Overall
- Cape Coral-Fort Myers
- 102.3
Diff +1.5 RPP
Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater vs Cape Coral-Fort Myers
Cost of living comparison based on BEA Regional Price Parities. Cape Coral-Fort Myers is 1.4% more expensive than Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater.
1.4% more expensive
Cape Coral-Fort Myers, FL is 1.4% more expensive than Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater, FL on BEA Regional Price Parities (overall RPP 102.3 vs 100.9). A $100,000 salary in Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater buys about the same as $101,446 in Cape Coral-Fort Myers; the largest component gap is services.
- Overall RPP 100.9 (Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater) vs 102.3 (Cape Coral-Fort Myers)
- $100k in Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater ≈ $101,446 purchasing power in Cape Coral-Fort Myers
- Services drives the gap (-1.6 RPP points)
RPP parity plate
Pair FL:FL 100.9→102.3
PHOTO-FINISH · SAME-STATE · SPLIT-BUDGET · BOTH-ABOVE · PP-PAR
- PHOTO-FINISH Photo finish
- SAME-STATE Same state · FL
- SPLIT-BUDGET Split budget
- BOTH-ABOVE Both above 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.
Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater
100.9
Cost Index
Cape Coral-Fort Myers
102.3
Cost Index
What This Comparison Actually Tells You
Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater, FL and Cape Coral-Fort Myers, FL are a photo finish on overall price level, only 1.5 RPP points apart. A salary conversion is therefore a fine adjustment, not evidence of a fundamentally different cost regime.
Services creates the largest separation: Cape Coral-Fort Myers is 1.6 points lower. But services and rents 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 exceed the U.S. benchmark of 100. The choice is between two national premiums, so local wages need to clear the higher baseline in either market.
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 Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater to $101,446 in Cape Coral-Fort Myers, but it is not a personal spending weight.
Category Breakdown
Goods
Diff +0.8 RPP
Services
Diff -1.6 RPP
Rents
- Cape Coral-Fort Myers
- 125.1
Diff -0.7 RPP
| Category | Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater | Cape Coral-Fort Myers | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Overall | 100.9 | 102.3 | +1.5 |
| Goods | 95.5 | 96.2 | +0.8 |
| Services | 88.5 | 86.9 | -1.6 |
| Rents | 125.8 | 125.1 | -0.7 |
Visual Comparison
Overall
Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater 100.9
Cape Coral-Fort Myers 102.3
Goods
Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater 95.5
Cape Coral-Fort Myers 96.2
Services
Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater 88.5
Cape Coral-Fort Myers 86.9
Rents
Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater 125.8
Cape Coral-Fort Myers 125.1
Vertical line = national average (100)
Salary Equivalents
What a salary in Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater would need to be in Cape Coral-Fort Myers for the same purchasing power:
| In Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater | In Cape Coral-Fort Myers | Difference |
|---|---|---|
| $50,000 | $50,723 | +$723 |
| $75,000 | $76,085 | +$1,085 |
| $100,000 | $101,446 | +$1,446 |
| $150,000 | $152,169 | +$2,169 |
$ in Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater = in Cape Coral-Fort Myers
Same BEA Regional Price Parity ratio as the table above (100.9 → 102.3), computed live from your number, nothing is sent anywhere.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Cape Coral-Fort Myers more expensive than Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater?
Cape Coral-Fort Myers is 1.4% more expensive than Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater. The overall cost index is 102.3 vs 100.9 (national average = 100).
What salary in Cape Coral-Fort Myers equals $100K in Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater?
A $100,000 salary in Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater has the same purchasing power as $101,446 in Cape Coral-Fort Myers. This is based on the BEA Regional Price Parity indexes.
How do rents compare between Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater and Cape Coral-Fort Myers?
Rents in Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater are indexed at 125.8 while Cape Coral-Fort Myers is at 125.1 (national average = 100). Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater 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.