Overall
- Tulsa
- 89.2
- Cedar Rapids
- 89.0
Diff -0.3 RPP
Tulsa vs Cedar Rapids
Cost of living comparison based on BEA Regional Price Parities. Cedar Rapids is 0.3% less expensive than Tulsa.
0.3% less expensive
Cedar Rapids, IA is 0.3% less expensive than Tulsa, OK on BEA Regional Price Parities (overall RPP 89.0 vs 89.2). A $100,000 salary in Tulsa buys about the same as $99,719 in Cedar Rapids; the largest component gap is services.
- Overall RPP 89.2 (Tulsa) vs 89.0 (Cedar Rapids)
- $100k in Tulsa ≈ $99,719 purchasing power in Cedar Rapids
- Services drives the gap (+10.1 RPP points)
RPP parity plate
Pair OK:IA 89.2→89.0
PHOTO-FINISH · CROSS-STATE · SPLIT-BUDGET · BOTH-BELOW · PP-PAR
- PHOTO-FINISH Photo finish
- CROSS-STATE OK × IA
- 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.
Tulsa
89.2
Cost Index
Cedar Rapids
89.0
Cost Index
What This Comparison Actually Tells You
Tulsa, OK and Cedar Rapids, IA are a photo finish on overall price level, only 0.3 RPP points apart. A salary conversion is therefore a fine adjustment, not evidence of a fundamentally different cost regime.
Services creates the largest separation: Cedar Rapids is 10.1 points higher. 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 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 Tulsa to $99,719 in Cedar Rapids, but it is not a personal spending weight.
Category Breakdown
Goods
- Tulsa
- 93.8
- Cedar Rapids
- 93.7
Diff -0.0 RPP
Services
- Tulsa
- 73.9
- Cedar Rapids
- 84.0
Diff +10.1 RPP
Rents
- Tulsa
- 68.2
- Cedar Rapids
- 71.4
Diff +3.2 RPP
| Category | Tulsa | Cedar Rapids | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Overall | 89.2 | 89.0 | -0.3 |
| Goods | 93.8 | 93.7 | -0.0 |
| Services | 73.9 | 84.0 | +10.1 |
| Rents | 68.2 | 71.4 | +3.2 |
Visual Comparison
Overall
Tulsa 89.2
Cedar Rapids 89.0
Goods
Tulsa 93.8
Cedar Rapids 93.7
Services
Tulsa 73.9
Cedar Rapids 84.0
Rents
Tulsa 68.2
Cedar Rapids 71.4
Vertical line = national average (100)
How the Price Gap Changed
Tulsa and Cedar Rapids share 17 published annual releases from 2008 through 2024. Their overall gap held broadly steady, moving from 0.0 to 0.3 RPP points. Tulsa remained the higher-index metro in the latest release.
Services changed the most within this pair: its gap moved 2.7 points between the first and latest shared releases (7.4 to 10.1 points). This describes a relative price-index history, not a forecast or a household budget.
| Release Year | Tulsa RPP | Cedar Rapids RPP | Relative Gap |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2008 | 92.9 | 92.9 | 0.0 points Cedar Rapids higher |
| 2012 | 94.2 | 93.7 | 0.4 points Tulsa higher |
| 2016 | 94.6 | 91.1 | 3.5 points Tulsa higher |
| 2020 | 91.7 | 91.2 | 0.4 points Tulsa higher |
| 2024 | 89.2 | 89.0 | 0.3 points Tulsa 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 Tulsa would need to be in Cedar Rapids for the same purchasing power:
| In Tulsa | In Cedar Rapids | Difference |
|---|---|---|
| $50,000 | $49,859 | $-141 |
| $75,000 | $74,789 | $-211 |
| $100,000 | $99,719 | $-281 |
| $150,000 | $149,578 | $-422 |
$ in Tulsa = in Cedar Rapids
Same BEA Regional Price Parity ratio as the table above (89.2 → 89.0), computed live from your number, nothing is sent anywhere.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Cedar Rapids more expensive than Tulsa?
Cedar Rapids is 0.3% less expensive than Tulsa. The overall cost index is 89.0 vs 89.2 (national average = 100).
What salary in Cedar Rapids equals $100K in Tulsa?
A $100,000 salary in Tulsa has the same purchasing power as $99,719 in Cedar Rapids. This is based on the BEA Regional Price Parity indexes.
How do rents compare between Tulsa and Cedar Rapids?
Rents in Tulsa are indexed at 68.2 while Cedar Rapids is at 71.4 (national average = 100). Cedar Rapids 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.