Overall
- Wilmington
- 96.4
Diff +2.4 RPP
Wilmington vs Atlantic City-Hammonton
Cost of living comparison based on BEA Regional Price Parities. Atlantic City-Hammonton is 2.5% more expensive than Wilmington.
2.5% more expensive
Atlantic City-Hammonton, NJ is 2.5% more expensive than Wilmington, NC on BEA Regional Price Parities (overall RPP 98.9 vs 96.4). A $100,000 salary in Wilmington buys about the same as $102,525 in Atlantic City-Hammonton; the largest component gap is services.
- Overall RPP 96.4 (Wilmington) vs 98.9 (Atlantic City-Hammonton)
- $100k in Wilmington ≈ $102,525 purchasing power in Atlantic City-Hammonton
- Services drives the gap (+21.3 RPP points)
RPP parity plate
Pair NC:NJ 96.4→98.9
TIER-NEAR · CROSS-STATE · SERVICES-LED · BOTH-BELOW · PP-SHIFT
- TIER-NEAR Near tier
- CROSS-STATE NC × NJ
- SERVICES-LED Services-led gap
- BOTH-BELOW Both below 100
- PP-SHIFT PP shift
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.
What This Comparison Actually Tells You
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.
Atlantic City-Hammonton, NJ is 2.5% more expensive than Wilmington, NC, a meaningful but not extreme shift. The move decision turns on which budget category creates the 2.4-point overall gap.
Services leads the difference, with Atlantic City-Hammonton 21.3 points higher than Wilmington. 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.
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 Wilmington to $102,525 in Atlantic City-Hammonton, but it is not a personal spending weight.
How the Price Gap Changed
Wilmington and Atlantic City-Hammonton share 17 published annual releases from 2008 through 2024. Their overall gap narrowed, moving from 17.5 to 2.4 RPP points. Atlantic City-Hammonton remained the higher-index metro in the latest release.
Rents changed the most within this pair: its gap moved 44.2 points between the first and latest shared releases (49.7 to 5.5 points). This describes a relative price-index history, not a forecast or a household budget.
| Release Year | Wilmington RPP | Atlantic City-Hammonton RPP | Relative Gap |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2008 | 93.2 | 110.7 | 17.5 points Atlantic City-Hammonton higher |
| 2012 | 95.2 | 104.6 | 9.4 points Atlantic City-Hammonton higher |
| 2016 | 95.1 | 102.6 | 7.5 points Atlantic City-Hammonton higher |
| 2020 | 94.0 | 101.2 | 7.1 points Atlantic City-Hammonton higher |
| 2024 | 96.4 | 98.9 | 2.4 points Atlantic City-Hammonton 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.
Category Breakdown
Goods
- Wilmington
- 96.6
Diff +3.2 RPP
Services
- Wilmington
- 87.9
- Atlantic City-Hammonton
- 109.2
Diff +21.3 RPP
Rents
- Wilmington
- 93.2
Diff +5.5 RPP
| Category | Wilmington | Atlantic City-Hammonton | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Overall | 96.4 | 98.9 | +2.4 |
| Goods | 96.6 | 99.8 | +3.2 |
| Services | 87.9 | 109.2 | +21.3 |
| Rents | 93.2 | 98.7 | +5.5 |
Visual Comparison
Overall
Wilmington 96.4
Atlantic City-Hammonton 98.9
Goods
Wilmington 96.6
Atlantic City-Hammonton 99.8
Services
Wilmington 87.9
Atlantic City-Hammonton 109.2
Rents
Wilmington 93.2
Atlantic City-Hammonton 98.7
Vertical line = national average (100)
Salary Equivalents
What a salary in Wilmington would need to be in Atlantic City-Hammonton for the same purchasing power:
| In Wilmington | In Atlantic City-Hammonton | Difference |
|---|---|---|
| $50,000 | $51,263 | +$1,263 |
| $75,000 | $76,894 | +$1,894 |
| $100,000 | $102,525 | +$2,525 |
| $150,000 | $153,788 | +$3,788 |
$ in Wilmington = in Atlantic City-Hammonton
Same BEA Regional Price Parity ratio as the table above (96.4 → 98.9), computed live from your number, nothing is sent anywhere.
Wilmington
96.4
Cost Index
Atlantic City-Hammonton
98.9
Cost Index
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Atlantic City-Hammonton more expensive than Wilmington?
Atlantic City-Hammonton is 2.5% more expensive than Wilmington. The overall cost index is 98.9 vs 96.4 (national average = 100).
What salary in Atlantic City-Hammonton equals $100K in Wilmington?
A $100,000 salary in Wilmington has the same purchasing power as $102,525 in Atlantic City-Hammonton. This is based on the BEA Regional Price Parity indexes.
How do rents compare between Wilmington and Atlantic City-Hammonton?
Rents in Wilmington are indexed at 93.2 while Atlantic City-Hammonton is at 98.7 (national average = 100). Atlantic City-Hammonton 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.