Overall
- St. George
- 97.3
- Durham-Chapel Hill
- 97.6
Diff +0.3 RPP
St. George vs Durham-Chapel Hill
Cost of living comparison based on BEA Regional Price Parities. Durham-Chapel Hill is 0.3% more expensive than St. George.
0.3% more expensive
Durham-Chapel Hill, NC is 0.3% more expensive than St. George, UT on BEA Regional Price Parities (overall RPP 97.6 vs 97.3). A $100,000 salary in St. George buys about the same as $100,258 in Durham-Chapel Hill; the largest component gap is services.
- Overall RPP 97.3 (St. George) vs 97.6 (Durham-Chapel Hill)
- $100k in St. George ≈ $100,258 purchasing power in Durham-Chapel Hill
- Services drives the gap (+11.6 RPP points)
RPP parity plate
Pair UT:NC 97.3→97.6
PHOTO-FINISH · CROSS-STATE · SERVICES-LED · BOTH-BELOW · PP-PAR
- PHOTO-FINISH Photo finish
- CROSS-STATE UT × NC
- SERVICES-LED Services-led gap
- 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. George
97.3
Cost Index
Durham-Chapel Hill
97.6
Cost Index
What This Comparison Actually Tells You
St. George, UT and Durham-Chapel Hill, NC are a photo finish on overall price level, only 0.3 RPP points apart. A salary conversion is therefore a fine adjustment, not evidence of a fundamentally different cost regime.
Services leads the difference, with Durham-Chapel Hill 11.6 points higher than St. George. 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.
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 St. George to $100,258 in Durham-Chapel Hill, but it is not a personal spending weight.
Category Breakdown
Goods
- St. George
- 96.4
- Durham-Chapel Hill
- 96.6
Diff +0.2 RPP
Services
- St. George
- 77.7
- Durham-Chapel Hill
- 89.3
Diff +11.6 RPP
Rents
- St. George
- 98.1
- Durham-Chapel Hill
- 98.9
Diff +0.8 RPP
| Category | St. George | Durham-Chapel Hill | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Overall | 97.3 | 97.6 | +0.3 |
| Goods | 96.4 | 96.6 | +0.2 |
| Services | 77.7 | 89.3 | +11.6 |
| Rents | 98.1 | 98.9 | +0.8 |
Visual Comparison
Overall
St. George 97.3
Durham-Chapel Hill 97.6
Goods
St. George 96.4
Durham-Chapel Hill 96.6
Services
St. George 77.7
Durham-Chapel Hill 89.3
Rents
St. George 98.1
Durham-Chapel Hill 98.9
Vertical line = national average (100)
Salary Equivalents
What a salary in St. George would need to be in Durham-Chapel Hill for the same purchasing power:
| In St. George | In Durham-Chapel Hill | Difference |
|---|---|---|
| $50,000 | $50,129 | +$129 |
| $75,000 | $75,193 | +$193 |
| $100,000 | $100,258 | +$258 |
| $150,000 | $150,387 | +$387 |
$ in St. George = in Durham-Chapel Hill
Same BEA Regional Price Parity ratio as the table above (97.3 → 97.6), computed live from your number, nothing is sent anywhere.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Durham-Chapel Hill more expensive than St. George?
Durham-Chapel Hill is 0.3% more expensive than St. George. The overall cost index is 97.6 vs 97.3 (national average = 100).
What salary in Durham-Chapel Hill equals $100K in St. George?
A $100,000 salary in St. George has the same purchasing power as $100,258 in Durham-Chapel Hill. This is based on the BEA Regional Price Parity indexes.
How do rents compare between St. George and Durham-Chapel Hill?
Rents in St. George are indexed at 98.1 while Durham-Chapel Hill is at 98.9 (national average = 100). Durham-Chapel Hill 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.