Highest metro price level
San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont, CA: 115.6
That is 15.6 points above the U.S. RPP benchmark.
PlainCost data study
U.S. cost of living statistics
A reproducible summary of the latest BEA Regional Price Parities for 387 U.S. metro areas and 51 states. RPP compares each place’s price level with the national average of 100; it is not a measure of local inflation or a household budget.
According to the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis, the February 19, 2026 release of the 2024 Regional Price Parities supports this extract of 387 metro areas and 51 state-level records. The Regional Price Parity Index is set against a U.S. average of 100, so it compares regional price levels rather than a household budget or local inflation.
Key findings
Lowest metro price level
Monroe, LA: 83.6
That is 16.4 points below the U.S. RPP benchmark.
Highest state price level
California: 110.7
See the state-by-state comparison for the full ordering.
Lowest state price level
Arkansas: 86.9
See the state-by-state comparison for the full ordering.
Largest latest release change
Flagstaff, AZ: +8.5 RPP points
The change is from the two most recent BEA release years in the historical series, so it describes a shift against the national benchmark rather than a dollar inflation rate.
Use the data for a decision, not just a ranking
Use a metro profile to see the goods, services, and rents components behind a price level; use the calculator to translate a move into an equivalent salary; and use the release-change ranking when the direction of a place’s relative cost matters as much as its current position.
Download the data behind this report
The PlainCost data layer provides the exact current metro and state records as CSV and JSON, with source year, geographic identifiers, and all four RPP components. The compiled extract is reusable under CC BY 4.0 with attribution to PlainCost and BEA.
Read the data documentation →Reusable with attribution
Embed this cost-of-living snapshot
Publishers can embed the current high, low, and latest-release-change snapshot below. It always reads the same current BEA-derived database as this report and includes a visible PlainCost source link.
Reuse is available under CC BY 4.0. Keep the embedded attribution and cite the underlying BEA release.
Source: U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis Regional Price Parities · 2026 PlainCost computes the displayed rankings from the current BEA-derived database; RPP is indexed to a national average of 100.