Overall
Diff -0.3 RPP
Scranton--Wilkes-Barre vs Greenville-Anderson-Greer
Cost of living comparison based on BEA Regional Price Parities. Greenville-Anderson-Greer is 0.3% less expensive than Scranton--Wilkes-Barre.
0.3% less expensive
Greenville-Anderson-Greer, SC is 0.3% less expensive than Scranton--Wilkes-Barre, PA on BEA Regional Price Parities (overall RPP 93.3 vs 93.6). A $100,000 salary in Scranton--Wilkes-Barre buys about the same as $99,684 in Greenville-Anderson-Greer; the largest component gap is services.
- Overall RPP 93.6 (Scranton--Wilkes-Barre) vs 93.3 (Greenville-Anderson-Greer)
- $100k in Scranton--Wilkes-Barre ≈ $99,684 purchasing power in Greenville-Anderson-Greer
- Services drives the gap (-17.8 RPP points)
RPP parity plate
Pair PA:SC 93.6→93.3
PHOTO-FINISH · CROSS-STATE · SPLIT-BUDGET · BOTH-BELOW · PP-PAR
- PHOTO-FINISH Photo finish
- CROSS-STATE PA × SC
- SPLIT-BUDGET Split budget
- BOTH-BELOW Both below 100
- 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.
Scranton--Wilkes-Barre
93.6
Cost Index
Greenville-Anderson-Greer
93.3
Cost Index
What This Comparison Actually Tells You
Scranton--Wilkes-Barre, PA and Greenville-Anderson-Greer, SC are a photo finish on overall price level, only 0.3 RPP points apart. A salary conversion is therefore a fine adjustment, not evidence of a fundamentally different cost regime.
Services creates the largest separation: Greenville-Anderson-Greer is 17.8 points lower. But rents move against the overall direction, so this is a split budget rather than a clean across-the-board winner.
Comparable population context is incomplete for this pair, so no market-scale explanation is inferred from the price indexes.
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.
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 Scranton--Wilkes-Barre to $99,684 in Greenville-Anderson-Greer, but it is not a personal spending weight.
Category Breakdown
Goods
- Scranton--Wilkes-Barre
- 100.7
Diff -4.3 RPP
Services
- Scranton--Wilkes-Barre
- 106.5
Diff -17.8 RPP
Rents
Diff +9.8 RPP
| Category | Scranton--Wilkes-Barre | Greenville-Anderson-Greer | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Overall | 93.6 | 93.3 | -0.3 |
| Goods | 100.7 | 96.3 | -4.3 |
| Services | 106.5 | 88.8 | -17.8 |
| Rents | 67.0 | 76.8 | +9.8 |
Visual Comparison
Overall
Scranton--Wilkes-Barre 93.6
Greenville-Anderson-Greer 93.3
Goods
Scranton--Wilkes-Barre 100.7
Greenville-Anderson-Greer 96.3
Services
Scranton--Wilkes-Barre 106.5
Greenville-Anderson-Greer 88.8
Rents
Scranton--Wilkes-Barre 67.0
Greenville-Anderson-Greer 76.8
Vertical line = national average (100)
How the Price Gap Changed
Scranton--Wilkes-Barre and Greenville-Anderson-Greer share 17 published annual releases from 2008 through 2024. Their overall gap narrowed, moving from 3.7 to 0.3 RPP points. Scranton--Wilkes-Barre remained the higher-index metro in the latest release.
Rents changed the most within this pair: its gap moved 10.8 points between the first and latest shared releases (0.9 to 9.8 points). This describes a relative price-index history, not a forecast or a household budget.
| Release Year | Scranton--Wilkes-Barre RPP | Greenville-Anderson-Greer RPP | Relative Gap |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2008 | 95.1 | 91.3 | 3.7 points Scranton--Wilkes-Barre higher |
| 2012 | 94.0 | 93.2 | 0.8 points Scranton--Wilkes-Barre higher |
| 2016 | 94.8 | 93.7 | 1.1 points Scranton--Wilkes-Barre higher |
| 2020 | 93.1 | 90.3 | 2.8 points Scranton--Wilkes-Barre higher |
| 2024 | 93.6 | 93.3 | 0.3 points Scranton--Wilkes-Barre 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.
Salary Equivalents
What a salary in Scranton--Wilkes-Barre would need to be in Greenville-Anderson-Greer for the same purchasing power:
| In Scranton--Wilkes-Barre | In Greenville-Anderson-Greer | Difference |
|---|---|---|
| $50,000 | $49,842 | $-158 |
| $75,000 | $74,763 | $-237 |
| $100,000 | $99,684 | $-316 |
| $150,000 | $149,525 | $-475 |
$ in Scranton--Wilkes-Barre = in Greenville-Anderson-Greer
Same BEA Regional Price Parity ratio as the table above (93.6 → 93.3), computed live from your number, nothing is sent anywhere.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Greenville-Anderson-Greer more expensive than Scranton--Wilkes-Barre?
Greenville-Anderson-Greer is 0.3% less expensive than Scranton--Wilkes-Barre. The overall cost index is 93.3 vs 93.6 (national average = 100).
What salary in Greenville-Anderson-Greer equals $100K in Scranton--Wilkes-Barre?
A $100,000 salary in Scranton--Wilkes-Barre has the same purchasing power as $99,684 in Greenville-Anderson-Greer. This is based on the BEA Regional Price Parity indexes.
How do rents compare between Scranton--Wilkes-Barre and Greenville-Anderson-Greer?
Rents in Scranton--Wilkes-Barre are indexed at 67.0 while Greenville-Anderson-Greer is at 76.8 (national average = 100). Greenville-Anderson-Greer 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.