BEA release-change study

How State Price Levels Shifted from 2023 to 2024

Compare 51 states across the latest two BEA RPP releases (2023–2024). See which price levels moved most and which components drove the shift.

Compiled by PlainCost , Cost-of-living data publisher

Series compared: all 51 jurisdictions in the retained 2023 and 2024 BEA state RPP series. Data vintage: 2026-08-11.

The short answer

Montana had the largest increase in the retained state all-items RPP series, rising from 91.0 to 94.6 (3.6 index points). Massachusetts had the largest decline, moving from 107.7 to 105.8 (-1.9 points).

These are movements in a relative price-level index normalized to a national basket. They do not measure a household’s cash spending, local inflation rate, cause of a change, taxes, wages, or housing availability.

Montana

3.6
Idaho

3.3
Utah

3.1
Nevada

2.1
Michigan

1.9
Indiana

1.2
New Mexico

1.2
Illinois

1.2
Colorado

1.2
Wyoming

1.1

What this shows Montana leads the measured increase. The chart compares relative price levels, not household inflation.

Massachusetts

1.9
California

1.5
Oregon

1.5
Washington

1.4
New Hampshire

1.2
Iowa

1
Alaska

0.9
Maine

0.9
Oklahoma

0.8
District of Columbia

0.8

What this shows Massachusetts leads the measured decline. A lower relative index does not establish why prices changed.

The full state change table

The table keeps the two source values beside the change. A positive value means the state’s all-items RPP rose relative to the national basket between the two annual series; it is not a forecast or a causal explanation.

State	2023 all-items	2024 all-items	Change	Rent change	Services change	Goods change
Montana	91.0	94.6	+3.6	+7.9	-0.5	-0.5
Idaho	92.2	95.5	+3.3	+3.2	+2.4	+0.4
Utah	95.7	98.9	+3.1	+1.6	+5.7	+1.7
Nevada	97.9	100.0	+2.1	+0.8	-0.8	-0.6
Michigan	94.3	96.2	+1.9	+3.4	+0.4	+0.2
Indiana	92.1	93.3	+1.2	+2.6	+0.8	-0.1
New Mexico	91.0	92.2	+1.2	-1.6	-0.0	-1.3
Illinois	98.8	100.0	+1.2	+1.5	+4.5	+2.2
Colorado	101.9	103.1	+1.2	-3.1	-1.8	-0.5
Wyoming	91.6	92.7	+1.1	-4.6	+4.4	-1.7
Delaware	98.8	99.8	+1.0	+3.1	-0.6	-1.1
Wisconsin	93.2	94.1	+0.9	+1.0	+0.4	+0.0
Ohio	91.9	92.8	+0.9	+0.9	+6.6	-0.5
Vermont	97.1	98.0	+0.8	+4.2	+3.7	-0.6
North Dakota	88.2	89.0	+0.8	+2.2	-1.4	-1.3
South Dakota	88.1	88.6	+0.4	+2.8	-1.7	-1.9
Maryland	104.6	105.0	+0.4	+1.2	+2.1	-0.7
Minnesota	98.3	98.6	+0.3	+0.6	+1.5	-1.5
South Carolina	93.5	93.7	+0.3	-0.0	+2.5	+0.4
Kentucky	89.9	90.2	+0.3	+1.4	-5.6	+1.4
Hawaii	109.7	110.0	+0.2	-3.4	-1.6	+1.2
Rhode Island	102.1	102.3	+0.2	+3.0	+1.5	-1.1
Pennsylvania	97.4	97.6	+0.2	-0.8	-9.0	+0.9
Mississippi	86.8	87.0	+0.2	+1.5	-5.1	+1.8
Kansas	89.9	90.1	+0.2	+2.6	-2.4	-2.5
Arkansas	86.8	86.9	+0.1	+1.5	-7.2	+0.5
New York	107.8	107.9	+0.1	+0.2	-1.0	+2.1
Arizona	100.7	100.7	-0.1	-1.8	+9.0	-2.6
North Carolina	94.4	94.3	-0.1	+0.5	+5.0	-0.2
Texas	97.1	97.1	-0.1	-1.0	-4.9	-0.1
New Jersey	108.9	108.8	-0.1	+0.2	-0.6	+1.3
West Virginia	89.6	89.5	-0.1	-2.0	+4.4	+0.9
Nebraska	90.3	90.1	-0.2	+0.8	-3.8	-2.4
Georgia	96.5	96.3	-0.2	+0.4	+0.5	+1.2
Florida	103.6	103.4	-0.2	-1.1	-3.7	-0.1
Tennessee	92.1	91.9	-0.2	+1.1	-4.3	+2.0
Virginia	101.3	101.1	-0.2	+1.2	-0.2	-0.7
Alabama	89.1	88.8	-0.3	+0.2	-5.3	+1.8
Missouri	91.1	90.8	-0.3	-0.6	-6.2	-1.0
Louisiana	88.7	88.2	-0.5	-2.0	-5.3	+0.7
Connecticut	104.2	103.6	-0.6	+0.4	-6.7	-1.3
District of Columbia	110.7	109.9	-0.8	-13.1	+3.9	-0.0
Oklahoma	88.7	87.8	-0.8	-2.2	-6.4	+0.4
Maine	98.0	97.0	-0.9	-1.5	-13.0	-1.2
Alaska	103.3	102.4	-0.9	-3.0	+5.7	+2.6
Iowa	88.8	87.8	-1.0	-0.7	-4.0	-2.9
New Hampshire	105.4	104.2	-1.2	+0.4	-22.6	-1.5
Washington	108.4	107.0	-1.4	+0.4	+8.8	-2.5
Oregon	104.8	103.4	-1.5	-0.5	+16.1	+0.5
California	112.2	110.7	-1.5	-3.5	+11.6	-0.7
Massachusetts	107.7	105.8	-1.9	-2.1	-14.1	-1.2

Where a component tells a different story

All-items RPP is a weighted index. The largest component movements below help identify where a reader should look next, but they do not prove that a single component caused the overall result.

New Hampshire
All-items -1.2 points; rents +0.4, services -22.6, goods -1.5.
Oregon
All-items -1.5 points; rents -0.5, services +16.1, goods +0.5.
Massachusetts
All-items -1.9 points; rents -2.1, services -14.1, goods -1.2.
District of Columbia
All-items -0.8 points; rents -13.1, services +3.9, goods -0.0.
Maine
All-items -0.9 points; rents -1.5, services -13.0, goods -1.2.
California
All-items -1.5 points; rents -3.5, services +11.6, goods -0.7.

How to use this release comparison

Use a large relative-index movement as a prompt to inspect the state and metro detail pages, then compare the components relevant to the household. A renter, for example, may care more about the rent change than the blended all-items movement.

Do not turn these figures into a statement that a state became universally more or less affordable. RPP is a comparative annual price-level measure, while a real move also depends on wages, taxes, household spending, local housing availability, and the particular places under consideration.

For a specific origin and destination, use the metro comparison tool. For a salary translation, use the relocation calculator.

Method: PlainCost joins all 51 retained records in the 2023 and 2024 annual series, then subtracts the earlier index value from the later one. The retained data snapshot is dated May 2026. Data from the U.S. Department of Commerce’s Bureau of Economic Analysis Regional Price Parities release supplies the source values; see the site’s methodology for the retained-source process.

Source: U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis Regional Price Parities, retained annual state series · 2023–2024 PlainCost calculates the displayed differences by subtracting the retained prior annual state RPP from the latest annual state RPP.