Overall
- Dothan
- 83.8
Diff -1.6 RPP
Wildwood-The Villages vs Dothan
Cost of living comparison based on BEA Regional Price Parities. Dothan is 1.9% less expensive than Wildwood-The Villages.
1.9% less expensive
Dothan, AL is 1.9% less expensive than Wildwood-The Villages, FL on BEA Regional Price Parities (overall RPP 83.8 vs 85.4). A $100,000 salary in Wildwood-The Villages buys about the same as $98,138 in Dothan; the largest component gap is rents.
- Overall RPP 85.4 (Wildwood-The Villages) vs 83.8 (Dothan)
- $100k in Wildwood-The Villages ≈ $98,138 purchasing power in Dothan
- Rents drives the gap (-4.9 RPP points)
RPP parity plate
Pair FL:AL 85.4→83.8
PHOTO-FINISH · CROSS-STATE · SPLIT-BUDGET · BOTH-BELOW · PP-PAR
- PHOTO-FINISH Photo finish
- CROSS-STATE FL × AL
- 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.
Wildwood-The Villages
85.4
Cost Index
Dothan
83.8
Cost Index
What This Comparison Actually Tells You
Wildwood-The Villages, FL and Dothan, AL are a photo finish on overall price level, only 1.6 RPP points apart. A salary conversion is therefore a fine adjustment, not evidence of a fundamentally different cost regime.
Rents creates the largest separation: Dothan is 4.9 points lower. 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 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 Wildwood-The Villages corresponds to $98,138 in Dothan.
Category Breakdown
Goods
- Dothan
- 96.4
Diff +0.2 RPP
Services
- Dothan
- 84.3
Diff -4.7 RPP
Rents
- Dothan
- 46.9
Diff -4.9 RPP
| Category | Wildwood-The Villages | Dothan | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Overall | 85.4 | 83.8 | -1.6 |
| Goods | 96.2 | 96.4 | +0.2 |
| Services | 89.0 | 84.3 | -4.7 |
| Rents | 51.7 | 46.9 | -4.9 |
Visual Comparison
Overall
Wildwood-The Villages 85.4
Dothan 83.8
Goods
Wildwood-The Villages 96.2
Dothan 96.4
Services
Wildwood-The Villages 89.0
Dothan 84.3
Rents
Wildwood-The Villages 51.7
Dothan 46.9
Vertical line = national average (100)
How the Price Gap Changed
Wildwood-The Villages and Dothan share 17 published annual releases from 2008 through 2024. Their overall gap narrowed, moving from 3.6 to 1.6 RPP points. Wildwood-The Villages remained the higher-index metro in the latest release.
Rents changed the most within this pair: its gap moved 18.4 points between the first and latest shared releases (23.3 to 4.9 points). This describes a relative price-index history, not a forecast or a household budget.
| Release Year | Wildwood-The Villages RPP | Dothan RPP | Relative Gap |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2008 | 90.4 | 86.8 | 3.6 points Wildwood-The Villages higher |
| 2012 | 93.0 | 88.6 | 4.5 points Wildwood-The Villages higher |
| 2016 | 93.8 | 88.3 | 5.5 points Wildwood-The Villages higher |
| 2020 | 92.0 | 86.5 | 5.5 points Wildwood-The Villages higher |
| 2024 | 85.4 | 83.8 | 1.6 points Wildwood-The Villages 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 Wildwood-The Villages would need to be in Dothan for the same purchasing power:
| In Wildwood-The Villages | In Dothan | Difference |
|---|---|---|
| $50,000 | $49,069 | $-931 |
| $75,000 | $73,603 | $-1,397 |
| $100,000 | $98,138 | $-1,862 |
| $150,000 | $147,206 | $-2,794 |
$ in Wildwood-The Villages = in Dothan
Same BEA Regional Price Parity ratio as the table above (85.4 → 83.8), computed live from your number, nothing is sent anywhere.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Dothan more expensive than Wildwood-The Villages?
Dothan is 1.9% less expensive than Wildwood-The Villages. The overall cost index is 83.8 vs 85.4 (national average = 100).
What salary in Dothan equals $100K in Wildwood-The Villages?
A $100,000 salary in Wildwood-The Villages has the same purchasing power as $98,138 in Dothan. This is based on the BEA Regional Price Parity indexes.
How do rents compare between Wildwood-The Villages and Dothan?
Rents in Wildwood-The Villages are indexed at 51.7 while Dothan is at 46.9 (national average = 100). Wildwood-The Villages 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.