Overall
- Waterbury-Shelton
- 99.8
Diff -0.9 RPP
Waterbury-Shelton vs Atlantic City-Hammonton
Cost of living comparison based on BEA Regional Price Parities. Atlantic City-Hammonton is 0.9% less expensive than Waterbury-Shelton.
0.9% less expensive
Atlantic City-Hammonton, NJ is 0.9% less expensive than Waterbury-Shelton, CT on BEA Regional Price Parities (overall RPP 98.9 vs 99.8). A $100,000 salary in Waterbury-Shelton buys about the same as $99,077 in Atlantic City-Hammonton; the largest component gap is services.
- Overall RPP 99.8 (Waterbury-Shelton) vs 98.9 (Atlantic City-Hammonton)
- $100k in Waterbury-Shelton ≈ $99,077 purchasing power in Atlantic City-Hammonton
- Services drives the gap (-38.4 RPP points)
RPP parity plate
Pair CT:NJ 99.8→98.9
PHOTO-FINISH · CROSS-STATE · SPLIT-BUDGET · BOTH-BELOW · PP-PAR
- PHOTO-FINISH Photo finish
- CROSS-STATE CT × NJ
- 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.
Waterbury-Shelton
99.8
Cost Index
Atlantic City-Hammonton
98.9
Cost Index
What This Comparison Actually Tells You
Waterbury-Shelton, CT and Atlantic City-Hammonton, NJ are a photo finish on overall price level, only 0.9 RPP points apart. A salary conversion is therefore a fine adjustment, not evidence of a fundamentally different cost regime.
Services creates the largest separation: Atlantic City-Hammonton is 38.4 points lower. But rents 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 Waterbury-Shelton to $99,077 in Atlantic City-Hammonton, but it is not a personal spending weight.
Category Breakdown
Goods
- Waterbury-Shelton
- 97.3
Diff +2.5 RPP
Services
- Waterbury-Shelton
- 147.6
- Atlantic City-Hammonton
- 109.2
Diff -38.4 RPP
Rents
- Waterbury-Shelton
- 89.1
Diff +9.6 RPP
| Category | Waterbury-Shelton | Atlantic City-Hammonton | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Overall | 99.8 | 98.9 | -0.9 |
| Goods | 97.3 | 99.8 | +2.5 |
| Services | 147.6 | 109.2 | -38.4 |
| Rents | 89.1 | 98.7 | +9.6 |
Visual Comparison
Overall
Waterbury-Shelton 99.8
Atlantic City-Hammonton 98.9
Goods
Waterbury-Shelton 97.3
Atlantic City-Hammonton 99.8
Services
Waterbury-Shelton 147.6
Atlantic City-Hammonton 109.2
Rents
Waterbury-Shelton 89.1
Atlantic City-Hammonton 98.7
Vertical line = national average (100)
How the Price Gap Changed
Waterbury-Shelton and Atlantic City-Hammonton share 17 published annual releases from 2008 through 2024. Their overall gap held broadly steady, moving from 0.1 to 0.9 RPP points. Waterbury-Shelton remained the higher-index metro in the latest release.
Goods changed the most within this pair: its gap moved 7.0 points between the first and latest shared releases (4.5 to 2.5 points). This describes a relative price-index history, not a forecast or a household budget.
| Release Year | Waterbury-Shelton RPP | Atlantic City-Hammonton RPP | Relative Gap |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2008 | 110.8 | 110.7 | 0.1 points Waterbury-Shelton higher |
| 2012 | 106.9 | 104.6 | 2.3 points Waterbury-Shelton higher |
| 2016 | 106.5 | 102.6 | 3.8 points Waterbury-Shelton higher |
| 2020 | 103.4 | 101.2 | 2.3 points Waterbury-Shelton higher |
| 2024 | 99.8 | 98.9 | 0.9 points Waterbury-Shelton 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 Waterbury-Shelton would need to be in Atlantic City-Hammonton for the same purchasing power:
| In Waterbury-Shelton | In Atlantic City-Hammonton | Difference |
|---|---|---|
| $50,000 | $49,538 | $-462 |
| $75,000 | $74,308 | $-692 |
| $100,000 | $99,077 | $-923 |
| $150,000 | $148,615 | $-1,385 |
$ in Waterbury-Shelton = in Atlantic City-Hammonton
Same BEA Regional Price Parity ratio as the table above (99.8 → 98.9), computed live from your number, nothing is sent anywhere.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Atlantic City-Hammonton more expensive than Waterbury-Shelton?
Atlantic City-Hammonton is 0.9% less expensive than Waterbury-Shelton. The overall cost index is 98.9 vs 99.8 (national average = 100).
What salary in Atlantic City-Hammonton equals $100K in Waterbury-Shelton?
A $100,000 salary in Waterbury-Shelton has the same purchasing power as $99,077 in Atlantic City-Hammonton. This is based on the BEA Regional Price Parity indexes.
How do rents compare between Waterbury-Shelton and Atlantic City-Hammonton?
Rents in Waterbury-Shelton are indexed at 89.1 while Atlantic City-Hammonton is at 98.7 (national average = 100). Atlantic City-Hammonton 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.