Overall
- Wausau
- 92.7
- Champaign-Urbana
- 92.7
Diff +0.1 RPP
Wausau vs Champaign-Urbana
Cost of living comparison based on BEA Regional Price Parities. Champaign-Urbana is 0.1% more expensive than Wausau.
0.1% more expensive
Champaign-Urbana, IL is 0.1% more expensive than Wausau, WI on BEA Regional Price Parities (overall RPP 92.7 vs 92.7). A $100,000 salary in Wausau buys about the same as $100,057 in Champaign-Urbana; the largest component gap is services.
- Overall RPP 92.7 (Wausau) vs 92.7 (Champaign-Urbana)
- $100k in Wausau ≈ $100,057 purchasing power in Champaign-Urbana
- Services drives the gap (+0.5 RPP points)
RPP parity plate
Pair WI:IL 92.7→92.7
PHOTO-FINISH · CROSS-STATE · SPLIT-BUDGET · BOTH-BELOW · PP-PAR
- PHOTO-FINISH Photo finish
- CROSS-STATE WI × IL
- 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.
Wausau
92.7
Cost Index
Champaign-Urbana
92.7
Cost Index
What This Comparison Actually Tells You
Wausau, WI and Champaign-Urbana, IL 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: Champaign-Urbana is 0.5 points higher. But 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 Wausau to $100,057 in Champaign-Urbana, but it is not a personal spending weight.
Category Breakdown
Goods
- Wausau
- 93.8
- Champaign-Urbana
- 93.6
Diff -0.1 RPP
Services
- Wausau
- 90.0
- Champaign-Urbana
- 90.5
Diff +0.5 RPP
Rents
- Wausau
- 71.5
- Champaign-Urbana
- 71.6
Diff +0.1 RPP
| Category | Wausau | Champaign-Urbana | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Overall | 92.7 | 92.7 | +0.1 |
| Goods | 93.8 | 93.6 | -0.1 |
| Services | 90.0 | 90.5 | +0.5 |
| Rents | 71.5 | 71.6 | +0.1 |
Visual Comparison
Overall
Wausau 92.7
Champaign-Urbana 92.7
Goods
Wausau 93.8
Champaign-Urbana 93.6
Services
Wausau 90.0
Champaign-Urbana 90.5
Rents
Wausau 71.5
Champaign-Urbana 71.6
Vertical line = national average (100)
Salary Equivalents
What a salary in Wausau would need to be in Champaign-Urbana for the same purchasing power:
| In Wausau | In Champaign-Urbana | Difference |
|---|---|---|
| $50,000 | $50,029 | +$29 |
| $75,000 | $75,043 | +$43 |
| $100,000 | $100,057 | +$57 |
| $150,000 | $150,086 | +$86 |
$ in Wausau = in Champaign-Urbana
Same BEA Regional Price Parity ratio as the table above (92.7 → 92.7), computed live from your number, nothing is sent anywhere.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Champaign-Urbana more expensive than Wausau?
Champaign-Urbana is 0.1% more expensive than Wausau. The overall cost index is 92.7 vs 92.7 (national average = 100).
What salary in Champaign-Urbana equals $100K in Wausau?
A $100,000 salary in Wausau has the same purchasing power as $100,057 in Champaign-Urbana. This is based on the BEA Regional Price Parity indexes.
How do rents compare between Wausau and Champaign-Urbana?
Rents in Wausau are indexed at 71.5 while Champaign-Urbana is at 71.6 (national average = 100). Champaign-Urbana 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.