Overall
- Watertown-Fort Drum
- 87.7
- St. Cloud
- 87.6
Diff -0.1 RPP
Watertown-Fort Drum vs St. Cloud
Cost of living comparison based on BEA Regional Price Parities. St. Cloud is 0.1% less expensive than Watertown-Fort Drum.
0.1% less expensive
St. Cloud, MN is 0.1% less expensive than Watertown-Fort Drum, NY on BEA Regional Price Parities (overall RPP 87.6 vs 87.7). A $100,000 salary in Watertown-Fort Drum buys about the same as $99,934 in St. Cloud; the largest component gap is services.
- Overall RPP 87.7 (Watertown-Fort Drum) vs 87.6 (St. Cloud)
- $100k in Watertown-Fort Drum ≈ $99,934 purchasing power in St. Cloud
- Services drives the gap (-43.5 RPP points)
RPP parity plate
Pair NY:MN 87.7→87.6
PHOTO-FINISH · CROSS-STATE · SPLIT-BUDGET · BOTH-BELOW · PP-PAR
- PHOTO-FINISH Photo finish
- CROSS-STATE NY × MN
- 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.
Watertown-Fort Drum
87.7
Cost Index
St. Cloud
87.6
Cost Index
What This Comparison Actually Tells You
Watertown-Fort Drum, NY and St. Cloud, MN are a photo finish on overall price level, only 0.1 RPP points apart. A salary conversion is therefore a fine adjustment, not evidence of a fundamentally different cost regime.
Services creates the largest separation: St. Cloud is 43.5 points lower. But rents 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 Watertown-Fort Drum to $99,934 in St. Cloud, but it is not a personal spending weight.
Category Breakdown
Goods
- Watertown-Fort Drum
- 99.7
- St. Cloud
- 95.4
Diff -4.3 RPP
Services
- Watertown-Fort Drum
- 132.2
- St. Cloud
- 88.7
Diff -43.5 RPP
Rents
- Watertown-Fort Drum
- 53.2
- St. Cloud
- 65.1
Diff +11.9 RPP
| Category | Watertown-Fort Drum | St. Cloud | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Overall | 87.7 | 87.6 | -0.1 |
| Goods | 99.7 | 95.4 | -4.3 |
| Services | 132.2 | 88.7 | -43.5 |
| Rents | 53.2 | 65.1 | +11.9 |
Visual Comparison
Overall
Watertown-Fort Drum 87.7
St. Cloud 87.6
Goods
Watertown-Fort Drum 99.7
St. Cloud 95.4
Services
Watertown-Fort Drum 132.2
St. Cloud 88.7
Rents
Watertown-Fort Drum 53.2
St. Cloud 65.1
Vertical line = national average (100)
How the Price Gap Changed
Watertown-Fort Drum and St. Cloud share 17 published annual releases from 2008 through 2024. Their overall gap narrowed, moving from 3.8 to 0.1 RPP points. Watertown-Fort Drum remained the higher-index metro in the latest release.
Rents changed the most within this pair: its gap moved 11.5 points between the first and latest shared releases (23.4 to 11.9 points). This describes a relative price-index history, not a forecast or a household budget.
| Release Year | Watertown-Fort Drum RPP | St. Cloud RPP | Relative Gap |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2008 | 93.5 | 97.3 | 3.8 points St. Cloud higher |
| 2012 | 98.8 | 95.2 | 3.6 points Watertown-Fort Drum higher |
| 2016 | 98.4 | 93.7 | 4.8 points Watertown-Fort Drum higher |
| 2020 | 90.7 | 91.5 | 0.7 points St. Cloud higher |
| 2024 | 87.7 | 87.6 | 0.1 points Watertown-Fort Drum 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 Watertown-Fort Drum would need to be in St. Cloud for the same purchasing power:
| In Watertown-Fort Drum | In St. Cloud | Difference |
|---|---|---|
| $50,000 | $49,967 | $-33 |
| $75,000 | $74,950 | $-50 |
| $100,000 | $99,934 | $-66 |
| $150,000 | $149,901 | $-99 |
$ in Watertown-Fort Drum = in St. Cloud
Same BEA Regional Price Parity ratio as the table above (87.7 → 87.6), computed live from your number, nothing is sent anywhere.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is St. Cloud more expensive than Watertown-Fort Drum?
St. Cloud is 0.1% less expensive than Watertown-Fort Drum. The overall cost index is 87.6 vs 87.7 (national average = 100).
What salary in St. Cloud equals $100K in Watertown-Fort Drum?
A $100,000 salary in Watertown-Fort Drum has the same purchasing power as $99,934 in St. Cloud. This is based on the BEA Regional Price Parity indexes.
How do rents compare between Watertown-Fort Drum and St. Cloud?
Rents in Watertown-Fort Drum are indexed at 53.2 while St. Cloud is at 65.1 (national average = 100). St. Cloud 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.