Overall
- Waterbury-Shelton
- 99.8
- Fairbanks-College
- 103.2
Diff +3.4 RPP
Waterbury-Shelton vs Fairbanks-College
Cost of living comparison based on BEA Regional Price Parities. Fairbanks-College is 3.4% more expensive than Waterbury-Shelton.
3.4% more expensive
Fairbanks-College, AK is 3.4% more expensive than Waterbury-Shelton, CT on BEA Regional Price Parities (overall RPP 103.2 vs 99.8). A $100,000 salary in Waterbury-Shelton buys about the same as $103,438 in Fairbanks-College; the largest component gap is services.
- Overall RPP 99.8 (Waterbury-Shelton) vs 103.2 (Fairbanks-College)
- $100k in Waterbury-Shelton ≈ $103,438 purchasing power in Fairbanks-College
- Services drives the gap (-27.8 RPP points)
RPP parity plate
Pair CT:AK 99.8→103.2
TIER-NEAR · CROSS-STATE · SPLIT-BUDGET · BENCH-CROSS · PP-SHIFT
- TIER-NEAR Near tier
- CROSS-STATE CT × AK
- 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
- Waterbury-Shelton
- 97.3
- Fairbanks-College
- 107.3
Diff +10.0 RPP
Services
- Waterbury-Shelton
- 147.6
- Fairbanks-College
- 119.8
Diff -27.8 RPP
Rents
- Waterbury-Shelton
- 89.1
- Fairbanks-College
- 92.6
Diff +3.5 RPP
| Category | Waterbury-Shelton | Fairbanks-College | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Overall | 99.8 | 103.2 | +3.4 |
| Goods | 97.3 | 107.3 | +10.0 |
| Services | 147.6 | 119.8 | -27.8 |
| Rents | 89.1 | 92.6 | +3.5 |
Visual Comparison
Overall
Waterbury-Shelton 99.8
Fairbanks-College 103.2
Goods
Waterbury-Shelton 97.3
Fairbanks-College 107.3
Services
Waterbury-Shelton 147.6
Fairbanks-College 119.8
Rents
Waterbury-Shelton 89.1
Fairbanks-College 92.6
Vertical line = national average (100)
What This Comparison Actually Tells You
Services creates the largest separation: Fairbanks-College is 27.8 points lower. But services move against the overall direction, so this is a split budget rather than a clean across-the-board winner.
Fairbanks-College, AK is 3.4% more expensive than Waterbury-Shelton, CT, a meaningful but not extreme shift. The move decision turns on which budget category creates the 3.4-point overall gap.
This route crosses the national benchmark: Fairbanks-College is above 100 while Waterbury-Shelton 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 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 $103,438 in Fairbanks-College, but it is not a personal spending weight.
Waterbury-Shelton
99.8
Cost Index
Fairbanks-College
103.2
Cost Index
Salary Equivalents
What a salary in Waterbury-Shelton would need to be in Fairbanks-College for the same purchasing power:
| In Waterbury-Shelton | In Fairbanks-College | Difference |
|---|---|---|
| $50,000 | $51,719 | +$1,719 |
| $75,000 | $77,578 | +$2,578 |
| $100,000 | $103,438 | +$3,438 |
| $150,000 | $155,156 | +$5,156 |
$ in Waterbury-Shelton = in Fairbanks-College
Same BEA Regional Price Parity ratio as the table above (99.8 → 103.2), computed live from your number, nothing is sent anywhere.
How the Price Gap Changed
Waterbury-Shelton and Fairbanks-College share 17 published annual releases from 2008 through 2024. Their overall gap narrowed, moving from 6.1 to 3.4 RPP points. Fairbanks-College remained the higher-index metro in the latest release.
Services changed the most within this pair: its gap moved 30.3 points between the first and latest shared releases (58.1 to 27.8 points). This describes a relative price-index history, not a forecast or a household budget.
| Release Year | Waterbury-Shelton RPP | Fairbanks-College RPP | Relative Gap |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2008 | 110.8 | 104.7 | 6.1 points Waterbury-Shelton higher |
| 2012 | 106.9 | 97.9 | 9.0 points Waterbury-Shelton higher |
| 2016 | 106.5 | 100.4 | 6.0 points Waterbury-Shelton higher |
| 2020 | 103.4 | 99.4 | 4.1 points Waterbury-Shelton higher |
| 2024 | 99.8 | 103.2 | 3.4 points Fairbanks-College 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 Fairbanks-College more expensive than Waterbury-Shelton?
Fairbanks-College is 3.4% more expensive than Waterbury-Shelton. The overall cost index is 103.2 vs 99.8 (national average = 100).
What salary in Fairbanks-College equals $100K in Waterbury-Shelton?
A $100,000 salary in Waterbury-Shelton has the same purchasing power as $103,438 in Fairbanks-College. This is based on the BEA Regional Price Parity indexes.
How do rents compare between Waterbury-Shelton and Fairbanks-College?
Rents in Waterbury-Shelton are indexed at 89.1 while Fairbanks-College is at 92.6 (national average = 100). Fairbanks-College 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.