Overall
- Santa Fe
- 98.8
Diff -4.7 RPP
Santa Fe vs Lake Havasu City-Kingman
Cost of living comparison based on BEA Regional Price Parities. Lake Havasu City-Kingman is 4.7% less expensive than Santa Fe.
4.7% less expensive
Lake Havasu City-Kingman, AZ is 4.7% less expensive than Santa Fe, NM on BEA Regional Price Parities (overall RPP 94.1 vs 98.8). A $100,000 salary in Santa Fe buys about the same as $95,273 in Lake Havasu City-Kingman; the largest component gap is rents.
- Overall RPP 98.8 (Santa Fe) vs 94.1 (Lake Havasu City-Kingman)
- $100k in Santa Fe ≈ $95,273 purchasing power in Lake Havasu City-Kingman
- Rents drives the gap (-28.2 RPP points)
RPP parity plate
Pair NM:AZ 98.8→94.1
TIER-NEAR · CROSS-STATE · SPLIT-BUDGET · BOTH-BELOW · PP-SHIFT
- TIER-NEAR Near tier
- CROSS-STATE NM × AZ
- SPLIT-BUDGET Split budget
- BOTH-BELOW Both below 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.
Category Breakdown
Goods
- Santa Fe
- 96.1
Diff +0.1 RPP
Services
- Santa Fe
- 76.7
Diff +12.0 RPP
Rents
- Santa Fe
- 108.0
Diff -28.2 RPP
| Category | Santa Fe | Lake Havasu City-Kingman | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Overall | 98.8 | 94.1 | -4.7 |
| Goods | 96.1 | 96.2 | +0.1 |
| Services | 76.7 | 88.7 | +12.0 |
| Rents | 108.0 | 79.8 | -28.2 |
Visual Comparison
Overall
Santa Fe 98.8
Lake Havasu City-Kingman 94.1
Goods
Santa Fe 96.1
Lake Havasu City-Kingman 96.2
Services
Santa Fe 76.7
Lake Havasu City-Kingman 88.7
Rents
Santa Fe 108.0
Lake Havasu City-Kingman 79.8
Vertical line = national average (100)
What This Comparison Actually Tells You
Rents creates the largest separation: Lake Havasu City-Kingman is 28.2 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.
Lake Havasu City-Kingman, AZ is 4.7% less expensive than Santa Fe, NM, a meaningful but not extreme shift. The move decision turns on which budget category creates the 4.7-point overall gap.
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.
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 $95,273 in Lake Havasu City-Kingman.
Santa Fe
98.8
Cost Index
Lake Havasu City-Kingman
94.1
Cost Index
Salary Equivalents
What a salary in Santa Fe would need to be in Lake Havasu City-Kingman for the same purchasing power:
| In Santa Fe | In Lake Havasu City-Kingman | Difference |
|---|---|---|
| $50,000 | $47,636 | $-2,364 |
| $75,000 | $71,455 | $-3,545 |
| $100,000 | $95,273 | $-4,727 |
| $150,000 | $142,909 | $-7,091 |
$ in Santa Fe = in Lake Havasu City-Kingman
Same BEA Regional Price Parity ratio as the table above (98.8 → 94.1), computed live from your number, nothing is sent anywhere.
How the Price Gap Changed
Santa Fe and Lake Havasu City-Kingman share 17 published annual releases from 2008 through 2024. Their overall gap held broadly steady, moving from 4.2 to 4.7 RPP points. Santa Fe remained the higher-index metro in the latest release.
Rents changed the most within this pair: its gap moved 7.9 points between the first and latest shared releases (20.4 to 28.2 points). This describes a relative price-index history, not a forecast or a household budget.
| Release Year | Santa Fe RPP | Lake Havasu City-Kingman RPP | Relative Gap |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2008 | 98.0 | 93.8 | 4.2 points Santa Fe higher |
| 2012 | 102.1 | 95.5 | 6.6 points Santa Fe higher |
| 2016 | 98.4 | 93.0 | 5.5 points Santa Fe higher |
| 2020 | 96.6 | 87.7 | 8.9 points Santa Fe higher |
| 2024 | 98.8 | 94.1 | 4.7 points Santa Fe 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 Lake Havasu City-Kingman more expensive than Santa Fe?
Lake Havasu City-Kingman is 4.7% less expensive than Santa Fe. The overall cost index is 94.1 vs 98.8 (national average = 100).
What salary in Lake Havasu City-Kingman equals $100K in Santa Fe?
A $100,000 salary in Santa Fe has the same purchasing power as $95,273 in Lake Havasu City-Kingman. This is based on the BEA Regional Price Parity indexes.
How do rents compare between Santa Fe and Lake Havasu City-Kingman?
Rents in Santa Fe are indexed at 108.0 while Lake Havasu City-Kingman is at 79.8 (national average = 100). Santa Fe 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.