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St. Cloud vs Tuscaloosa

Cost of living comparison based on BEA Regional Price Parities. Tuscaloosa is 0.1% more expensive than St. Cloud.

0.1% more expensive

Tuscaloosa, AL is 0.1% more expensive than St. Cloud, MN on BEA Regional Price Parities (overall RPP 87.7 vs 87.6). A $100,000 salary in St. Cloud buys about the same as $100,103 in Tuscaloosa; the largest component gap is rents.

  • Overall RPP 87.6 (St. Cloud) vs 87.7 (Tuscaloosa)
  • $100k in St. Cloud ≈ $100,103 purchasing power in Tuscaloosa
  • Rents drives the gap (-6.8 RPP points)

RPP parity plate

Pair MN:AL 87.6→87.7

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
Tuscaloosa
87.7
Cost Index

What This Comparison Actually Tells You

St. Cloud, MN and Tuscaloosa, AL are a photo finish on overall price level, only 0.1 RPP points apart. A salary conversion is therefore a fine adjustment, not evidence of a fundamentally different cost regime.

Rents creates the largest separation: Tuscaloosa is 6.8 points lower. But rents and services 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 $100,103 in Tuscaloosa.

Category Breakdown

Visual Comparison

Overall
St. Cloud
87.6
Tuscaloosa
87.7
Goods
St. Cloud
95.4
Tuscaloosa
96.4
Services
St. Cloud
88.7
Tuscaloosa
84.4
Rents
St. Cloud
65.1
Tuscaloosa
58.2

Vertical line = national average (100)

Salary Equivalents

What a salary in St. Cloud would need to be in Tuscaloosa for the same purchasing power:

In St. Cloud In Tuscaloosa Difference
$50,000 $50,051 +$51
$75,000 $75,077 +$77
$100,000 $100,103 +$103
$150,000 $150,154 +$154
$ in St. Cloud = – in Tuscaloosa

Same BEA Regional Price Parity ratio as the table above (87.6 → 87.7), computed live from your number, nothing is sent anywhere.

Reverse: Tuscaloosa → St. Cloud St. Cloud Details Tuscaloosa Details

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Frequently Asked Questions

Is Tuscaloosa more expensive than St. Cloud?

Tuscaloosa is 0.1% more expensive than St. Cloud. The overall cost index is 87.7 vs 87.6 (national average = 100).

What salary in Tuscaloosa equals $100K in St. Cloud?

A $100,000 salary in St. Cloud has the same purchasing power as $100,103 in Tuscaloosa. This is based on the BEA Regional Price Parity indexes.

How do rents compare between St. Cloud and Tuscaloosa?

Rents in St. Cloud are indexed at 65.1 while Tuscaloosa is at 58.2 (national average = 100). St. Cloud 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.