Overall
- Wausau
- 92.7
- Springfield
- 92.7
Diff +0.1 RPP
Wausau vs Springfield
Cost of living comparison based on BEA Regional Price Parities. Springfield is 0.1% more expensive than Wausau.
0.1% more expensive
Springfield, 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 $100,101 in Springfield; the largest component gap is services.
- Overall RPP 92.7 (Wausau) vs 92.7 (Springfield)
- $100k in Wausau ≈ $100,101 purchasing power in Springfield
- Services drives the gap (+0.4 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
Springfield
92.7
Cost Index
What This Comparison Actually Tells You
Wausau, WI and Springfield, 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: Springfield is 0.4 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 $100,101 in Springfield, but it is not a personal spending weight.
Category Breakdown
Goods
- Wausau
- 93.8
- Springfield
- 93.6
Diff -0.1 RPP
Services
- Wausau
- 90.0
- Springfield
- 90.4
Diff +0.4 RPP
Rents
- Wausau
- 71.5
- Springfield
- 71.6
Diff +0.2 RPP
| Category | Wausau | Springfield | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Overall | 92.7 | 92.7 | +0.1 |
| Goods | 93.8 | 93.6 | -0.1 |
| Services | 90.0 | 90.4 | +0.4 |
| Rents | 71.5 | 71.6 | +0.2 |
Visual Comparison
Overall
Wausau 92.7
Springfield 92.7
Goods
Wausau 93.8
Springfield 93.6
Services
Wausau 90.0
Springfield 90.4
Rents
Wausau 71.5
Springfield 71.6
Vertical line = national average (100)
How the Price Gap Changed
Wausau and Springfield share 17 published annual releases from 2008 through 2024. Their overall gap held broadly steady, moving from 0.3 to 0.1 RPP points. Springfield remained the higher-index metro in the latest release.
Services changed the most within this pair: its gap moved 4.0 points between the first and latest shared releases (3.6 to 0.4 points). This describes a relative price-index history, not a forecast or a household budget.
| Release Year | Wausau RPP | Springfield RPP | Relative Gap |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2008 | 94.8 | 95.0 | 0.3 points Springfield higher |
| 2012 | 94.1 | 93.3 | 0.8 points Wausau higher |
| 2016 | 92.0 | 92.3 | 0.3 points Springfield higher |
| 2020 | 90.2 | 90.9 | 0.7 points Springfield higher |
| 2024 | 92.7 | 92.7 | 0.1 points Springfield 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 Wausau would need to be in Springfield for the same purchasing power:
| In Wausau | In Springfield | Difference |
|---|---|---|
| $50,000 | $50,051 | +$51 |
| $75,000 | $75,076 | +$76 |
| $100,000 | $100,101 | +$101 |
| $150,000 | $150,152 | +$152 |
$ in Wausau = in Springfield
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 Springfield more expensive than Wausau?
Springfield is 0.1% more expensive than Wausau. The overall cost index is 92.7 vs 92.7 (national average = 100).
What salary in Springfield equals $100K in Wausau?
A $100,000 salary in Wausau has the same purchasing power as $100,101 in Springfield. This is based on the BEA Regional Price Parity indexes.
How do rents compare between Wausau and Springfield?
Rents in Wausau are indexed at 71.5 while Springfield is at 71.6 (national average = 100). Springfield 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.