Overall
- Chicago-Naperville-Elgin
- 103.6
Diff +5.7 RPP
Virginia Beach-Chesapeake-Norfolk vs Chicago-Naperville-Elgin
Cost of living comparison based on BEA Regional Price Parities. Chicago-Naperville-Elgin is 5.8% more expensive than Virginia Beach-Chesapeake-Norfolk.
5.8% more expensive
Chicago-Naperville-Elgin, IL-IN is 5.8% more expensive than Virginia Beach-Chesapeake-Norfolk, VA-NC on BEA Regional Price Parities (overall RPP 103.6 vs 97.9). A $100,000 salary in Virginia Beach-Chesapeake-Norfolk buys about the same as $105,773 in Chicago-Naperville-Elgin; the largest component gap is rents.
- Overall RPP 97.9 (Virginia Beach-Chesapeake-Norfolk) vs 103.6 (Chicago-Naperville-Elgin)
- $100k in Virginia Beach-Chesapeake-Norfolk ≈ $105,773 purchasing power in Chicago-Naperville-Elgin
- Rents drives the gap (+12.2 RPP points)
RPP parity plate
Pair VA:IL 97.9→103.6
TIER-NEAR · CROSS-STATE · SPLIT-BUDGET · BENCH-CROSS · PP-SHIFT
- TIER-NEAR Near tier
- CROSS-STATE VA × IL
- SPLIT-BUDGET Split budget
- BENCH-CROSS Benchmark cross
- 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.
Category Breakdown
Goods
- Chicago-Naperville-Elgin
- 107.3
Diff +10.5 RPP
Services
Diff -6.0 RPP
Rents
- Chicago-Naperville-Elgin
- 112.0
Diff +12.2 RPP
| Category | Virginia Beach-Chesapeake-Norfolk | Chicago-Naperville-Elgin | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Overall | 97.9 | 103.6 | +5.7 |
| Goods | 96.8 | 107.3 | +10.5 |
| Services | 89.6 | 83.6 | -6.0 |
| Rents | 99.8 | 112.0 | +12.2 |
Visual Comparison
Overall
Virginia Beach-Chesapeake-Norfolk 97.9
Chicago-Naperville-Elgin 103.6
Goods
Virginia Beach-Chesapeake-Norfolk 96.8
Chicago-Naperville-Elgin 107.3
Services
Virginia Beach-Chesapeake-Norfolk 89.6
Chicago-Naperville-Elgin 83.6
Rents
Virginia Beach-Chesapeake-Norfolk 99.8
Chicago-Naperville-Elgin 112.0
Vertical line = national average (100)
What This Comparison Actually Tells You
Rents creates the largest separation: Chicago-Naperville-Elgin is 12.2 points higher. But services move against the overall direction, so this is a split budget rather than a clean across-the-board winner.
Chicago-Naperville-Elgin, IL-IN is 5.8% more expensive than Virginia Beach-Chesapeake-Norfolk, VA-NC, a meaningful but not extreme shift. The move decision turns on which budget category creates the 5.7-point overall gap.
This route crosses the national benchmark: Chicago-Naperville-Elgin is above 100 while Virginia Beach-Chesapeake-Norfolk is below it. That makes the move a change of price regime, not merely a rank swap.
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 Virginia Beach-Chesapeake-Norfolk corresponds to $105,773 in Chicago-Naperville-Elgin.
Virginia Beach-Chesapeake-Norfolk
97.9
Cost Index
Chicago-Naperville-Elgin
103.6
Cost Index
Salary Equivalents
What a salary in Virginia Beach-Chesapeake-Norfolk would need to be in Chicago-Naperville-Elgin for the same purchasing power:
| In Virginia Beach-Chesapeake-Norfolk | In Chicago-Naperville-Elgin | Difference |
|---|---|---|
| $50,000 | $52,886 | +$2,886 |
| $75,000 | $79,330 | +$4,330 |
| $100,000 | $105,773 | +$5,773 |
| $150,000 | $158,659 | +$8,659 |
$ in Virginia Beach-Chesapeake-Norfolk = in Chicago-Naperville-Elgin
Same BEA Regional Price Parity ratio as the table above (97.9 → 103.6), computed live from your number, nothing is sent anywhere.
How the Price Gap Changed
Virginia Beach-Chesapeake-Norfolk and Chicago-Naperville-Elgin share 17 published annual releases from 2008 through 2024. Their overall gap held broadly steady, moving from 5.4 to 5.7 RPP points. Chicago-Naperville-Elgin remained the higher-index metro in the latest release.
Services changed the most within this pair: its gap moved 14.5 points between the first and latest shared releases (8.5 to 6.0 points). This describes a relative price-index history, not a forecast or a household budget.
| Release Year | Virginia Beach-Chesapeake-Norfolk RPP | Chicago-Naperville-Elgin RPP | Relative Gap |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2008 | 100.1 | 105.4 | 5.4 points Chicago-Naperville-Elgin higher |
| 2012 | 100.1 | 105.1 | 5.0 points Chicago-Naperville-Elgin higher |
| 2016 | 101.0 | 103.8 | 2.8 points Chicago-Naperville-Elgin higher |
| 2020 | 95.6 | 104.5 | 8.9 points Chicago-Naperville-Elgin higher |
| 2024 | 97.9 | 103.6 | 5.7 points Chicago-Naperville-Elgin 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 Chicago-Naperville-Elgin more expensive than Virginia Beach-Chesapeake-Norfolk?
Chicago-Naperville-Elgin is 5.8% more expensive than Virginia Beach-Chesapeake-Norfolk. The overall cost index is 103.6 vs 97.9 (national average = 100).
What salary in Chicago-Naperville-Elgin equals $100K in Virginia Beach-Chesapeake-Norfolk?
A $100,000 salary in Virginia Beach-Chesapeake-Norfolk has the same purchasing power as $105,773 in Chicago-Naperville-Elgin. This is based on the BEA Regional Price Parity indexes.
How do rents compare between Virginia Beach-Chesapeake-Norfolk and Chicago-Naperville-Elgin?
Rents in Virginia Beach-Chesapeake-Norfolk are indexed at 99.8 while Chicago-Naperville-Elgin is at 112.0 (national average = 100). Chicago-Naperville-Elgin 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.