Overall
- Yuba City
- 104.2
- Fairbanks-College
- 103.2
Diff -1.0 RPP
Yuba City vs Fairbanks-College
Cost of living comparison based on BEA Regional Price Parities. Fairbanks-College is 1% less expensive than Yuba City.
1% less expensive
Fairbanks-College, AK is 1% less expensive than Yuba City, CA on BEA Regional Price Parities (overall RPP 103.2 vs 104.2). A $100,000 salary in Yuba City buys about the same as $99,017 in Fairbanks-College; the largest component gap is services.
- Overall RPP 104.2 (Yuba City) vs 103.2 (Fairbanks-College)
- $100k in Yuba City ≈ $99,017 purchasing power in Fairbanks-College
- Services drives the gap (-41.0 RPP points)
RPP parity plate
Pair CA:AK 104.2→103.2
PHOTO-FINISH · CROSS-STATE · SPLIT-BUDGET · BOTH-ABOVE · PP-PAR
- PHOTO-FINISH Photo finish
- CROSS-STATE CA × AK
- SPLIT-BUDGET Split budget
- BOTH-ABOVE Both above 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.
Yuba City
104.2
Cost Index
Fairbanks-College
103.2
Cost Index
What This Comparison Actually Tells You
Yuba City, CA and Fairbanks-College, AK are a photo finish on overall price level, only 1.0 RPP points apart. A salary conversion is therefore a fine adjustment, not evidence of a fundamentally different cost regime.
Services creates the largest separation: Fairbanks-College is 41.0 points lower. But 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 exceed the U.S. benchmark of 100. The choice is between two national premiums, so local wages need to clear the higher baseline in either market.
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 Yuba City to $99,017 in Fairbanks-College, but it is not a personal spending weight.
Category Breakdown
Goods
- Yuba City
- 105.2
- Fairbanks-College
- 107.3
Diff +2.2 RPP
Services
- Yuba City
- 160.8
- Fairbanks-College
- 119.8
Diff -41.0 RPP
Rents
- Yuba City
- 108.3
- Fairbanks-College
- 92.6
Diff -15.7 RPP
| Category | Yuba City | Fairbanks-College | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Overall | 104.2 | 103.2 | -1.0 |
| Goods | 105.2 | 107.3 | +2.2 |
| Services | 160.8 | 119.8 | -41.0 |
| Rents | 108.3 | 92.6 | -15.7 |
Visual Comparison
Overall
Yuba City 104.2
Fairbanks-College 103.2
Goods
Yuba City 105.2
Fairbanks-College 107.3
Services
Yuba City 160.8
Fairbanks-College 119.8
Rents
Yuba City 108.3
Fairbanks-College 92.6
Vertical line = national average (100)
How the Price Gap Changed
Yuba City and Fairbanks-College share 17 published annual releases from 2008 through 2024. Their overall gap narrowed, moving from 6.9 to 1.0 RPP points. Yuba City remained the higher-index metro in the latest release.
Services changed the most within this pair: its gap moved 35.6 points between the first and latest shared releases (5.4 to 41.0 points). This describes a relative price-index history, not a forecast or a household budget.
| Release Year | Yuba City RPP | Fairbanks-College RPP | Relative Gap |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2008 | 97.8 | 104.7 | 6.9 points Fairbanks-College higher |
| 2012 | 102.2 | 97.9 | 4.3 points Yuba City higher |
| 2016 | 97.6 | 100.4 | 2.8 points Fairbanks-College higher |
| 2020 | 102.0 | 99.4 | 2.6 points Yuba City higher |
| 2024 | 104.2 | 103.2 | 1.0 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.
Salary Equivalents
What a salary in Yuba City would need to be in Fairbanks-College for the same purchasing power:
| In Yuba City | In Fairbanks-College | Difference |
|---|---|---|
| $50,000 | $49,508 | $-492 |
| $75,000 | $74,262 | $-738 |
| $100,000 | $99,017 | $-983 |
| $150,000 | $148,525 | $-1,475 |
$ in Yuba City = in Fairbanks-College
Same BEA Regional Price Parity ratio as the table above (104.2 → 103.2), computed live from your number, nothing is sent anywhere.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Fairbanks-College more expensive than Yuba City?
Fairbanks-College is 1% less expensive than Yuba City. The overall cost index is 103.2 vs 104.2 (national average = 100).
What salary in Fairbanks-College equals $100K in Yuba City?
A $100,000 salary in Yuba City has the same purchasing power as $99,017 in Fairbanks-College. This is based on the BEA Regional Price Parity indexes.
How do rents compare between Yuba City and Fairbanks-College?
Rents in Yuba City are indexed at 108.3 while Fairbanks-College is at 92.6 (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.