Overall
- St. George
- 97.3
Diff +0.7 RPP
St. George vs Hilton Head Island-Bluffton-Port Royal
Cost of living comparison based on BEA Regional Price Parities. Hilton Head Island-Bluffton-Port Royal is 0.7% more expensive than St. George.
0.7% more expensive
Hilton Head Island-Bluffton-Port Royal, SC is 0.7% more expensive than St. George, UT on BEA Regional Price Parities (overall RPP 98.0 vs 97.3). A $100,000 salary in St. George buys about the same as $100,715 in Hilton Head Island-Bluffton-Port Royal; the largest component gap is services.
- Overall RPP 97.3 (St. George) vs 98.0 (Hilton Head Island-Bluffton-Port Royal)
- $100k in St. George ≈ $100,715 purchasing power in Hilton Head Island-Bluffton-Port Royal
- Services drives the gap (+10.4 RPP points)
RPP parity plate
Pair UT:SC 97.3→98.0
PHOTO-FINISH · CROSS-STATE · SPLIT-BUDGET · BOTH-BELOW · PP-PAR
- PHOTO-FINISH Photo finish
- CROSS-STATE UT × SC
- 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. George
97.3
Cost Index
Hilton Head Island-Bluffton-Port Royal
98.0
Cost Index
What This Comparison Actually Tells You
St. George, UT and Hilton Head Island-Bluffton-Port Royal, SC are a photo finish on overall price level, only 0.7 RPP points apart. A salary conversion is therefore a fine adjustment, not evidence of a fundamentally different cost regime.
Services creates the largest separation: Hilton Head Island-Bluffton-Port Royal is 10.4 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 St. George to $100,715 in Hilton Head Island-Bluffton-Port Royal, but it is not a personal spending weight.
Category Breakdown
Goods
- St. George
- 96.4
Diff -0.1 RPP
Services
- St. George
- 77.7
Diff +10.4 RPP
Rents
- St. George
- 98.1
Diff +3.1 RPP
| Category | St. George | Hilton Head Island-Bluffton-Port Royal | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Overall | 97.3 | 98.0 | +0.7 |
| Goods | 96.4 | 96.3 | -0.1 |
| Services | 77.7 | 88.1 | +10.4 |
| Rents | 98.1 | 101.2 | +3.1 |
Visual Comparison
Overall
St. George 97.3
Hilton Head Island-Bluffton-Port Royal 98.0
Goods
St. George 96.4
Hilton Head Island-Bluffton-Port Royal 96.3
Services
St. George 77.7
Hilton Head Island-Bluffton-Port Royal 88.1
Rents
St. George 98.1
Hilton Head Island-Bluffton-Port Royal 101.2
Vertical line = national average (100)
Salary Equivalents
What a salary in St. George would need to be in Hilton Head Island-Bluffton-Port Royal for the same purchasing power:
| In St. George | In Hilton Head Island-Bluffton-Port Royal | Difference |
|---|---|---|
| $50,000 | $50,358 | +$358 |
| $75,000 | $75,536 | +$536 |
| $100,000 | $100,715 | +$715 |
| $150,000 | $151,073 | +$1,073 |
$ in St. George = in Hilton Head Island-Bluffton-Port Royal
Same BEA Regional Price Parity ratio as the table above (97.3 → 98.0), computed live from your number, nothing is sent anywhere.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Hilton Head Island-Bluffton-Port Royal more expensive than St. George?
Hilton Head Island-Bluffton-Port Royal is 0.7% more expensive than St. George. The overall cost index is 98.0 vs 97.3 (national average = 100).
What salary in Hilton Head Island-Bluffton-Port Royal equals $100K in St. George?
A $100,000 salary in St. George has the same purchasing power as $100,715 in Hilton Head Island-Bluffton-Port Royal. This is based on the BEA Regional Price Parity indexes.
How do rents compare between St. George and Hilton Head Island-Bluffton-Port Royal?
Rents in St. George are indexed at 98.1 while Hilton Head Island-Bluffton-Port Royal is at 101.2 (national average = 100). Hilton Head Island-Bluffton-Port Royal 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.