Overall
- Waterloo-Cedar Falls
- 87.1
- Fairbanks-College
- 103.2
Diff +16.2 RPP
Waterloo-Cedar Falls vs Fairbanks-College
Cost of living comparison based on BEA Regional Price Parities. Fairbanks-College is 18.6% more expensive than Waterloo-Cedar Falls.
18.6% more expensive
Fairbanks-College, AK is 18.6% more expensive than Waterloo-Cedar Falls, IA on BEA Regional Price Parities (overall RPP 103.2 vs 87.1). A $100,000 salary in Waterloo-Cedar Falls buys about the same as $118,552 in Fairbanks-College; the largest component gap is services.
- Overall RPP 87.1 (Waterloo-Cedar Falls) vs 103.2 (Fairbanks-College)
- $100k in Waterloo-Cedar Falls ≈ $118,552 purchasing power in Fairbanks-College
- Services drives the gap (+36.1 RPP points)
RPP parity plate
Pair IA:AK 87.1→103.2
TIER-GAP · CROSS-STATE · SERVICES-LED · BENCH-CROSS · PP-STEEP
- TIER-GAP Clear tier gap
- CROSS-STATE IA × AK
- SERVICES-LED Services-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.
What This Comparison Actually Tells You
Waterloo-Cedar Falls, IA and Fairbanks-College, AK sit in clearly different price tiers, separated by 16.2 RPP points. At this distance, treating the same nominal salary as equivalent would materially change purchasing power.
This route crosses the national benchmark: Fairbanks-College is above 100 while Waterloo-Cedar Falls is below it. That makes the move a change of price regime, not merely a rank swap.
Services leads the difference, with Fairbanks-College 36.1 points higher than Waterloo-Cedar Falls. 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 Waterloo-Cedar Falls to $118,552 in Fairbanks-College, but it is not a personal spending weight.
Category Breakdown
Goods
- Waterloo-Cedar Falls
- 93.7
- Fairbanks-College
- 107.3
Diff +13.6 RPP
Services
- Waterloo-Cedar Falls
- 83.7
- Fairbanks-College
- 119.8
Diff +36.1 RPP
Rents
- Waterloo-Cedar Falls
- 63.1
- Fairbanks-College
- 92.6
Diff +29.4 RPP
| Category | Waterloo-Cedar Falls | Fairbanks-College | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Overall | 87.1 | 103.2 | +16.2 |
| Goods | 93.7 | 107.3 | +13.6 |
| Services | 83.7 | 119.8 | +36.1 |
| Rents | 63.1 | 92.6 | +29.4 |
Visual Comparison
Overall
Waterloo-Cedar Falls 87.1
Fairbanks-College 103.2
Goods
Waterloo-Cedar Falls 93.7
Fairbanks-College 107.3
Services
Waterloo-Cedar Falls 83.7
Fairbanks-College 119.8
Rents
Waterloo-Cedar Falls 63.1
Fairbanks-College 92.6
Vertical line = national average (100)
Salary Equivalents
What a salary in Waterloo-Cedar Falls would need to be in Fairbanks-College for the same purchasing power:
| In Waterloo-Cedar Falls | In Fairbanks-College | Difference |
|---|---|---|
| $50,000 | $59,276 | +$9,276 |
| $75,000 | $88,914 | +$13,914 |
| $100,000 | $118,552 | +$18,552 |
| $150,000 | $177,828 | +$27,828 |
$ in Waterloo-Cedar Falls = in Fairbanks-College
Same BEA Regional Price Parity ratio as the table above (87.1 → 103.2), computed live from your number, nothing is sent anywhere.
Waterloo-Cedar Falls
87.1
Cost Index
Fairbanks-College
103.2
Cost Index
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Fairbanks-College more expensive than Waterloo-Cedar Falls?
Fairbanks-College is 18.6% more expensive than Waterloo-Cedar Falls. The overall cost index is 103.2 vs 87.1 (national average = 100).
What salary in Fairbanks-College equals $100K in Waterloo-Cedar Falls?
A $100,000 salary in Waterloo-Cedar Falls has the same purchasing power as $118,552 in Fairbanks-College. This is based on the BEA Regional Price Parity indexes.
How do rents compare between Waterloo-Cedar Falls and Fairbanks-College?
Rents in Waterloo-Cedar Falls are indexed at 63.1 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.