Overall
Diff -0.4 RPP
St. Cloud vs Decatur
Cost of living comparison based on BEA Regional Price Parities. Decatur is 0.5% less expensive than St. Cloud.
0.5% less expensive
Decatur, AL is 0.5% less expensive than St. Cloud, MN on BEA Regional Price Parities (overall RPP 87.2 vs 87.6). A $100,000 salary in St. Cloud buys about the same as $99,521 in Decatur; the largest component gap is rents.
- Overall RPP 87.6 (St. Cloud) vs 87.2 (Decatur)
- $100k in St. Cloud ≈ $99,521 purchasing power in Decatur
- Rents drives the gap (-7.0 RPP points)
RPP parity plate
Pair MN:AL 87.6→87.2
PHOTO-FINISH · CROSS-STATE · SPLIT-BUDGET · BOTH-BELOW · PP-PAR
- PHOTO-FINISH Photo finish
- CROSS-STATE MN × AL
- 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.
St. Cloud
87.6
Cost Index
Decatur
87.2
Cost Index
What This Comparison Actually Tells You
St. Cloud, MN and Decatur, AL are a photo finish on overall price level, only 0.4 RPP points apart. A salary conversion is therefore a fine adjustment, not evidence of a fundamentally different cost regime.
Rents creates the largest separation: Decatur is 7.0 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 St. Cloud corresponds to $99,521 in Decatur.
Category Breakdown
Goods
Diff +1.0 RPP
Services
Diff -3.9 RPP
Rents
Diff -7.0 RPP
| Category | St. Cloud | Decatur | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Overall | 87.6 | 87.2 | -0.4 |
| Goods | 95.4 | 96.4 | +1.0 |
| Services | 88.7 | 84.7 | -3.9 |
| Rents | 65.1 | 58.1 | -7.0 |
Visual Comparison
Overall
St. Cloud 87.6
Decatur 87.2
Goods
St. Cloud 95.4
Decatur 96.4
Services
St. Cloud 88.7
Decatur 84.7
Rents
St. Cloud 65.1
Decatur 58.1
Vertical line = national average (100)
How the Price Gap Changed
St. Cloud and Decatur share 17 published annual releases from 2008 through 2024. Their overall gap narrowed, moving from 7.5 to 0.4 RPP points. St. Cloud remained the higher-index metro in the latest release.
Rents changed the most within this pair: its gap moved 22.7 points between the first and latest shared releases (29.7 to 7.0 points). This describes a relative price-index history, not a forecast or a household budget.
| Release Year | St. Cloud RPP | Decatur RPP | Relative Gap |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2008 | 97.3 | 89.8 | 7.5 points St. Cloud higher |
| 2012 | 95.2 | 88.2 | 6.9 points St. Cloud higher |
| 2016 | 93.7 | 89.2 | 4.4 points St. Cloud higher |
| 2020 | 91.5 | 87.2 | 4.3 points St. Cloud higher |
| 2024 | 87.6 | 87.2 | 0.4 points St. Cloud 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 St. Cloud would need to be in Decatur for the same purchasing power:
| In St. Cloud | In Decatur | Difference |
|---|---|---|
| $50,000 | $49,760 | $-240 |
| $75,000 | $74,641 | $-359 |
| $100,000 | $99,521 | $-479 |
| $150,000 | $149,281 | $-719 |
$ in St. Cloud = in Decatur
Same BEA Regional Price Parity ratio as the table above (87.6 → 87.2), computed live from your number, nothing is sent anywhere.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Decatur more expensive than St. Cloud?
Decatur is 0.5% less expensive than St. Cloud. The overall cost index is 87.2 vs 87.6 (national average = 100).
What salary in Decatur equals $100K in St. Cloud?
A $100,000 salary in St. Cloud has the same purchasing power as $99,521 in Decatur. This is based on the BEA Regional Price Parity indexes.
How do rents compare between St. Cloud and Decatur?
Rents in St. Cloud are indexed at 65.1 while Decatur is at 58.1 (national average = 100). St. Cloud 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.