Overall
- Urban Honolulu
- 111.0
- Chicago-Naperville-Elgin
- 103.6
Diff -7.4 RPP
Urban Honolulu vs Chicago-Naperville-Elgin
Cost of living comparison based on BEA Regional Price Parities. Chicago-Naperville-Elgin is 6.6% less expensive than Urban Honolulu.
6.6% less expensive
Chicago-Naperville-Elgin, IL-IN is 6.6% less expensive than Urban Honolulu, HI on BEA Regional Price Parities (overall RPP 103.6 vs 111.0). A $100,000 salary in Urban Honolulu buys about the same as $93,362 in Chicago-Naperville-Elgin; the largest component gap is services.
- Overall RPP 111.0 (Urban Honolulu) vs 103.6 (Chicago-Naperville-Elgin)
- $100k in Urban Honolulu ≈ $93,362 purchasing power in Chicago-Naperville-Elgin
- Services drives the gap (-103.7 RPP points)
RPP parity plate
Pair HI:IL 111.0→103.6
TIER-NEAR · CROSS-STATE · SERVICES-LED · BOTH-ABOVE · PP-SHIFT
- TIER-NEAR Near tier
- CROSS-STATE HI × IL
- SERVICES-LED Services-led gap
- BOTH-ABOVE Both above 100
- PP-SHIFT PP shift
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.
What This Comparison Actually Tells You
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.
Chicago-Naperville-Elgin, IL-IN is 6.6% less expensive than Urban Honolulu, HI, a meaningful but not extreme shift. The move decision turns on which budget category creates the 7.4-point overall gap.
Services leads the difference, with Chicago-Naperville-Elgin 103.7 points lower than Urban Honolulu. 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 service-heavy household, test childcare, health, and other locally supplied costs before relying on rent alone. The BEA ratio converts $100,000 in Urban Honolulu to $93,362 in Chicago-Naperville-Elgin, but it is not a personal spending weight.
How the Price Gap Changed
Urban Honolulu and Chicago-Naperville-Elgin share 17 published annual releases from 2008 through 2024. Their overall gap held broadly steady, moving from 6.4 to 7.4 RPP points. Urban Honolulu remained the higher-index metro in the latest release.
Services changed the most within this pair: its gap moved 66.8 points between the first and latest shared releases (170.5 to 103.7 points). This describes a relative price-index history, not a forecast or a household budget.
| Release Year | Urban Honolulu RPP | Chicago-Naperville-Elgin RPP | Relative Gap |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2008 | 111.9 | 105.4 | 6.4 points Urban Honolulu higher |
| 2012 | 112.4 | 105.1 | 7.3 points Urban Honolulu higher |
| 2016 | 113.4 | 103.8 | 9.6 points Urban Honolulu higher |
| 2020 | 115.7 | 104.5 | 11.2 points Urban Honolulu higher |
| 2024 | 111.0 | 103.6 | 7.4 points Urban Honolulu 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.
Category Breakdown
Goods
- Urban Honolulu
- 111.6
- Chicago-Naperville-Elgin
- 107.3
Diff -4.3 RPP
Services
- Urban Honolulu
- 187.3
Diff -103.7 RPP
Rents
- Urban Honolulu
- 135.5
- Chicago-Naperville-Elgin
- 112.0
Diff -23.5 RPP
| Category | Urban Honolulu | Chicago-Naperville-Elgin | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Overall | 111.0 | 103.6 | -7.4 |
| Goods | 111.6 | 107.3 | -4.3 |
| Services | 187.3 | 83.6 | -103.7 |
| Rents | 135.5 | 112.0 | -23.5 |
Visual Comparison
Overall
Urban Honolulu 111.0
Chicago-Naperville-Elgin 103.6
Goods
Urban Honolulu 111.6
Chicago-Naperville-Elgin 107.3
Services
Urban Honolulu 187.3
Chicago-Naperville-Elgin 83.6
Rents
Urban Honolulu 135.5
Chicago-Naperville-Elgin 112.0
Vertical line = national average (100)
Salary Equivalents
What a salary in Urban Honolulu would need to be in Chicago-Naperville-Elgin for the same purchasing power:
| In Urban Honolulu | In Chicago-Naperville-Elgin | Difference |
|---|---|---|
| $50,000 | $46,681 | $-3,319 |
| $75,000 | $70,021 | $-4,979 |
| $100,000 | $93,362 | $-6,638 |
| $150,000 | $140,042 | $-9,958 |
$ in Urban Honolulu = in Chicago-Naperville-Elgin
Same BEA Regional Price Parity ratio as the table above (111.0 → 103.6), computed live from your number, nothing is sent anywhere.
Urban Honolulu
111.0
Cost Index
Chicago-Naperville-Elgin
103.6
Cost Index
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Chicago-Naperville-Elgin more expensive than Urban Honolulu?
Chicago-Naperville-Elgin is 6.6% less expensive than Urban Honolulu. The overall cost index is 103.6 vs 111.0 (national average = 100).
What salary in Chicago-Naperville-Elgin equals $100K in Urban Honolulu?
A $100,000 salary in Urban Honolulu has the same purchasing power as $93,362 in Chicago-Naperville-Elgin. This is based on the BEA Regional Price Parity indexes.
How do rents compare between Urban Honolulu and Chicago-Naperville-Elgin?
Rents in Urban Honolulu are indexed at 135.5 while Chicago-Naperville-Elgin is at 112.0 (national average = 100). Urban Honolulu 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.