Overall
- Tuscaloosa
- 87.7
- Brunswick-St. Simons
- 87.7
Diff -0.0 RPP
Tuscaloosa vs Brunswick-St. Simons
Cost of living comparison based on BEA Regional Price Parities. Brunswick-St. Simons is 0% less expensive than Tuscaloosa.
0% less expensive
Brunswick-St. Simons, GA is 0% less expensive than Tuscaloosa, AL on BEA Regional Price Parities (overall RPP 87.7 vs 87.7). A $100,000 salary in Tuscaloosa buys about the same as $99,984 in Brunswick-St. Simons; the largest component gap is services.
- Overall RPP 87.7 (Tuscaloosa) vs 87.7 (Brunswick-St. Simons)
- $100k in Tuscaloosa ≈ $99,984 purchasing power in Brunswick-St. Simons
- Services drives the gap (+2.9 RPP points)
RPP parity plate
Pair AL:GA 87.7→87.7
PHOTO-FINISH · CROSS-STATE · SPLIT-BUDGET · BOTH-BELOW · PP-PAR
- PHOTO-FINISH Photo finish
- CROSS-STATE AL × GA
- 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.
Tuscaloosa
87.7
Cost Index
Brunswick-St. Simons
87.7
Cost Index
What This Comparison Actually Tells You
Tuscaloosa, AL and Brunswick-St. Simons, GA 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: Brunswick-St. Simons is 2.9 points higher. But services 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 Tuscaloosa to $99,984 in Brunswick-St. Simons, but it is not a personal spending weight.
Category Breakdown
Goods
- Tuscaloosa
- 96.4
- Brunswick-St. Simons
- 96.3
Diff -0.1 RPP
Services
- Tuscaloosa
- 84.4
- Brunswick-St. Simons
- 87.3
Diff +2.9 RPP
Rents
- Tuscaloosa
- 58.2
- Brunswick-St. Simons
- 56.3
Diff -1.9 RPP
| Category | Tuscaloosa | Brunswick-St. Simons | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Overall | 87.7 | 87.7 | -0.0 |
| Goods | 96.4 | 96.3 | -0.1 |
| Services | 84.4 | 87.3 | +2.9 |
| Rents | 58.2 | 56.3 | -1.9 |
Visual Comparison
Overall
Tuscaloosa 87.7
Brunswick-St. Simons 87.7
Goods
Tuscaloosa 96.4
Brunswick-St. Simons 96.3
Services
Tuscaloosa 84.4
Brunswick-St. Simons 87.3
Rents
Tuscaloosa 58.2
Brunswick-St. Simons 56.3
Vertical line = national average (100)
Salary Equivalents
What a salary in Tuscaloosa would need to be in Brunswick-St. Simons for the same purchasing power:
| In Tuscaloosa | In Brunswick-St. Simons | Difference |
|---|---|---|
| $50,000 | $49,992 | $-8 |
| $75,000 | $74,988 | $-12 |
| $100,000 | $99,984 | $-16 |
| $150,000 | $149,976 | $-24 |
$ in Tuscaloosa = in Brunswick-St. Simons
Same BEA Regional Price Parity ratio as the table above (87.7 → 87.7), computed live from your number, nothing is sent anywhere.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Brunswick-St. Simons more expensive than Tuscaloosa?
Brunswick-St. Simons is 0% less expensive than Tuscaloosa. The overall cost index is 87.7 vs 87.7 (national average = 100).
What salary in Brunswick-St. Simons equals $100K in Tuscaloosa?
A $100,000 salary in Tuscaloosa has the same purchasing power as $99,984 in Brunswick-St. Simons. This is based on the BEA Regional Price Parity indexes.
How do rents compare between Tuscaloosa and Brunswick-St. Simons?
Rents in Tuscaloosa are indexed at 58.2 while Brunswick-St. Simons is at 56.3 (national average = 100). Tuscaloosa 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.