Overall
- Tuscaloosa
- 87.7
Diff +25.8 RPP
Tuscaloosa vs Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim
Cost of living comparison based on BEA Regional Price Parities. Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim is 29.5% more expensive than Tuscaloosa.
29.5% more expensive
Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim, CA is 29.5% more expensive than Tuscaloosa, AL on BEA Regional Price Parities (overall RPP 113.6 vs 87.7). A $100,000 salary in Tuscaloosa buys about the same as $129,461 in Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim; the largest component gap is rents.
- Overall RPP 87.7 (Tuscaloosa) vs 113.6 (Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim)
- $100k in Tuscaloosa ≈ $129,461 purchasing power in Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim
- Rents drives the gap (+112.2 RPP points)
RPP parity plate
Pair AL:CA 87.7→113.6
TIER-GAP · CROSS-STATE · RENT-LED · BENCH-CROSS · PP-STEEP
- TIER-GAP Clear tier gap
- CROSS-STATE AL × CA
- RENT-LED Rent-led gap
- BENCH-CROSS Benchmark cross
- PP-STEEP Steep PP convert
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.
Salary Equivalents
What a salary in Tuscaloosa would need to be in Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim for the same purchasing power:
| In Tuscaloosa | In Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim | Difference |
|---|---|---|
| $50,000 | $64,731 | +$14,731 |
| $75,000 | $97,096 | +$22,096 |
| $100,000 | $129,461 | +$29,461 |
| $150,000 | $194,192 | +$44,192 |
$ in Tuscaloosa = in Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim
Same BEA Regional Price Parity ratio as the table above (87.7 → 113.6), computed live from your number, nothing is sent anywhere.
What This Comparison Actually Tells You
Tuscaloosa, AL and Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim, CA sit in clearly different price tiers, separated by 25.8 RPP points. At this distance, treating the same nominal salary as equivalent would materially change purchasing power.
This route crosses the national benchmark: Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim is above 100 while Tuscaloosa is below it. That makes the move a change of price regime, not merely a rank swap.
Rents leads the difference, with Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim 112.2 points higher than Tuscaloosa. Goods, services, and rents all point in the same broad direction, making the headline comparison more transferable across household types.
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 Tuscaloosa corresponds to $129,461 in Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim.
Category Breakdown
Goods
- Tuscaloosa
- 96.4
Diff +10.2 RPP
Services
- Tuscaloosa
- 84.4
Diff +74.2 RPP
Rents
- Tuscaloosa
- 58.2
Diff +112.2 RPP
| Category | Tuscaloosa | Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Overall | 87.7 | 113.6 | +25.8 |
| Goods | 96.4 | 106.6 | +10.2 |
| Services | 84.4 | 158.6 | +74.2 |
| Rents | 58.2 | 170.4 | +112.2 |
Visual Comparison
Overall
Tuscaloosa 87.7
Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim 113.6
Goods
Tuscaloosa 96.4
Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim 106.6
Services
Tuscaloosa 84.4
Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim 158.6
Rents
Tuscaloosa 58.2
Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim 170.4
Vertical line = national average (100)
Tuscaloosa
87.7
Cost Index
Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim
113.6
Cost Index
How the Price Gap Changed
Tuscaloosa and Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim share 17 published annual releases from 2008 through 2024. Their overall gap widened, moving from 23.6 to 25.8 RPP points. Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim remained the higher-index metro in the latest release.
Services changed the most within this pair: its gap moved 47.7 points between the first and latest shared releases (26.5 to 74.2 points). This describes a relative price-index history, not a forecast or a household budget.
| Release Year | Tuscaloosa RPP | Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim RPP | Relative Gap |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2008 | 89.7 | 113.3 | 23.6 points Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim higher |
| 2012 | 90.6 | 112.1 | 21.4 points Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim higher |
| 2016 | 90.9 | 111.3 | 20.4 points Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim higher |
| 2020 | 87.1 | 113.9 | 26.8 points Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim higher |
| 2024 | 87.7 | 113.6 | 25.8 points Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim 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 Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim more expensive than Tuscaloosa?
Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim is 29.5% more expensive than Tuscaloosa. The overall cost index is 113.6 vs 87.7 (national average = 100).
What salary in Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim equals $100K in Tuscaloosa?
A $100,000 salary in Tuscaloosa has the same purchasing power as $129,461 in Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim. This is based on the BEA Regional Price Parity indexes.
How do rents compare between Tuscaloosa and Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim?
Rents in Tuscaloosa are indexed at 58.2 while Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim is at 170.4 (national average = 100). Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim 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.