Overall
- Weirton-Steubenville
- 89.0
- Altoona
- 89.5
Diff +0.5 RPP
Weirton-Steubenville vs Altoona
Cost of living comparison based on BEA Regional Price Parities. Altoona is 0.5% more expensive than Weirton-Steubenville.
0.5% more expensive
Altoona, PA is 0.5% more expensive than Weirton-Steubenville, WV-OH on BEA Regional Price Parities (overall RPP 89.5 vs 89.0). A $100,000 salary in Weirton-Steubenville buys about the same as $100,543 in Altoona; the largest component gap is services.
- Overall RPP 89.0 (Weirton-Steubenville) vs 89.5 (Altoona)
- $100k in Weirton-Steubenville ≈ $100,543 purchasing power in Altoona
- Services drives the gap (+12.7 RPP points)
RPP parity plate
Pair WV:PA 89.0→89.5
PHOTO-FINISH · CROSS-STATE · SERVICES-LED · BOTH-BELOW · PP-PAR
- PHOTO-FINISH Photo finish
- CROSS-STATE WV × PA
- SERVICES-LED Services-led gap
- 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.
Weirton-Steubenville
89.0
Cost Index
Altoona
89.5
Cost Index
What This Comparison Actually Tells You
Weirton-Steubenville, WV-OH and Altoona, PA are a photo finish on overall price level, only 0.5 RPP points apart. A salary conversion is therefore a fine adjustment, not evidence of a fundamentally different cost regime.
Services leads the difference, with Altoona 12.7 points higher than Weirton-Steubenville. 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.
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 Weirton-Steubenville to $100,543 in Altoona, but it is not a personal spending weight.
Category Breakdown
Goods
- Weirton-Steubenville
- 96.4
- Altoona
- 100.7
Diff +4.2 RPP
Services
- Weirton-Steubenville
- 95.0
- Altoona
- 107.7
Diff +12.7 RPP
Rents
- Weirton-Steubenville
- 52.4
- Altoona
- 55.0
Diff +2.6 RPP
| Category | Weirton-Steubenville | Altoona | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Overall | 89.0 | 89.5 | +0.5 |
| Goods | 96.4 | 100.7 | +4.2 |
| Services | 95.0 | 107.7 | +12.7 |
| Rents | 52.4 | 55.0 | +2.6 |
Visual Comparison
Overall
Weirton-Steubenville 89.0
Altoona 89.5
Goods
Weirton-Steubenville 96.4
Altoona 100.7
Services
Weirton-Steubenville 95.0
Altoona 107.7
Rents
Weirton-Steubenville 52.4
Altoona 55.0
Vertical line = national average (100)
How the Price Gap Changed
Weirton-Steubenville and Altoona share 17 published annual releases from 2008 through 2024. Their overall gap narrowed, moving from 5.8 to 0.5 RPP points. Altoona remained the higher-index metro in the latest release.
Rents changed the most within this pair: its gap moved 8.6 points between the first and latest shared releases (11.2 to 2.6 points). This describes a relative price-index history, not a forecast or a household budget.
| Release Year | Weirton-Steubenville RPP | Altoona RPP | Relative Gap |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2008 | 88.1 | 93.9 | 5.8 points Altoona higher |
| 2012 | 88.7 | 92.3 | 3.6 points Altoona higher |
| 2016 | 87.9 | 91.5 | 3.6 points Altoona higher |
| 2020 | 86.8 | 89.7 | 3.0 points Altoona higher |
| 2024 | 89.0 | 89.5 | 0.5 points Altoona 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 Weirton-Steubenville would need to be in Altoona for the same purchasing power:
| In Weirton-Steubenville | In Altoona | Difference |
|---|---|---|
| $50,000 | $50,271 | +$271 |
| $75,000 | $75,407 | +$407 |
| $100,000 | $100,543 | +$543 |
| $150,000 | $150,814 | +$814 |
$ in Weirton-Steubenville = in Altoona
Same BEA Regional Price Parity ratio as the table above (89.0 → 89.5), computed live from your number, nothing is sent anywhere.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Altoona more expensive than Weirton-Steubenville?
Altoona is 0.5% more expensive than Weirton-Steubenville. The overall cost index is 89.5 vs 89.0 (national average = 100).
What salary in Altoona equals $100K in Weirton-Steubenville?
A $100,000 salary in Weirton-Steubenville has the same purchasing power as $100,543 in Altoona. This is based on the BEA Regional Price Parity indexes.
How do rents compare between Weirton-Steubenville and Altoona?
Rents in Weirton-Steubenville are indexed at 52.4 while Altoona is at 55.0 (national average = 100). Altoona 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.