Overall
Diff -0.3 RPP
Wheeling vs Sumter
Cost of living comparison based on BEA Regional Price Parities. Sumter is 0.3% less expensive than Wheeling.
0.3% less expensive
Sumter, SC is 0.3% less expensive than Wheeling, WV-OH on BEA Regional Price Parities (overall RPP 88.0 vs 88.3). A $100,000 salary in Wheeling buys about the same as $99,657 in Sumter; the largest component gap is rents.
- Overall RPP 88.3 (Wheeling) vs 88.0 (Sumter)
- $100k in Wheeling ≈ $99,657 purchasing power in Sumter
- Rents drives the gap (+9.4 RPP points)
RPP parity plate
Pair WV:SC 88.3→88.0
PHOTO-FINISH · CROSS-STATE · SPLIT-BUDGET · BOTH-BELOW · PP-PAR
- PHOTO-FINISH Photo finish
- CROSS-STATE WV × SC
- 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.
Wheeling
88.3
Cost Index
Sumter
88.0
Cost Index
What This Comparison Actually Tells You
Wheeling, WV-OH and Sumter, SC are a photo finish on overall price level, only 0.3 RPP points apart. A salary conversion is therefore a fine adjustment, not evidence of a fundamentally different cost regime.
Rents creates the largest separation: Sumter is 9.4 points higher. 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 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 Wheeling corresponds to $99,657 in Sumter.
Category Breakdown
Goods
Diff -0.1 RPP
Services
Diff -7.6 RPP
Rents
Diff +9.4 RPP
| Category | Wheeling | Sumter | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Overall | 88.3 | 88.0 | -0.3 |
| Goods | 96.4 | 96.3 | -0.1 |
| Services | 94.9 | 87.3 | -7.6 |
| Rents | 51.4 | 60.8 | +9.4 |
Visual Comparison
Overall
Wheeling 88.3
Sumter 88.0
Goods
Wheeling 96.4
Sumter 96.3
Services
Wheeling 94.9
Sumter 87.3
Rents
Wheeling 51.4
Sumter 60.8
Vertical line = national average (100)
How the Price Gap Changed
Wheeling and Sumter share 17 published annual releases from 2008 through 2024. Their overall gap narrowed, moving from 2.1 to 0.3 RPP points. Wheeling remained the higher-index metro in the latest release.
Services changed the most within this pair: its gap moved 13.6 points between the first and latest shared releases (6.0 to 7.6 points). This describes a relative price-index history, not a forecast or a household budget.
| Release Year | Wheeling RPP | Sumter RPP | Relative Gap |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2008 | 87.3 | 89.4 | 2.1 points Sumter higher |
| 2012 | 90.5 | 89.6 | 0.9 points Wheeling higher |
| 2016 | 91.0 | 87.1 | 3.9 points Wheeling higher |
| 2020 | 87.0 | 81.4 | 5.6 points Wheeling higher |
| 2024 | 88.3 | 88.0 | 0.3 points Wheeling 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 Wheeling would need to be in Sumter for the same purchasing power:
| In Wheeling | In Sumter | Difference |
|---|---|---|
| $50,000 | $49,828 | $-172 |
| $75,000 | $74,743 | $-257 |
| $100,000 | $99,657 | $-343 |
| $150,000 | $149,485 | $-515 |
$ in Wheeling = in Sumter
Same BEA Regional Price Parity ratio as the table above (88.3 → 88.0), computed live from your number, nothing is sent anywhere.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Sumter more expensive than Wheeling?
Sumter is 0.3% less expensive than Wheeling. The overall cost index is 88.0 vs 88.3 (national average = 100).
What salary in Sumter equals $100K in Wheeling?
A $100,000 salary in Wheeling has the same purchasing power as $99,657 in Sumter. This is based on the BEA Regional Price Parity indexes.
How do rents compare between Wheeling and Sumter?
Rents in Wheeling are indexed at 51.4 while Sumter is at 60.8 (national average = 100). Sumter 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.