Overall
- Sierra Vista-Douglas
- 89.2
- Charleston
- 88.7
Diff -0.5 RPP
Sierra Vista-Douglas vs Charleston
Cost of living comparison based on BEA Regional Price Parities. Charleston is 0.6% less expensive than Sierra Vista-Douglas.
0.6% less expensive
Charleston, WV is 0.6% less expensive than Sierra Vista-Douglas, AZ on BEA Regional Price Parities (overall RPP 88.7 vs 89.2). A $100,000 salary in Sierra Vista-Douglas buys about the same as $99,411 in Charleston; the largest component gap is rents.
- Overall RPP 89.2 (Sierra Vista-Douglas) vs 88.7 (Charleston)
- $100k in Sierra Vista-Douglas ≈ $99,411 purchasing power in Charleston
- Rents drives the gap (-10.5 RPP points)
RPP parity plate
Pair AZ:WV 89.2→88.7
PHOTO-FINISH · CROSS-STATE · SPLIT-BUDGET · BOTH-BELOW · PP-PAR
- PHOTO-FINISH Photo finish
- CROSS-STATE AZ × WV
- 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.
Sierra Vista-Douglas
89.2
Cost Index
Charleston
88.7
Cost Index
What This Comparison Actually Tells You
Sierra Vista-Douglas, AZ and Charleston, WV are a photo finish on overall price level, only 0.5 RPP points apart. A salary conversion is therefore a fine adjustment, not evidence of a fundamentally different cost regime.
Rents creates the largest separation: Charleston is 10.5 points lower. But goods 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 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 Sierra Vista-Douglas corresponds to $99,411 in Charleston.
Category Breakdown
Goods
- Sierra Vista-Douglas
- 96.2
- Charleston
- 96.3
Diff +0.0 RPP
Services
- Sierra Vista-Douglas
- 91.9
- Charleston
- 91.7
Diff -0.2 RPP
Rents
- Sierra Vista-Douglas
- 61.9
- Charleston
- 51.4
Diff -10.5 RPP
| Category | Sierra Vista-Douglas | Charleston | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Overall | 89.2 | 88.7 | -0.5 |
| Goods | 96.2 | 96.3 | +0.0 |
| Services | 91.9 | 91.7 | -0.2 |
| Rents | 61.9 | 51.4 | -10.5 |
Visual Comparison
Overall
Sierra Vista-Douglas 89.2
Charleston 88.7
Goods
Sierra Vista-Douglas 96.2
Charleston 96.3
Services
Sierra Vista-Douglas 91.9
Charleston 91.7
Rents
Sierra Vista-Douglas 61.9
Charleston 51.4
Vertical line = national average (100)
How the Price Gap Changed
Sierra Vista-Douglas and Charleston share 17 published annual releases from 2008 through 2024. Their overall gap narrowed, moving from 3.1 to 0.5 RPP points. Sierra Vista-Douglas remained the higher-index metro in the latest release.
Services changed the most within this pair: its gap moved 12.6 points between the first and latest shared releases (12.8 to 0.2 points). This describes a relative price-index history, not a forecast or a household budget.
| Release Year | Sierra Vista-Douglas RPP | Charleston RPP | Relative Gap |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2008 | 93.8 | 90.7 | 3.1 points Sierra Vista-Douglas higher |
| 2012 | 93.5 | 93.4 | 0.1 points Sierra Vista-Douglas higher |
| 2016 | 93.0 | 92.7 | 0.3 points Sierra Vista-Douglas higher |
| 2020 | 88.5 | 87.4 | 1.1 points Sierra Vista-Douglas higher |
| 2024 | 89.2 | 88.7 | 0.5 points Sierra Vista-Douglas 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 Sierra Vista-Douglas would need to be in Charleston for the same purchasing power:
| In Sierra Vista-Douglas | In Charleston | Difference |
|---|---|---|
| $50,000 | $49,705 | $-295 |
| $75,000 | $74,558 | $-442 |
| $100,000 | $99,411 | $-589 |
| $150,000 | $149,116 | $-884 |
$ in Sierra Vista-Douglas = in Charleston
Same BEA Regional Price Parity ratio as the table above (89.2 → 88.7), computed live from your number, nothing is sent anywhere.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Charleston more expensive than Sierra Vista-Douglas?
Charleston is 0.6% less expensive than Sierra Vista-Douglas. The overall cost index is 88.7 vs 89.2 (national average = 100).
What salary in Charleston equals $100K in Sierra Vista-Douglas?
A $100,000 salary in Sierra Vista-Douglas has the same purchasing power as $99,411 in Charleston. This is based on the BEA Regional Price Parity indexes.
How do rents compare between Sierra Vista-Douglas and Charleston?
Rents in Sierra Vista-Douglas are indexed at 61.9 while Charleston is at 51.4 (national average = 100). Sierra Vista-Douglas 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.