Overall
- St. Louis
- 95.1
- Pittsfield
- 95.1
Diff +0.0 RPP
St. Louis vs Pittsfield
Cost of living comparison based on BEA Regional Price Parities. Pittsfield is 0% more expensive than St. Louis.
0% more expensive
Pittsfield, MA is 0% more expensive than St. Louis, MO-IL on BEA Regional Price Parities (overall RPP 95.1 vs 95.1). A $100,000 salary in St. Louis buys about the same as $100,019 in Pittsfield; the largest component gap is services.
- Overall RPP 95.1 (St. Louis) vs 95.1 (Pittsfield)
- $100k in St. Louis ≈ $100,019 purchasing power in Pittsfield
- Services drives the gap (+83.8 RPP points)
RPP parity plate
Pair MO:MA 95.1→95.1
PHOTO-FINISH · CROSS-STATE · SPLIT-BUDGET · BOTH-BELOW · PP-PAR
- PHOTO-FINISH Photo finish
- CROSS-STATE MO × MA
- 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
Pittsfield
95.1
Cost Index
What This Comparison Actually Tells You
St. Louis, MO-IL and Pittsfield, MA are a photo finish on overall price level, only 0.0 RPP points apart. A salary conversion is therefore a fine adjustment, not evidence of a fundamentally different cost regime.
Services creates the largest separation: Pittsfield is 83.8 points higher. But rents and 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. Louis to $100,019 in Pittsfield, but it is not a personal spending weight.
Category Breakdown
Goods
- St. Louis
- 100.0
- Pittsfield
- 97.0
Diff -3.0 RPP
Services
- St. Louis
- 69.9
- Pittsfield
- 153.7
Diff +83.8 RPP
Rents
- St. Louis
- 79.0
- Pittsfield
- 73.5
Diff -5.6 RPP
| Category | St. Louis | Pittsfield | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Overall | 95.1 | 95.1 | +0.0 |
| Goods | 100.0 | 97.0 | -3.0 |
| Services | 69.9 | 153.7 | +83.8 |
| Rents | 79.0 | 73.5 | -5.6 |
Visual Comparison
Overall
St. Louis 95.1
Pittsfield 95.1
Goods
St. Louis 100.0
Pittsfield 97.0
Services
St. Louis 69.9
Pittsfield 153.7
Rents
St. Louis 79.0
Pittsfield 73.5
Vertical line = national average (100)
How the Price Gap Changed
St. Louis and Pittsfield share 17 published annual releases from 2008 through 2024. Their overall gap narrowed, moving from 8.6 to 0.0 RPP points. Pittsfield remained the higher-index metro in the latest release.
Services changed the most within this pair: its gap moved 22.6 points between the first and latest shared releases (61.2 to 83.8 points). This describes a relative price-index history, not a forecast or a household budget.
| Release Year | St. Louis RPP | Pittsfield RPP | Relative Gap |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2008 | 91.0 | 99.6 | 8.6 points Pittsfield higher |
| 2012 | 94.5 | 97.8 | 3.3 points Pittsfield higher |
| 2016 | 94.5 | 100.5 | 6.0 points Pittsfield higher |
| 2020 | 95.2 | 99.5 | 4.3 points Pittsfield higher |
| 2024 | 95.1 | 95.1 | 0.0 points Pittsfield 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 Pittsfield for the same purchasing power:
| In St. Louis | In Pittsfield | Difference |
|---|---|---|
| $50,000 | $50,009 | +$9 |
| $75,000 | $75,014 | +$14 |
| $100,000 | $100,019 | +$19 |
| $150,000 | $150,028 | +$28 |
$ in St. Louis = in Pittsfield
Same BEA Regional Price Parity ratio as the table above (95.1 → 95.1), computed live from your number, nothing is sent anywhere.
Also Compare
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Pittsfield more expensive than St. Louis?
Pittsfield is 0% more expensive than St. Louis. The overall cost index is 95.1 vs 95.1 (national average = 100).
What salary in Pittsfield equals $100K in St. Louis?
A $100,000 salary in St. Louis has the same purchasing power as $100,019 in Pittsfield. This is based on the BEA Regional Price Parity indexes.
How do rents compare between St. Louis and Pittsfield?
Rents in St. Louis are indexed at 79.0 while Pittsfield is at 73.5 (national average = 100). St. Louis 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.