Overall
- St. Cloud
- 87.6
- Fairbanks-College
- 103.2
Diff +15.6 RPP
St. Cloud vs Fairbanks-College
Cost of living comparison based on BEA Regional Price Parities. Fairbanks-College is 17.8% more expensive than St. Cloud.
17.8% more expensive
Fairbanks-College, AK is 17.8% more expensive than St. Cloud, MN on BEA Regional Price Parities (overall RPP 103.2 vs 87.6). A $100,000 salary in St. Cloud buys about the same as $117,774 in Fairbanks-College; the largest component gap is services.
- Overall RPP 87.6 (St. Cloud) vs 103.2 (Fairbanks-College)
- $100k in St. Cloud ≈ $117,774 purchasing power in Fairbanks-College
- Services drives the gap (+31.1 RPP points)
RPP parity plate
Pair MN:AK 87.6→103.2
TIER-GAP · CROSS-STATE · SERVICES-LED · BENCH-CROSS · PP-STEEP
- TIER-GAP Clear tier gap
- CROSS-STATE MN × AK
- SERVICES-LED Services-led gap
- BENCH-CROSS Benchmark cross
- PP-STEEP Steep PP convert
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.
What This Comparison Actually Tells You
St. Cloud, MN and Fairbanks-College, AK sit in clearly different price tiers, separated by 15.6 RPP points. At this distance, treating the same nominal salary as equivalent would materially change purchasing power.
This route crosses the national benchmark: Fairbanks-College is above 100 while St. Cloud is below it. That makes the move a change of price regime, not merely a rank swap.
Services leads the difference, with Fairbanks-College 31.1 points higher than St. Cloud. Goods, services, and rents all point in the same broad direction, making the headline comparison more transferable across household types.
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 St. Cloud to $117,774 in Fairbanks-College, but it is not a personal spending weight.
How the Price Gap Changed
St. Cloud and Fairbanks-College share 17 published annual releases from 2008 through 2024. Their overall gap widened, moving from 7.4 to 15.6 RPP points. Fairbanks-College remained the higher-index metro in the latest release.
Services changed the most within this pair: its gap moved 21.7 points between the first and latest shared releases (9.4 to 31.1 points). This describes a relative price-index history, not a forecast or a household budget.
| Release Year | St. Cloud RPP | Fairbanks-College RPP | Relative Gap |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2008 | 97.3 | 104.7 | 7.4 points Fairbanks-College higher |
| 2012 | 95.2 | 97.9 | 2.8 points Fairbanks-College higher |
| 2016 | 93.7 | 100.4 | 6.8 points Fairbanks-College higher |
| 2020 | 91.5 | 99.4 | 7.9 points Fairbanks-College higher |
| 2024 | 87.6 | 103.2 | 15.6 points Fairbanks-College 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.
Category Breakdown
Goods
- St. Cloud
- 95.4
- Fairbanks-College
- 107.3
Diff +11.9 RPP
Services
- St. Cloud
- 88.7
- Fairbanks-College
- 119.8
Diff +31.1 RPP
Rents
- St. Cloud
- 65.1
- Fairbanks-College
- 92.6
Diff +27.5 RPP
| Category | St. Cloud | Fairbanks-College | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Overall | 87.6 | 103.2 | +15.6 |
| Goods | 95.4 | 107.3 | +11.9 |
| Services | 88.7 | 119.8 | +31.1 |
| Rents | 65.1 | 92.6 | +27.5 |
Visual Comparison
Overall
St. Cloud 87.6
Fairbanks-College 103.2
Goods
St. Cloud 95.4
Fairbanks-College 107.3
Services
St. Cloud 88.7
Fairbanks-College 119.8
Rents
St. Cloud 65.1
Fairbanks-College 92.6
Vertical line = national average (100)
Salary Equivalents
What a salary in St. Cloud would need to be in Fairbanks-College for the same purchasing power:
| In St. Cloud | In Fairbanks-College | Difference |
|---|---|---|
| $50,000 | $58,887 | +$8,887 |
| $75,000 | $88,331 | +$13,331 |
| $100,000 | $117,774 | +$17,774 |
| $150,000 | $176,661 | +$26,661 |
$ in St. Cloud = in Fairbanks-College
Same BEA Regional Price Parity ratio as the table above (87.6 → 103.2), computed live from your number, nothing is sent anywhere.
St. Cloud
87.6
Cost Index
Fairbanks-College
103.2
Cost Index
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Fairbanks-College more expensive than St. Cloud?
Fairbanks-College is 17.8% more expensive than St. Cloud. The overall cost index is 103.2 vs 87.6 (national average = 100).
What salary in Fairbanks-College equals $100K in St. Cloud?
A $100,000 salary in St. Cloud has the same purchasing power as $117,774 in Fairbanks-College. This is based on the BEA Regional Price Parity indexes.
How do rents compare between St. Cloud and Fairbanks-College?
Rents in St. Cloud are indexed at 65.1 while Fairbanks-College is at 92.6 (national average = 100). Fairbanks-College 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.