Overall
- Yuba City
- 104.2
- Barnstable Town
- 98.4
Diff -5.9 RPP
Yuba City vs Barnstable Town
Cost of living comparison based on BEA Regional Price Parities. Barnstable Town is 5.6% less expensive than Yuba City.
5.6% less expensive
Barnstable Town, MA is 5.6% less expensive than Yuba City, CA on BEA Regional Price Parities (overall RPP 98.4 vs 104.2). A $100,000 salary in Yuba City buys about the same as $94,357 in Barnstable Town; the largest component gap is rents.
- Overall RPP 104.2 (Yuba City) vs 98.4 (Barnstable Town)
- $100k in Yuba City ≈ $94,357 purchasing power in Barnstable Town
- Rents drives the gap (-18.3 RPP points)
RPP parity plate
Pair CA:MA 104.2→98.4
TIER-NEAR · CROSS-STATE · RENT-LED · BENCH-CROSS · PP-SHIFT
- TIER-NEAR Near tier
- CROSS-STATE CA × MA
- RENT-LED Rent-led gap
- 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.
Salary Equivalents
What a salary in Yuba City would need to be in Barnstable Town for the same purchasing power:
| In Yuba City | In Barnstable Town | Difference |
|---|---|---|
| $50,000 | $47,178 | $-2,822 |
| $75,000 | $70,768 | $-4,232 |
| $100,000 | $94,357 | $-5,643 |
| $150,000 | $141,535 | $-8,465 |
$ in Yuba City = in Barnstable Town
Same BEA Regional Price Parity ratio as the table above (104.2 → 98.4), computed live from your number, nothing is sent anywhere.
What This Comparison Actually Tells You
Barnstable Town, MA is 5.6% less expensive than Yuba City, CA, a meaningful but not extreme shift. The move decision turns on which budget category creates the 5.9-point overall gap.
This route crosses the national benchmark: Yuba City is above 100 while Barnstable Town is below it. That makes the move a change of price regime, not merely a rank swap.
Rents leads the difference, with Barnstable Town 18.3 points lower than Yuba City. 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 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 Yuba City corresponds to $94,357 in Barnstable Town.
Category Breakdown
Goods
- Yuba City
- 105.2
- Barnstable Town
- 97.0
Diff -8.2 RPP
Services
- Yuba City
- 160.8
- Barnstable Town
- 158.4
Diff -2.3 RPP
Rents
- Yuba City
- 108.3
- Barnstable Town
- 90.0
Diff -18.3 RPP
| Category | Yuba City | Barnstable Town | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Overall | 104.2 | 98.4 | -5.9 |
| Goods | 105.2 | 97.0 | -8.2 |
| Services | 160.8 | 158.4 | -2.3 |
| Rents | 108.3 | 90.0 | -18.3 |
Visual Comparison
Overall
Yuba City 104.2
Barnstable Town 98.4
Goods
Yuba City 105.2
Barnstable Town 97.0
Services
Yuba City 160.8
Barnstable Town 158.4
Rents
Yuba City 108.3
Barnstable Town 90.0
Vertical line = national average (100)
Yuba City
104.2
Cost Index
Barnstable Town
98.4
Cost Index
How the Price Gap Changed
Yuba City and Barnstable Town share 17 published annual releases from 2008 through 2024. Their overall gap widened, moving from 5.0 to 5.9 RPP points. Yuba City remained the higher-index metro in the latest release.
Services changed the most within this pair: its gap moved 38.4 points between the first and latest shared releases (36.1 to 2.3 points). This describes a relative price-index history, not a forecast or a household budget.
| Release Year | Yuba City RPP | Barnstable Town RPP | Relative Gap |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2008 | 97.8 | 102.8 | 5.0 points Barnstable Town higher |
| 2012 | 102.2 | 100.9 | 1.3 points Yuba City higher |
| 2016 | 97.6 | 105.8 | 8.1 points Barnstable Town higher |
| 2020 | 102.0 | 101.3 | 0.7 points Yuba City higher |
| 2024 | 104.2 | 98.4 | 5.9 points Yuba City 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 Barnstable Town more expensive than Yuba City?
Barnstable Town is 5.6% less expensive than Yuba City. The overall cost index is 98.4 vs 104.2 (national average = 100).
What salary in Barnstable Town equals $100K in Yuba City?
A $100,000 salary in Yuba City has the same purchasing power as $94,357 in Barnstable Town. This is based on the BEA Regional Price Parity indexes.
How do rents compare between Yuba City and Barnstable Town?
Rents in Yuba City are indexed at 108.3 while Barnstable Town is at 90.0 (national average = 100). Yuba City 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.