Overall
- Santa Fe
- 98.8
- Lewiston-Auburn
- 94.7
Diff -4.0 RPP
Santa Fe vs Lewiston-Auburn
Cost of living comparison based on BEA Regional Price Parities. Lewiston-Auburn is 4.1% less expensive than Santa Fe.
4.1% less expensive
Lewiston-Auburn, ME is 4.1% less expensive than Santa Fe, NM on BEA Regional Price Parities (overall RPP 94.7 vs 98.8). A $100,000 salary in Santa Fe buys about the same as $95,919 in Lewiston-Auburn; the largest component gap is services.
- Overall RPP 98.8 (Santa Fe) vs 94.7 (Lewiston-Auburn)
- $100k in Santa Fe ≈ $95,919 purchasing power in Lewiston-Auburn
- Services drives the gap (+57.7 RPP points)
RPP parity plate
Pair NM:ME 98.8→94.7
TIER-NEAR · CROSS-STATE · SPLIT-BUDGET · BOTH-BELOW · PP-SHIFT
- TIER-NEAR Near tier
- CROSS-STATE NM × ME
- 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
- Lewiston-Auburn
- 97.2
Diff +1.0 RPP
Services
- Santa Fe
- 76.7
- Lewiston-Auburn
- 134.4
Diff +57.7 RPP
Rents
- Santa Fe
- 108.0
- Lewiston-Auburn
- 69.0
Diff -39.0 RPP
| Category | Santa Fe | Lewiston-Auburn | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Overall | 98.8 | 94.7 | -4.0 |
| Goods | 96.1 | 97.2 | +1.0 |
| Services | 76.7 | 134.4 | +57.7 |
| Rents | 108.0 | 69.0 | -39.0 |
Visual Comparison
Overall
Santa Fe 98.8
Lewiston-Auburn 94.7
Goods
Santa Fe 96.1
Lewiston-Auburn 97.2
Services
Santa Fe 76.7
Lewiston-Auburn 134.4
Rents
Santa Fe 108.0
Lewiston-Auburn 69.0
Vertical line = national average (100)
What This Comparison Actually Tells You
Services creates the largest separation: Lewiston-Auburn is 57.7 points higher. But services and goods move against the overall direction, so this is a split budget rather than a clean across-the-board winner.
Lewiston-Auburn, ME is 4.1% less expensive than Santa Fe, NM, a meaningful but not extreme shift. The move decision turns on which budget category creates the 4.0-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 service-heavy household, test childcare, health, and other locally supplied costs before relying on rent alone. The BEA ratio converts $100,000 in Santa Fe to $95,919 in Lewiston-Auburn, but it is not a personal spending weight.
Santa Fe
98.8
Cost Index
Lewiston-Auburn
94.7
Cost Index
Salary Equivalents
What a salary in Santa Fe would need to be in Lewiston-Auburn for the same purchasing power:
| In Santa Fe | In Lewiston-Auburn | Difference |
|---|---|---|
| $50,000 | $47,959 | $-2,041 |
| $75,000 | $71,939 | $-3,061 |
| $100,000 | $95,919 | $-4,081 |
| $150,000 | $143,878 | $-6,122 |
$ in Santa Fe = in Lewiston-Auburn
Same BEA Regional Price Parity ratio as the table above (98.8 → 94.7), computed live from your number, nothing is sent anywhere.
How the Price Gap Changed
Santa Fe and Lewiston-Auburn share 17 published annual releases from 2008 through 2024. Their overall gap widened, moving from 0.3 to 4.0 RPP points. Santa Fe remained the higher-index metro in the latest release.
Rents changed the most within this pair: its gap moved 14.6 points between the first and latest shared releases (24.4 to 39.0 points). This describes a relative price-index history, not a forecast or a household budget.
| Release Year | Santa Fe RPP | Lewiston-Auburn RPP | Relative Gap |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2008 | 98.0 | 97.7 | 0.3 points Santa Fe higher |
| 2012 | 102.1 | 98.8 | 3.4 points Santa Fe higher |
| 2016 | 98.4 | 96.6 | 1.9 points Santa Fe higher |
| 2020 | 96.6 | 99.7 | 3.0 points Lewiston-Auburn higher |
| 2024 | 98.8 | 94.7 | 4.0 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 Lewiston-Auburn more expensive than Santa Fe?
Lewiston-Auburn is 4.1% less expensive than Santa Fe. The overall cost index is 94.7 vs 98.8 (national average = 100).
What salary in Lewiston-Auburn equals $100K in Santa Fe?
A $100,000 salary in Santa Fe has the same purchasing power as $95,919 in Lewiston-Auburn. This is based on the BEA Regional Price Parity indexes.
How do rents compare between Santa Fe and Lewiston-Auburn?
Rents in Santa Fe are indexed at 108.0 while Lewiston-Auburn is at 69.0 (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.