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Sioux Falls vs Rochester

Cost of living comparison based on BEA Regional Price Parities. Rochester is 0.2% more expensive than Sioux Falls.

0.2% more expensive

Rochester, MN is 0.2% more expensive than Sioux Falls, SD-MN on BEA Regional Price Parities (overall RPP 90.8 vs 90.6). A $100,000 salary in Sioux Falls buys about the same as $100,210 in Rochester; the largest component gap is services.

  • Overall RPP 90.6 (Sioux Falls) vs 90.8 (Rochester)
  • $100k in Sioux Falls ≈ $100,210 purchasing power in Rochester
  • Services drives the gap (+6.7 RPP points)

RPP parity plate

Pair SD:MN 90.6→90.8

PHOTO-FINISH · CROSS-STATE · SPLIT-BUDGET · BOTH-BELOW · PP-PAR

  • PHOTO-FINISH Photo finish
  • CROSS-STATE SD × MN
  • 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.

Sioux Falls
90.6
Cost Index
Rochester
90.8
Cost Index

What This Comparison Actually Tells You

Sioux Falls, SD-MN and Rochester, MN are a photo finish on overall price level, only 0.2 RPP points apart. A salary conversion is therefore a fine adjustment, not evidence of a fundamentally different cost regime.

Services creates the largest separation: Rochester is 6.7 points higher. 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 service-heavy household, test childcare, health, and other locally supplied costs before relying on rent alone. The BEA ratio converts $100,000 in Sioux Falls to $100,210 in Rochester, but it is not a personal spending weight.

Category Breakdown

Visual Comparison

Overall
Sioux Falls
90.6
Rochester
90.8
Goods
Sioux Falls
95.5
Rochester
95.4
Services
Sioux Falls
80.7
Rochester
87.4
Rents
Sioux Falls
77.6
Rochester
78.6

Vertical line = national average (100)

Salary Equivalents

What a salary in Sioux Falls would need to be in Rochester for the same purchasing power:

In Sioux Falls In Rochester Difference
$50,000 $50,105 +$105
$75,000 $75,157 +$157
$100,000 $100,210 +$210
$150,000 $150,314 +$314
$ in Sioux Falls = – in Rochester

Same BEA Regional Price Parity ratio as the table above (90.6 → 90.8), computed live from your number, nothing is sent anywhere.

Reverse: Rochester → Sioux Falls Sioux Falls Details Rochester Details

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Frequently Asked Questions

Is Rochester more expensive than Sioux Falls?

Rochester is 0.2% more expensive than Sioux Falls. The overall cost index is 90.8 vs 90.6 (national average = 100).

What salary in Rochester equals $100K in Sioux Falls?

A $100,000 salary in Sioux Falls has the same purchasing power as $100,210 in Rochester. This is based on the BEA Regional Price Parity indexes.

How do rents compare between Sioux Falls and Rochester?

Rents in Sioux Falls are indexed at 77.6 while Rochester is at 78.6 (national average = 100). Rochester has higher rents.

Data sources

Data sourced from official public datasets, Regional Price Parities (2024), index where national average = 100. Retrieved and formatted by PlainCost. See our methodology for details.

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.