (national average = 100). Fort Collins-Loveland 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.