Overall
- Tuscaloosa
- 87.7
- Cleveland
- 88.1
Diff +0.4 RPP
Tuscaloosa vs Cleveland
Cost of living comparison based on BEA Regional Price Parities. Cleveland is 0.4% more expensive than Tuscaloosa.
0.4% more expensive
Cleveland, TN is 0.4% more expensive than Tuscaloosa, AL on BEA Regional Price Parities (overall RPP 88.1 vs 87.7). A $100,000 salary in Tuscaloosa buys about the same as $100,408 in Cleveland; the largest component gap is services.
- Overall RPP 87.7 (Tuscaloosa) vs 88.1 (Cleveland)
- $100k in Tuscaloosa ≈ $100,408 purchasing power in Cleveland
- Services drives the gap (-12.1 RPP points)
RPP parity plate
Pair AL:TN 87.7→88.1
PHOTO-FINISH · CROSS-STATE · SPLIT-BUDGET · BOTH-BELOW · PP-PAR
- PHOTO-FINISH Photo finish
- CROSS-STATE AL × TN
- 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
Cleveland
88.1
Cost Index
What This Comparison Actually Tells You
Tuscaloosa, AL and Cleveland, TN are a photo finish on overall price level, only 0.4 RPP points apart. A salary conversion is therefore a fine adjustment, not evidence of a fundamentally different cost regime.
Services creates the largest separation: Cleveland is 12.1 points lower. But services 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 Tuscaloosa to $100,408 in Cleveland, but it is not a personal spending weight.
Category Breakdown
Goods
- Tuscaloosa
- 96.4
- Cleveland
- 96.2
Diff -0.2 RPP
Services
- Tuscaloosa
- 84.4
- Cleveland
- 72.3
Diff -12.1 RPP
Rents
- Tuscaloosa
- 58.2
- Cleveland
- 60.3
Diff +2.1 RPP
| Category | Tuscaloosa | Cleveland | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Overall | 87.7 | 88.1 | +0.4 |
| Goods | 96.4 | 96.2 | -0.2 |
| Services | 84.4 | 72.3 | -12.1 |
| Rents | 58.2 | 60.3 | +2.1 |
Visual Comparison
Overall
Tuscaloosa 87.7
Cleveland 88.1
Goods
Tuscaloosa 96.4
Cleveland 96.2
Services
Tuscaloosa 84.4
Cleveland 72.3
Rents
Tuscaloosa 58.2
Cleveland 60.3
Vertical line = national average (100)
How the Price Gap Changed
Tuscaloosa and Cleveland share 17 published annual releases from 2008 through 2024. Their overall gap narrowed, moving from 1.8 to 0.4 RPP points. Cleveland remained the higher-index metro in the latest release.
Services changed the most within this pair: its gap moved 4.3 points between the first and latest shared releases (16.4 to 12.1 points). This describes a relative price-index history, not a forecast or a household budget.
| Release Year | Tuscaloosa RPP | Cleveland RPP | Relative Gap |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2008 | 89.7 | 87.9 | 1.8 points Tuscaloosa higher |
| 2012 | 90.6 | 89.3 | 1.3 points Tuscaloosa higher |
| 2016 | 90.9 | 88.6 | 2.3 points Tuscaloosa higher |
| 2020 | 87.1 | 86.6 | 0.5 points Tuscaloosa higher |
| 2024 | 87.7 | 88.1 | 0.4 points Cleveland 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 Tuscaloosa would need to be in Cleveland for the same purchasing power:
| In Tuscaloosa | In Cleveland | Difference |
|---|---|---|
| $50,000 | $50,204 | +$204 |
| $75,000 | $75,306 | +$306 |
| $100,000 | $100,408 | +$408 |
| $150,000 | $150,612 | +$612 |
$ in Tuscaloosa = in Cleveland
Same BEA Regional Price Parity ratio as the table above (87.7 → 88.1), computed live from your number, nothing is sent anywhere.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Cleveland more expensive than Tuscaloosa?
Cleveland is 0.4% more expensive than Tuscaloosa. The overall cost index is 88.1 vs 87.7 (national average = 100).
What salary in Cleveland equals $100K in Tuscaloosa?
A $100,000 salary in Tuscaloosa has the same purchasing power as $100,408 in Cleveland. This is based on the BEA Regional Price Parity indexes.
How do rents compare between Tuscaloosa and Cleveland?
Rents in Tuscaloosa are indexed at 58.2 while Cleveland is at 60.3 (national average = 100). Cleveland 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.