Overall
- State College
- 96.8
Diff +2.1 RPP
State College vs Atlantic City-Hammonton
Cost of living comparison based on BEA Regional Price Parities. Atlantic City-Hammonton is 2.2% more expensive than State College.
2.2% more expensive
Atlantic City-Hammonton, NJ is 2.2% more expensive than State College, PA on BEA Regional Price Parities (overall RPP 98.9 vs 96.8). A $100,000 salary in State College buys about the same as $102,165 in Atlantic City-Hammonton; the largest component gap is rents.
- Overall RPP 96.8 (State College) vs 98.9 (Atlantic City-Hammonton)
- $100k in State College ≈ $102,165 purchasing power in Atlantic City-Hammonton
- Rents drives the gap (+13.0 RPP points)
RPP parity plate
Pair PA:NJ 96.8→98.9
TIER-NEAR · CROSS-STATE · SPLIT-BUDGET · BOTH-BELOW · PP-PAR
- TIER-NEAR Near tier
- CROSS-STATE PA × NJ
- 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.
Category Breakdown
Goods
- State College
- 100.7
Diff -0.9 RPP
Services
- State College
- 109.5
- Atlantic City-Hammonton
- 109.2
Diff -0.3 RPP
Rents
- State College
- 85.7
Diff +13.0 RPP
| Category | State College | Atlantic City-Hammonton | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Overall | 96.8 | 98.9 | +2.1 |
| Goods | 100.7 | 99.8 | -0.9 |
| Services | 109.5 | 109.2 | -0.3 |
| Rents | 85.7 | 98.7 | +13.0 |
Visual Comparison
Overall
State College 96.8
Atlantic City-Hammonton 98.9
Goods
State College 100.7
Atlantic City-Hammonton 99.8
Services
State College 109.5
Atlantic City-Hammonton 109.2
Rents
State College 85.7
Atlantic City-Hammonton 98.7
Vertical line = national average (100)
What This Comparison Actually Tells You
Rents creates the largest separation: Atlantic City-Hammonton is 13.0 points higher. But goods and services move against the overall direction, so this is a split budget rather than a clean across-the-board winner.
Atlantic City-Hammonton, NJ is 2.2% more expensive than State College, PA, a meaningful but not extreme shift. The move decision turns on which budget category creates the 2.1-point overall gap.
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.
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 State College corresponds to $102,165 in Atlantic City-Hammonton.
State College
96.8
Cost Index
Atlantic City-Hammonton
98.9
Cost Index
Salary Equivalents
What a salary in State College would need to be in Atlantic City-Hammonton for the same purchasing power:
| In State College | In Atlantic City-Hammonton | Difference |
|---|---|---|
| $50,000 | $51,083 | +$1,083 |
| $75,000 | $76,624 | +$1,624 |
| $100,000 | $102,165 | +$2,165 |
| $150,000 | $153,248 | +$3,248 |
$ in State College = in Atlantic City-Hammonton
Same BEA Regional Price Parity ratio as the table above (96.8 → 98.9), computed live from your number, nothing is sent anywhere.
How the Price Gap Changed
State College and Atlantic City-Hammonton share 17 published annual releases from 2008 through 2024. Their overall gap narrowed, moving from 11.5 to 2.1 RPP points. Atlantic City-Hammonton remained the higher-index metro in the latest release.
Rents changed the most within this pair: its gap moved 32.2 points between the first and latest shared releases (45.2 to 13.0 points). This describes a relative price-index history, not a forecast or a household budget.
| Release Year | State College RPP | Atlantic City-Hammonton RPP | Relative Gap |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2008 | 99.2 | 110.7 | 11.5 points Atlantic City-Hammonton higher |
| 2012 | 96.7 | 104.6 | 7.8 points Atlantic City-Hammonton higher |
| 2016 | 101.4 | 102.6 | 1.2 points Atlantic City-Hammonton higher |
| 2020 | 98.0 | 101.2 | 3.1 points Atlantic City-Hammonton higher |
| 2024 | 96.8 | 98.9 | 2.1 points Atlantic City-Hammonton 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 Atlantic City-Hammonton more expensive than State College?
Atlantic City-Hammonton is 2.2% more expensive than State College. The overall cost index is 98.9 vs 96.8 (national average = 100).
What salary in Atlantic City-Hammonton equals $100K in State College?
A $100,000 salary in State College has the same purchasing power as $102,165 in Atlantic City-Hammonton. This is based on the BEA Regional Price Parity indexes.
How do rents compare between State College and Atlantic City-Hammonton?
Rents in State College are indexed at 85.7 while Atlantic City-Hammonton is at 98.7 (national average = 100). Atlantic City-Hammonton 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.