Overall
- Youngstown-Warren
- 87.4
- Grand Island
- 86.7
Diff -0.7 RPP
Youngstown-Warren vs Grand Island
Cost of living comparison based on BEA Regional Price Parities. Grand Island is 0.8% less expensive than Youngstown-Warren.
0.8% less expensive
Grand Island, NE is 0.8% less expensive than Youngstown-Warren, OH on BEA Regional Price Parities (overall RPP 86.7 vs 87.4). A $100,000 salary in Youngstown-Warren buys about the same as $99,157 in Grand Island; the largest component gap is services.
- Overall RPP 87.4 (Youngstown-Warren) vs 86.7 (Grand Island)
- $100k in Youngstown-Warren ≈ $99,157 purchasing power in Grand Island
- Services drives the gap (-22.1 RPP points)
RPP parity plate
Pair OH:NE 87.4→86.7
PHOTO-FINISH · CROSS-STATE · SPLIT-BUDGET · BOTH-BELOW · PP-PAR
- PHOTO-FINISH Photo finish
- CROSS-STATE OH × NE
- 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.
Youngstown-Warren
87.4
Cost Index
Grand Island
86.7
Cost Index
What This Comparison Actually Tells You
Youngstown-Warren, OH and Grand Island, NE are a photo finish on overall price level, only 0.7 RPP points apart. A salary conversion is therefore a fine adjustment, not evidence of a fundamentally different cost regime.
Services creates the largest separation: Grand Island is 22.1 points lower. But rents and 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 service-heavy household, test childcare, health, and other locally supplied costs before relying on rent alone. The BEA ratio converts $100,000 in Youngstown-Warren to $99,157 in Grand Island, but it is not a personal spending weight.
Category Breakdown
Goods
- Youngstown-Warren
- 93.6
- Grand Island
- 94.1
Diff +0.5 RPP
Services
- Youngstown-Warren
- 96.3
- Grand Island
- 74.2
Diff -22.1 RPP
Rents
- Youngstown-Warren
- 53.4
- Grand Island
- 61.7
Diff +8.3 RPP
| Category | Youngstown-Warren | Grand Island | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Overall | 87.4 | 86.7 | -0.7 |
| Goods | 93.6 | 94.1 | +0.5 |
| Services | 96.3 | 74.2 | -22.1 |
| Rents | 53.4 | 61.7 | +8.3 |
Visual Comparison
Overall
Youngstown-Warren 87.4
Grand Island 86.7
Goods
Youngstown-Warren 93.6
Grand Island 94.1
Services
Youngstown-Warren 96.3
Grand Island 74.2
Rents
Youngstown-Warren 53.4
Grand Island 61.7
Vertical line = national average (100)
How the Price Gap Changed
Youngstown-Warren and Grand Island share 17 published annual releases from 2008 through 2024. Their overall gap narrowed, moving from 9.5 to 0.7 RPP points. Youngstown-Warren remained the higher-index metro in the latest release.
Goods changed the most within this pair: its gap moved 20.9 points between the first and latest shared releases (20.4 to 0.5 points). This describes a relative price-index history, not a forecast or a household budget.
| Release Year | Youngstown-Warren RPP | Grand Island RPP | Relative Gap |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2008 | 91.3 | 81.8 | 9.5 points Youngstown-Warren higher |
| 2012 | 90.8 | 85.0 | 5.8 points Youngstown-Warren higher |
| 2016 | 87.8 | 87.7 | 0.1 points Youngstown-Warren higher |
| 2020 | 86.1 | 90.5 | 4.5 points Grand Island higher |
| 2024 | 87.4 | 86.7 | 0.7 points Youngstown-Warren 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 Youngstown-Warren would need to be in Grand Island for the same purchasing power:
| In Youngstown-Warren | In Grand Island | Difference |
|---|---|---|
| $50,000 | $49,578 | $-422 |
| $75,000 | $74,368 | $-632 |
| $100,000 | $99,157 | $-843 |
| $150,000 | $148,735 | $-1,265 |
$ in Youngstown-Warren = in Grand Island
Same BEA Regional Price Parity ratio as the table above (87.4 → 86.7), computed live from your number, nothing is sent anywhere.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Grand Island more expensive than Youngstown-Warren?
Grand Island is 0.8% less expensive than Youngstown-Warren. The overall cost index is 86.7 vs 87.4 (national average = 100).
What salary in Grand Island equals $100K in Youngstown-Warren?
A $100,000 salary in Youngstown-Warren has the same purchasing power as $99,157 in Grand Island. This is based on the BEA Regional Price Parity indexes.
How do rents compare between Youngstown-Warren and Grand Island?
Rents in Youngstown-Warren are indexed at 53.4 while Grand Island is at 61.7 (national average = 100). Grand Island 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.