Overall
- St. Joseph
- 86.4
- Fairbanks-College
- 103.2
Diff +16.8 RPP
St. Joseph vs Fairbanks-College
Cost of living comparison based on BEA Regional Price Parities. Fairbanks-College is 19.5% more expensive than St. Joseph.
19.5% more expensive
Fairbanks-College, AK is 19.5% more expensive than St. Joseph, MO-KS on BEA Regional Price Parities (overall RPP 103.2 vs 86.4). A $100,000 salary in St. Joseph buys about the same as $119,479 in Fairbanks-College; the largest component gap is rents.
- Overall RPP 86.4 (St. Joseph) vs 103.2 (Fairbanks-College)
- $100k in St. Joseph ≈ $119,479 purchasing power in Fairbanks-College
- Rents drives the gap (+37.2 RPP points)
RPP parity plate
Pair MO:AK 86.4→103.2
TIER-GAP · CROSS-STATE · RENT-LED · BENCH-CROSS · PP-STEEP
- TIER-GAP Clear tier gap
- CROSS-STATE MO × AK
- RENT-LED Rent-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.
Salary Equivalents
What a salary in St. Joseph would need to be in Fairbanks-College for the same purchasing power:
| In St. Joseph | In Fairbanks-College | Difference |
|---|---|---|
| $50,000 | $59,739 | +$9,739 |
| $75,000 | $89,609 | +$14,609 |
| $100,000 | $119,479 | +$19,479 |
| $150,000 | $179,218 | +$29,218 |
$ in St. Joseph = in Fairbanks-College
Same BEA Regional Price Parity ratio as the table above (86.4 → 103.2), computed live from your number, nothing is sent anywhere.
What This Comparison Actually Tells You
St. Joseph, MO-KS and Fairbanks-College, AK sit in clearly different price tiers, separated by 16.8 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. Joseph is below it. That makes the move a change of price regime, not merely a rank swap.
Rents leads the difference, with Fairbanks-College 37.2 points higher than St. Joseph. 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 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. Joseph corresponds to $119,479 in Fairbanks-College.
Category Breakdown
Goods
- St. Joseph
- 94.2
- Fairbanks-College
- 107.3
Diff +13.2 RPP
Services
- St. Joseph
- 88.3
- Fairbanks-College
- 119.8
Diff +31.5 RPP
Rents
- St. Joseph
- 55.4
- Fairbanks-College
- 92.6
Diff +37.2 RPP
| Category | St. Joseph | Fairbanks-College | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Overall | 86.4 | 103.2 | +16.8 |
| Goods | 94.2 | 107.3 | +13.2 |
| Services | 88.3 | 119.8 | +31.5 |
| Rents | 55.4 | 92.6 | +37.2 |
Visual Comparison
Overall
St. Joseph 86.4
Fairbanks-College 103.2
Goods
St. Joseph 94.2
Fairbanks-College 107.3
Services
St. Joseph 88.3
Fairbanks-College 119.8
Rents
St. Joseph 55.4
Fairbanks-College 92.6
Vertical line = national average (100)
St. Joseph
86.4
Cost Index
Fairbanks-College
103.2
Cost Index
How the Price Gap Changed
St. Joseph and Fairbanks-College share 17 published annual releases from 2008 through 2024. Their overall gap widened, moving from 12.1 to 16.8 RPP points. Fairbanks-College remained the higher-index metro in the latest release.
Services changed the most within this pair: its gap moved 19.5 points between the first and latest shared releases (12.0 to 31.5 points). This describes a relative price-index history, not a forecast or a household budget.
| Release Year | St. Joseph RPP | Fairbanks-College RPP | Relative Gap |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2008 | 92.6 | 104.7 | 12.1 points Fairbanks-College higher |
| 2012 | 91.0 | 97.9 | 7.0 points Fairbanks-College higher |
| 2016 | 88.7 | 100.4 | 11.7 points Fairbanks-College higher |
| 2020 | 87.8 | 99.4 | 11.6 points Fairbanks-College higher |
| 2024 | 86.4 | 103.2 | 16.8 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.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Fairbanks-College more expensive than St. Joseph?
Fairbanks-College is 19.5% more expensive than St. Joseph. The overall cost index is 103.2 vs 86.4 (national average = 100).
What salary in Fairbanks-College equals $100K in St. Joseph?
A $100,000 salary in St. Joseph has the same purchasing power as $119,479 in Fairbanks-College. This is based on the BEA Regional Price Parity indexes.
How do rents compare between St. Joseph and Fairbanks-College?
Rents in St. Joseph are indexed at 55.4 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.