Overall
- St. Louis
- 95.1
- Albuquerque
- 95.5
Diff +0.5 RPP
St. Louis vs Albuquerque
Cost of living comparison based on BEA Regional Price Parities. Albuquerque is 0.5% more expensive than St. Louis.
0.5% more expensive
Albuquerque, NM is 0.5% more expensive than St. Louis, MO-IL on BEA Regional Price Parities (overall RPP 95.5 vs 95.1). A $100,000 salary in St. Louis buys about the same as $100,482 in Albuquerque; the largest component gap is rents.
- Overall RPP 95.1 (St. Louis) vs 95.5 (Albuquerque)
- $100k in St. Louis ≈ $100,482 purchasing power in Albuquerque
- Rents drives the gap (+10.1 RPP points)
RPP parity plate
Pair MO:NM 95.1→95.5
PHOTO-FINISH · CROSS-STATE · SPLIT-BUDGET · BOTH-BELOW · PP-PAR
- PHOTO-FINISH Photo finish
- CROSS-STATE MO × NM
- 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. Louis
95.1
Cost Index
Albuquerque
95.5
Cost Index
What This Comparison Actually Tells You
St. Louis, MO-IL and Albuquerque, NM are a photo finish on overall price level, only 0.5 RPP points apart. A salary conversion is therefore a fine adjustment, not evidence of a fundamentally different cost regime.
Rents creates the largest separation: Albuquerque is 10.1 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 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. Louis corresponds to $100,482 in Albuquerque.
Category Breakdown
Goods
- St. Louis
- 100.0
- Albuquerque
- 96.1
Diff -3.9 RPP
Services
- St. Louis
- 69.9
- Albuquerque
- 77.9
Diff +7.9 RPP
Rents
- St. Louis
- 79.0
- Albuquerque
- 89.2
Diff +10.1 RPP
| Category | St. Louis | Albuquerque | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Overall | 95.1 | 95.5 | +0.5 |
| Goods | 100.0 | 96.1 | -3.9 |
| Services | 69.9 | 77.9 | +7.9 |
| Rents | 79.0 | 89.2 | +10.1 |
Visual Comparison
Overall
St. Louis 95.1
Albuquerque 95.5
Goods
St. Louis 100.0
Albuquerque 96.1
Services
St. Louis 69.9
Albuquerque 77.9
Rents
St. Louis 79.0
Albuquerque 89.2
Vertical line = national average (100)
How the Price Gap Changed
St. Louis and Albuquerque share 17 published annual releases from 2008 through 2024. Their overall gap narrowed, moving from 6.0 to 0.5 RPP points. Albuquerque remained the higher-index metro in the latest release.
Goods changed the most within this pair: its gap moved 10.9 points between the first and latest shared releases (7.0 to 3.9 points). This describes a relative price-index history, not a forecast or a household budget.
| Release Year | St. Louis RPP | Albuquerque RPP | Relative Gap |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2008 | 91.0 | 97.0 | 6.0 points Albuquerque higher |
| 2012 | 94.5 | 99.6 | 5.1 points Albuquerque higher |
| 2016 | 94.5 | 96.6 | 2.1 points Albuquerque higher |
| 2020 | 95.2 | 94.2 | 1.0 points St. Louis higher |
| 2024 | 95.1 | 95.5 | 0.5 points Albuquerque 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.
Salary Equivalents
What a salary in St. Louis would need to be in Albuquerque for the same purchasing power:
| In St. Louis | In Albuquerque | Difference |
|---|---|---|
| $50,000 | $50,241 | +$241 |
| $75,000 | $75,361 | +$361 |
| $100,000 | $100,482 | +$482 |
| $150,000 | $150,722 | +$722 |
$ in St. Louis = in Albuquerque
Same BEA Regional Price Parity ratio as the table above (95.1 → 95.5), computed live from your number, nothing is sent anywhere.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Albuquerque more expensive than St. Louis?
Albuquerque is 0.5% more expensive than St. Louis. The overall cost index is 95.5 vs 95.1 (national average = 100).
What salary in Albuquerque equals $100K in St. Louis?
A $100,000 salary in St. Louis has the same purchasing power as $100,482 in Albuquerque. This is based on the BEA Regional Price Parity indexes.
How do rents compare between St. Louis and Albuquerque?
Rents in St. Louis are indexed at 79.0 while Albuquerque is at 89.2 (national average = 100). Albuquerque 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.