Overall
- Worcester
- 102.5
Diff -3.7 RPP
Worcester vs Atlantic City-Hammonton
Cost of living comparison based on BEA Regional Price Parities. Atlantic City-Hammonton is 3.6% less expensive than Worcester.
3.6% less expensive
Atlantic City-Hammonton, NJ is 3.6% less expensive than Worcester, MA on BEA Regional Price Parities (overall RPP 98.9 vs 102.5). A $100,000 salary in Worcester buys about the same as $96,424 in Atlantic City-Hammonton; the largest component gap is services.
- Overall RPP 102.5 (Worcester) vs 98.9 (Atlantic City-Hammonton)
- $100k in Worcester ≈ $96,424 purchasing power in Atlantic City-Hammonton
- Services drives the gap (-46.0 RPP points)
RPP parity plate
Pair MA:NJ 102.5→98.9
TIER-NEAR · CROSS-STATE · SPLIT-BUDGET · BENCH-CROSS · PP-SHIFT
- TIER-NEAR Near tier
- CROSS-STATE MA × NJ
- 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
- Worcester
- 97.0
Diff +2.8 RPP
Services
- Worcester
- 155.2
- Atlantic City-Hammonton
- 109.2
Diff -46.0 RPP
Rents
- Worcester
- 113.0
Diff -14.3 RPP
| Category | Worcester | Atlantic City-Hammonton | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Overall | 102.5 | 98.9 | -3.7 |
| Goods | 97.0 | 99.8 | +2.8 |
| Services | 155.2 | 109.2 | -46.0 |
| Rents | 113.0 | 98.7 | -14.3 |
Visual Comparison
Overall
Worcester 102.5
Atlantic City-Hammonton 98.9
Goods
Worcester 97.0
Atlantic City-Hammonton 99.8
Services
Worcester 155.2
Atlantic City-Hammonton 109.2
Rents
Worcester 113.0
Atlantic City-Hammonton 98.7
Vertical line = national average (100)
What This Comparison Actually Tells You
Services creates the largest separation: Atlantic City-Hammonton is 46.0 points lower. But goods move against the overall direction, so this is a split budget rather than a clean across-the-board winner.
Atlantic City-Hammonton, NJ is 3.6% less expensive than Worcester, MA, a meaningful but not extreme shift. The move decision turns on which budget category creates the 3.7-point overall gap.
This route crosses the national benchmark: Worcester is above 100 while Atlantic City-Hammonton 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 service-heavy household, test childcare, health, and other locally supplied costs before relying on rent alone. The BEA ratio converts $100,000 in Worcester to $96,424 in Atlantic City-Hammonton, but it is not a personal spending weight.
Worcester
102.5
Cost Index
Atlantic City-Hammonton
98.9
Cost Index
Salary Equivalents
What a salary in Worcester would need to be in Atlantic City-Hammonton for the same purchasing power:
| In Worcester | In Atlantic City-Hammonton | Difference |
|---|---|---|
| $50,000 | $48,212 | $-1,788 |
| $75,000 | $72,318 | $-2,682 |
| $100,000 | $96,424 | $-3,576 |
| $150,000 | $144,636 | $-5,364 |
$ in Worcester = in Atlantic City-Hammonton
Same BEA Regional Price Parity ratio as the table above (102.5 → 98.9), computed live from your number, nothing is sent anywhere.
How the Price Gap Changed
Worcester and Atlantic City-Hammonton share 17 published annual releases from 2008 through 2024. Their overall gap narrowed, moving from 6.1 to 3.7 RPP points. Worcester remained the higher-index metro in the latest release.
Rents changed the most within this pair: its gap moved 34.9 points between the first and latest shared releases (20.6 to 14.3 points). This describes a relative price-index history, not a forecast or a household budget.
| Release Year | Worcester RPP | Atlantic City-Hammonton RPP | Relative Gap |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2008 | 104.7 | 110.7 | 6.1 points Atlantic City-Hammonton higher |
| 2012 | 103.0 | 104.6 | 1.6 points Atlantic City-Hammonton higher |
| 2016 | 106.3 | 102.6 | 3.6 points Worcester higher |
| 2020 | 101.8 | 101.2 | 0.6 points Worcester higher |
| 2024 | 102.5 | 98.9 | 3.7 points Worcester 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 Atlantic City-Hammonton more expensive than Worcester?
Atlantic City-Hammonton is 3.6% less expensive than Worcester. The overall cost index is 98.9 vs 102.5 (national average = 100).
What salary in Atlantic City-Hammonton equals $100K in Worcester?
A $100,000 salary in Worcester has the same purchasing power as $96,424 in Atlantic City-Hammonton. This is based on the BEA Regional Price Parity indexes.
How do rents compare between Worcester and Atlantic City-Hammonton?
Rents in Worcester are indexed at 113.0 while Atlantic City-Hammonton is at 98.7 (national average = 100). Worcester 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.