Cheapest Metros to Live in 2026: Official BEA Data

What Regional Price Parities Measure

When people say a city is "cheap" or "expensive," they're usually talking about housing. But the true cost of living is more than rent, it includes groceries, healthcare, transportation, dining, utilities, and every other purchase you make. The BEA's Regional Price Parities (RPPs) capture all of it.

RPPs compare the price level of a geographic area to the national average, which is set to 100. An RPP of 87 means the area is 13% cheaper than the U.S. average across all goods and services. An RPP of 112 means it costs 12% more than average to maintain the same standard of living.

The BEA breaks RPPs into three components: goods (groceries, clothing, household products), services excluding rent (healthcare, dining, personal care, entertainment), and rents (actual and imputed housing costs). Understanding which component drives a metro's cost level reveals whether a place is cheap because of housing or because everything is inexpensive.

You can explore RPP data for any metro on our metro area pages or compare multiple cities side-by-side with the comparison tool.

The 20 Cheapest Metro Areas

Based on the most recent BEA data, these metro areas have the lowest overall price levels in the United States. All are measurably below the national average (RPP 100), many by substantial margins:

1. Monroe, LA: RPP 83.6.
2. Eagle Pass, TX: RPP 83.8.
3. Dothan, AL: RPP 83.8.
4. Texarkana, TX-AR: RPP 84.0.
5. Enid, OK *: RPP 84.3.
6. Hammond, LA: RPP 84.5.
7. Shreveport-Bossier City, LA: RPP 84.8.
8. Florence-Muscle Shoals, AL: RPP 84.8.
9. Houma-Bayou Cane-Thibodaux, LA: RPP 85.1.
10. Wildwood-The Villages, FL: RPP 85.4.
11. Jackson, TN: RPP 85.5.
12. Gadsden, AL: RPP 85.7.
13. Alexandria, LA: RPP 85.7.
14. Joplin, MO-KS: RPP 85.7.
15. Hot Springs, AR: RPP 85.7.
16. Lake Charles, LA: RPP 85.9.
17. Jonesboro, AR: RPP 85.9.
18. Fort Smith, AR-OK: RPP 85.9.
19. McAllen-Edinburg-Mission, TX: RPP 85.9.
20. Johnstown, PA: RPP 85.9.

RPP values above are the current, live BEA Regional Price Parity for each metro (not a static snapshot), and this list re-ranks automatically whenever the underlying data refreshes. Visit any metro's PlainCost profile for the full goods/services/rents breakdown.

What Drives Low Costs: Housing vs. Goods vs. Services

Not all cheap metros are cheap for the same reasons. The BEA's three-component breakdown reveals important differences:

Housing-driven cheapness. Most low-cost metros are cheap primarily because housing is inexpensive. Rents and home prices are much more location-variable than goods prices. A grocery basket costs roughly the same nationwide (national retailers, commodity pricing), but a 2-bedroom apartment in Jonesboro, AR costs a fraction of what the same unit costs in San Francisco. When a metro's rent RPP is 60–70 but its goods RPP is 90–95, housing is doing the heavy lifting.

Services-driven cheapness. Some metros are cheap because local services, restaurants, healthcare, personal care, cost less than the national average. This often reflects lower local wages (service prices track local labor costs) and lower business operating costs. The cheapest metros typically show services RPPs in the 82–88 range.

Goods pricing. Goods are the most homogeneous component of RPP. Because major retailers operate nationally with similar pricing, goods RPPs rarely fall below 90 or rise above 110 even in extreme markets. A gallon of milk costs about the same in Mississippi as in Oregon. Goods price variations mostly reflect transportation costs, local retailer concentration, and regional brand preferences.

What Cheap Metros Actually Look Like

Looking at the list above, a few patterns emerge that are worth understanding before planning a relocation:

They're mostly small to mid-sized cities. The cheapest MSAs typically have populations between 50,000 and 300,000. Large metros have higher price levels because of density, amenities, and labor market competition. You won't find a major tech hub or coastal financial center on this list.

They're concentrated in the South. Alabama, Mississippi, Arkansas, and Texas are heavily represented. The South's combination of low land costs, lower historical wage levels, and less restrictive land use regulation creates structurally lower price levels. This is not a temporary feature, it's been consistent in BEA data for decades.

They often have one dominant employer. Many cheap metros are anchored by a university, military base, or major manufacturer. This provides employment stability but also limits economic diversity. The lack of competing employers can keep wages low, which is partly why prices are low.

Amenity trade-offs are real. Cheap metros often have fewer cultural amenities, restaurants, entertainment options, and healthcare specialists than more expensive metros. Knowing whether a metro's lower price level reflects genuine affordability or reduced quality of services is important context that RPP data alone cannot capture.

How to Use RPP Data When Considering Relocation

Regional Price Parities are most useful as a starting point, a way to quickly compare dozens of metros on a common scale. But relocation decisions require going deeper:

Step 1: Anchor on housing. Look up median home prices and median rents in your target metro and compare them to your current market. Housing is the largest single expense for most households and accounts for the largest share of RPP variation. Our metro pages show both the overall RPP and the rent-specific RPP.

Step 2: Adjust your salary. Use the PlainCost salary calculator to see what your current salary is worth in different metros. A $80,000 salary in a metro with RPP 85 has the same purchasing power as about $94,000 in a national-average metro. This calculation should anchor every job offer or raise negotiation involving a location change.

Step 3: Compare metros directly. Use the comparison tool to place two or three candidate metros side by side. Look at how the overall RPP, rent RPP, and services RPP differ, this tells you whether a place is cheap because of housing alone or whether everything is inexpensive.

Step 4: Research wage levels. A metro with RPP 85 is only a good deal if local wages are competitive. Check salary data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics Occupational Employment Statistics for your specific role in each target metro. The best scenarios are cities with modest RPPs (85–92) where wages in your field are relatively strong, these are where real purchasing power is highest.

Step 5: Factor in career trajectory. Lower-cost metros can offer excellent quality of life today but may limit long-term career options. If your industry is concentrated in expensive metros (tech in San Francisco, finance in New York), the cost savings of relocating to a cheap metro need to be weighed against reduced career mobility, networking opportunities, and income growth potential.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is a Regional Price Parity (RPP)?

A Regional Price Parity is a BEA measure of the price level in a geographic area relative to the national average (100). An RPP of 85 means prices in that area are 15% below the national average; an RPP of 115 means 15% above average.

Which states have the lowest cost of living?

According to BEA data, the lowest-cost states are consistently Mississippi, West Virginia, Arkansas, Alabama, and Oklahoma, all with RPPs well below 90 (at least 10% below the national average).

Does a cheap metro mean lower wages too?

Generally yes, wages and prices tend to move together. However, the key metric is real purchasing power: your nominal salary divided by the local RPP. Some low-cost metros offer surprisingly strong real wages, especially in healthcare, education, and government sectors.

How often does BEA update RPP data?

BEA publishes updated Regional Price Parities annually, typically with a lag of about 18 months. The most recent full dataset covers all 387 MSAs and 51 states, allowing detailed metro-level comparisons.