Editorial & Corrections Policy

How Pages Are Produced

PlainCost's metro and state pages are generated from a documented dataset: the Bureau of Economic Analysis's Regional Price Parities (RPP). We download each year's published RPP tables directly from BEA's regional price-parities release, load them into a structured database, and render each geographic page from that database. The figures you see — the all-items index and its goods, rents, and other-services components, indexed so the U.S. average equals 100 — are computed from BEA's numbers, not hand-typed and not estimated by us.

This is a data-publishing model: the same template renders hundreds of metro and state pages so that every area is covered consistently. We are transparent that these data pages are produced programmatically from the source dataset rather than written individually. The editorial work goes into the pipeline (how data is sourced, normalized, and computed), the methodology, and the written guides — not into hand-authoring near-identical pages, which would add no accuracy and invite inconsistency.

Sourcing Standards

• Primary sources only. Price-level figures come from BEA's published Regional Price Parities. Area population and median household income come from the U.S. Census Bureau's American Community Survey (ACS), as documented in our methodology.
• Attribution in context. Each data page names its dataset and reference year near the figures, and links to the methodology that explains how BEA constructs Regional Price Parities.
• Derived values are labeled. Numbers we compute ourselves — percentile rankings, component gaps, and purchasing-power comparisons — are presented as our analysis of BEA and Census data, distinct from the agencies' published figures.
• No invented data. Where a value is unavailable for an area, the page says so rather than filling the gap with an estimate.

Update Cadence

BEA publishes Regional Price Parities once a year, typically with a roughly two-year lag — the most recent release covers a reference year about two years prior. We refresh our database when each new RPP vintage is released and recompute rankings and component gaps. Between annual releases the figures are stable because the source itself does not change; actual local prices can move faster than BEA's annual cycle, which is why our pages frame RPP as a price-level benchmark for a stated reference year rather than a live market quote. The reference year is shown on every data page.

Corrections Process

If a figure on PlainCost looks wrong, please tell us. Because our pages are generated from the BEA dataset, a genuine error almost always traces back to either the source data or our processing of it — so this is how we handle a report:

1. Report. Email us through the contact page with the page URL and the number that looks off.
2. Verify. We compare the figure against BEA's published RPP tables for that area and reference year.
3. Fix at the source. If the value is wrong on our side, we correct it in the database and pipeline that generate the page — not just on the single page — so every affected page is fixed at once. If the figure faithfully reflects BEA's published data, we explain that and, where useful, add context.
4. Note it. Material corrections that change a published figure are reflected the next time the page rebuilds, with the data reference year shown so you can see which release a page is based on.

We aim to acknowledge data-error reports within a few business days.

Editorial Independence

PlainCost is an independent publisher and is not affiliated with the Bureau of Economic Analysis, the Census Bureau, or any government agency. Our guides and analysis are not influenced by advertisers; advertising, where present, is clearly distinguishable from editorial content and never determines which metros or rankings we show. Our rankings are computed mechanically from BEA figures, so no area can pay to move up a list.

Appropriate Use

PlainCost is for informational purposes only and does not constitute financial, tax, or relocation advice. Regional Price Parities measure the overall price level of an area relative to the national average — they do not capture state and local taxes, your personal spending mix, or how fast prices are changing. For decisions about a move, a job offer, or your budget, confirm current figures with BEA and the Census Bureau and consult a qualified financial professional for advice specific to your situation.