Overall
- Wilmington
- 96.4
- Chicago-Naperville-Elgin
- 103.6
Diff +7.2 RPP
Wilmington vs Chicago-Naperville-Elgin
Cost of living comparison based on BEA Regional Price Parities. Chicago-Naperville-Elgin is 7.4% more expensive than Wilmington.
7.4% more expensive
Chicago-Naperville-Elgin, IL-IN is 7.4% more expensive than Wilmington, NC on BEA Regional Price Parities (overall RPP 103.6 vs 96.4). A $100,000 salary in Wilmington buys about the same as $107,439 in Chicago-Naperville-Elgin; the largest component gap is rents.
- Overall RPP 96.4 (Wilmington) vs 103.6 (Chicago-Naperville-Elgin)
- $100k in Wilmington ≈ $107,439 purchasing power in Chicago-Naperville-Elgin
- Rents drives the gap (+18.8 RPP points)
RPP parity plate
Pair NC:IL 96.4→103.6
TIER-NEAR · CROSS-STATE · SPLIT-BUDGET · BENCH-CROSS · PP-SHIFT
- TIER-NEAR Near tier
- CROSS-STATE NC × IL
- SPLIT-BUDGET Split budget
- BENCH-CROSS Benchmark cross
- 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.
Category Breakdown
Goods
- Wilmington
- 96.6
- Chicago-Naperville-Elgin
- 107.3
Diff +10.6 RPP
Services
- Wilmington
- 87.9
Diff -4.3 RPP
Rents
- Wilmington
- 93.2
- Chicago-Naperville-Elgin
- 112.0
Diff +18.8 RPP
| Category | Wilmington | Chicago-Naperville-Elgin | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Overall | 96.4 | 103.6 | +7.2 |
| Goods | 96.6 | 107.3 | +10.6 |
| Services | 87.9 | 83.6 | -4.3 |
| Rents | 93.2 | 112.0 | +18.8 |
Visual Comparison
Overall
Wilmington 96.4
Chicago-Naperville-Elgin 103.6
Goods
Wilmington 96.6
Chicago-Naperville-Elgin 107.3
Services
Wilmington 87.9
Chicago-Naperville-Elgin 83.6
Rents
Wilmington 93.2
Chicago-Naperville-Elgin 112.0
Vertical line = national average (100)
What This Comparison Actually Tells You
Rents creates the largest separation: Chicago-Naperville-Elgin is 18.8 points higher. But services move against the overall direction, so this is a split budget rather than a clean across-the-board winner.
Chicago-Naperville-Elgin, IL-IN is 7.4% more expensive than Wilmington, NC, a meaningful but not extreme shift. The move decision turns on which budget category creates the 7.2-point overall gap.
This route crosses the national benchmark: Chicago-Naperville-Elgin is above 100 while Wilmington is below it. That makes the move a change of price regime, not merely a rank swap.
Comparable population context is incomplete for this pair, so no market-scale explanation is inferred from the price indexes.
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 Wilmington corresponds to $107,439 in Chicago-Naperville-Elgin.
Wilmington
96.4
Cost Index
Chicago-Naperville-Elgin
103.6
Cost Index
Salary Equivalents
What a salary in Wilmington would need to be in Chicago-Naperville-Elgin for the same purchasing power:
| In Wilmington | In Chicago-Naperville-Elgin | Difference |
|---|---|---|
| $50,000 | $53,720 | +$3,720 |
| $75,000 | $80,579 | +$5,579 |
| $100,000 | $107,439 | +$7,439 |
| $150,000 | $161,159 | +$11,159 |
$ in Wilmington = in Chicago-Naperville-Elgin
Same BEA Regional Price Parity ratio as the table above (96.4 → 103.6), computed live from your number, nothing is sent anywhere.
How the Price Gap Changed
Wilmington and Chicago-Naperville-Elgin share 17 published annual releases from 2008 through 2024. Their overall gap narrowed, moving from 12.2 to 7.2 RPP points. Chicago-Naperville-Elgin remained the higher-index metro in the latest release.
Rents changed the most within this pair: its gap moved 21.9 points between the first and latest shared releases (40.7 to 18.8 points). This describes a relative price-index history, not a forecast or a household budget.
| Release Year | Wilmington RPP | Chicago-Naperville-Elgin RPP | Relative Gap |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2008 | 93.2 | 105.4 | 12.2 points Chicago-Naperville-Elgin higher |
| 2012 | 95.2 | 105.1 | 9.9 points Chicago-Naperville-Elgin higher |
| 2016 | 95.1 | 103.8 | 8.7 points Chicago-Naperville-Elgin higher |
| 2020 | 94.0 | 104.5 | 10.4 points Chicago-Naperville-Elgin higher |
| 2024 | 96.4 | 103.6 | 7.2 points Chicago-Naperville-Elgin 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.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Chicago-Naperville-Elgin more expensive than Wilmington?
Chicago-Naperville-Elgin is 7.4% more expensive than Wilmington. The overall cost index is 103.6 vs 96.4 (national average = 100).
What salary in Chicago-Naperville-Elgin equals $100K in Wilmington?
A $100,000 salary in Wilmington has the same purchasing power as $107,439 in Chicago-Naperville-Elgin. This is based on the BEA Regional Price Parity indexes.
How do rents compare between Wilmington and Chicago-Naperville-Elgin?
Rents in Wilmington are indexed at 93.2 while Chicago-Naperville-Elgin is at 112.0 (national average = 100). Chicago-Naperville-Elgin 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.