Overall
- Santa Fe
- 98.8
- Lansing-East Lansing
- 95.0
Diff -3.8 RPP
Santa Fe vs Lansing-East Lansing
Cost of living comparison based on BEA Regional Price Parities. Lansing-East Lansing is 3.8% less expensive than Santa Fe.
3.8% less expensive
Lansing-East Lansing, MI is 3.8% less expensive than Santa Fe, NM on BEA Regional Price Parities (overall RPP 95.0 vs 98.8). A $100,000 salary in Santa Fe buys about the same as $96,177 in Lansing-East Lansing; the largest component gap is rents.
- Overall RPP 98.8 (Santa Fe) vs 95.0 (Lansing-East Lansing)
- $100k in Santa Fe ≈ $96,177 purchasing power in Lansing-East Lansing
- Rents drives the gap (-24.5 RPP points)
RPP parity plate
Pair NM:MI 98.8→95.0
TIER-NEAR · CROSS-STATE · SPLIT-BUDGET · BOTH-BELOW · PP-SHIFT
- TIER-NEAR Near tier
- CROSS-STATE NM × MI
- 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
- Lansing-East Lansing
- 93.7
Diff -2.4 RPP
Services
- Santa Fe
- 76.7
- Lansing-East Lansing
- 95.5
Diff +18.8 RPP
Rents
- Santa Fe
- 108.0
- Lansing-East Lansing
- 83.5
Diff -24.5 RPP
| Category | Santa Fe | Lansing-East Lansing | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Overall | 98.8 | 95.0 | -3.8 |
| Goods | 96.1 | 93.7 | -2.4 |
| Services | 76.7 | 95.5 | +18.8 |
| Rents | 108.0 | 83.5 | -24.5 |
Visual Comparison
Overall
Santa Fe 98.8
Lansing-East Lansing 95.0
Goods
Santa Fe 96.1
Lansing-East Lansing 93.7
Services
Santa Fe 76.7
Lansing-East Lansing 95.5
Rents
Santa Fe 108.0
Lansing-East Lansing 83.5
Vertical line = national average (100)
What This Comparison Actually Tells You
Rents creates the largest separation: Lansing-East Lansing is 24.5 points lower. But services move against the overall direction, so this is a split budget rather than a clean across-the-board winner.
Lansing-East Lansing, MI is 3.8% less expensive than Santa Fe, NM, a meaningful but not extreme shift. The move decision turns on which budget category creates the 3.8-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 $96,177 in Lansing-East Lansing.
Santa Fe
98.8
Cost Index
Lansing-East Lansing
95.0
Cost Index
Salary Equivalents
What a salary in Santa Fe would need to be in Lansing-East Lansing for the same purchasing power:
| In Santa Fe | In Lansing-East Lansing | Difference |
|---|---|---|
| $50,000 | $48,088 | $-1,912 |
| $75,000 | $72,133 | $-2,867 |
| $100,000 | $96,177 | $-3,823 |
| $150,000 | $144,265 | $-5,735 |
$ in Santa Fe = in Lansing-East Lansing
Same BEA Regional Price Parity ratio as the table above (98.8 → 95.0), computed live from your number, nothing is sent anywhere.
How the Price Gap Changed
Santa Fe and Lansing-East Lansing share 17 published annual releases from 2008 through 2024. Their overall gap widened, moving from 0.3 to 3.8 RPP points. Santa Fe remained the higher-index metro in the latest release.
Rents changed the most within this pair: its gap moved 13.7 points between the first and latest shared releases (10.8 to 24.5 points). This describes a relative price-index history, not a forecast or a household budget.
| Release Year | Santa Fe RPP | Lansing-East Lansing RPP | Relative Gap |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2008 | 98.0 | 98.3 | 0.3 points Lansing-East Lansing higher |
| 2012 | 102.1 | 95.7 | 6.4 points Santa Fe higher |
| 2016 | 98.4 | 94.7 | 3.7 points Santa Fe higher |
| 2020 | 96.6 | 93.8 | 2.8 points Santa Fe higher |
| 2024 | 98.8 | 95.0 | 3.8 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 Lansing-East Lansing more expensive than Santa Fe?
Lansing-East Lansing is 3.8% less expensive than Santa Fe. The overall cost index is 95.0 vs 98.8 (national average = 100).
What salary in Lansing-East Lansing equals $100K in Santa Fe?
A $100,000 salary in Santa Fe has the same purchasing power as $96,177 in Lansing-East Lansing. This is based on the BEA Regional Price Parity indexes.
How do rents compare between Santa Fe and Lansing-East Lansing?
Rents in Santa Fe are indexed at 108.0 while Lansing-East Lansing is at 83.5 (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.