Overall
- Watertown-Fort Drum
- 87.7
- Barnstable Town
- 98.4
Diff +10.7 RPP
Watertown-Fort Drum vs Barnstable Town
Cost of living comparison based on BEA Regional Price Parities. Barnstable Town is 12.2% more expensive than Watertown-Fort Drum.
12.2% more expensive
Barnstable Town, MA is 12.2% more expensive than Watertown-Fort Drum, NY on BEA Regional Price Parities (overall RPP 98.4 vs 87.7). A $100,000 salary in Watertown-Fort Drum buys about the same as $112,158 in Barnstable Town; the largest component gap is rents.
- Overall RPP 87.7 (Watertown-Fort Drum) vs 98.4 (Barnstable Town)
- $100k in Watertown-Fort Drum ≈ $112,158 purchasing power in Barnstable Town
- Rents drives the gap (+36.8 RPP points)
RPP parity plate
Pair NY:MA 87.7→98.4
TIER-GAP · CROSS-STATE · SPLIT-BUDGET · BOTH-BELOW · PP-SHIFT
- TIER-GAP Clear tier gap
- CROSS-STATE NY × MA
- SPLIT-BUDGET Split budget
- BOTH-BELOW Both below 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.
Category Breakdown
Goods
- Watertown-Fort Drum
- 99.7
- Barnstable Town
- 97.0
Diff -2.7 RPP
Services
- Watertown-Fort Drum
- 132.2
- Barnstable Town
- 158.4
Diff +26.3 RPP
Rents
- Watertown-Fort Drum
- 53.2
- Barnstable Town
- 90.0
Diff +36.8 RPP
| Category | Watertown-Fort Drum | Barnstable Town | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Overall | 87.7 | 98.4 | +10.7 |
| Goods | 99.7 | 97.0 | -2.7 |
| Services | 132.2 | 158.4 | +26.3 |
| Rents | 53.2 | 90.0 | +36.8 |
Visual Comparison
Overall
Watertown-Fort Drum 87.7
Barnstable Town 98.4
Goods
Watertown-Fort Drum 99.7
Barnstable Town 97.0
Services
Watertown-Fort Drum 132.2
Barnstable Town 158.4
Rents
Watertown-Fort Drum 53.2
Barnstable Town 90.0
Vertical line = national average (100)
What This Comparison Actually Tells You
Rents creates the largest separation: Barnstable Town is 36.8 points higher. But goods move against the overall direction, so this is a split budget rather than a clean across-the-board winner.
Watertown-Fort Drum, NY and Barnstable Town, MA sit in clearly different price tiers, separated by 10.7 RPP points. At this distance, treating the same nominal salary as equivalent would materially change purchasing power.
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.
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 Watertown-Fort Drum corresponds to $112,158 in Barnstable Town.
Watertown-Fort Drum
87.7
Cost Index
Barnstable Town
98.4
Cost Index
Salary Equivalents
What a salary in Watertown-Fort Drum would need to be in Barnstable Town for the same purchasing power:
| In Watertown-Fort Drum | In Barnstable Town | Difference |
|---|---|---|
| $50,000 | $56,079 | +$6,079 |
| $75,000 | $84,118 | +$9,118 |
| $100,000 | $112,158 | +$12,158 |
| $150,000 | $168,236 | +$18,236 |
$ in Watertown-Fort Drum = in Barnstable Town
Same BEA Regional Price Parity ratio as the table above (87.7 → 98.4), computed live from your number, nothing is sent anywhere.
How the Price Gap Changed
Watertown-Fort Drum and Barnstable Town share 17 published annual releases from 2008 through 2024. Their overall gap widened, moving from 9.3 to 10.7 RPP points. Barnstable Town remained the higher-index metro in the latest release.
Services changed the most within this pair: its gap moved 29.4 points between the first and latest shared releases (3.1 to 26.3 points). This describes a relative price-index history, not a forecast or a household budget.
| Release Year | Watertown-Fort Drum RPP | Barnstable Town RPP | Relative Gap |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2008 | 93.5 | 102.8 | 9.3 points Barnstable Town higher |
| 2012 | 98.8 | 100.9 | 2.2 points Barnstable Town higher |
| 2016 | 98.4 | 105.8 | 7.4 points Barnstable Town higher |
| 2020 | 90.7 | 101.3 | 10.5 points Barnstable Town higher |
| 2024 | 87.7 | 98.4 | 10.7 points Barnstable Town 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 Barnstable Town more expensive than Watertown-Fort Drum?
Barnstable Town is 12.2% more expensive than Watertown-Fort Drum. The overall cost index is 98.4 vs 87.7 (national average = 100).
What salary in Barnstable Town equals $100K in Watertown-Fort Drum?
A $100,000 salary in Watertown-Fort Drum has the same purchasing power as $112,158 in Barnstable Town. This is based on the BEA Regional Price Parity indexes.
How do rents compare between Watertown-Fort Drum and Barnstable Town?
Rents in Watertown-Fort Drum are indexed at 53.2 while Barnstable Town is at 90.0 (national average = 100). Barnstable Town 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.