Regional cost factors
Regional cost factors, and their real limits
Every wage this site sources is national. Real prices are not — a carpenter, a countertop fabricator and a permit office all cost something different in Sacramento than they do in Little Rock. BLS itself does publish a state-by-state version of the same wage survey, but this site has not yet retrieved and verified that data. Until it does, this page uses a broader, already-sourced federal cost-of-living index instead, states plainly what it does not measure, and shows the arithmetic if you want to use it against your own local prices.
The Regional Price Parity, and why it is used here
The Bureau of Economic Analysis publishes a Regional Price Parity (RPP) for every state each year, on a stated methodology. It is not a construction wage series and it is not a materials price series — the BEA’s own definition is below.
“Regional price parities measure the differences in price levels across states for a given year and are expressed as a percentage of the overall national price level.”
U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis — Regional Price Parities — bea.gov, Regional Price Parities by State, 2024
What it means for your kitchen That is a broad, all-consumption index — goods, services and housing rents together, set against a national average fixed at 100.0 — not a construction wage series or a materials price series. It is the closest thing the federal statistical system publishes to a "how expensive is it to live and buy things here" number at state resolution, which is exactly why it is used below and exactly why its limits get their own section right after.
| State | All-items RPP, 2024 (U.S. average = 100.0) | Where it ranks |
|---|---|---|
| California | 110.7 | Highest of the 50 states |
| Hawaii | 110.0 | Second-highest of the 50 states |
| New Jersey | 108.8 | Third-highest of the 50 states |
| District of Columbia | 109.9 | Not a state — reported separately by BEA; its own RPP sits between Hawaii’s and New Jersey’s |
| Iowa | 87.8 | Tied for third-lowest of the 50 states |
| Oklahoma | 87.8 | Tied for third-lowest of the 50 states |
| Mississippi | 87.0 | Second-lowest of the 50 states |
| Arkansas | 86.9 | Lowest of the 50 states |
California, Hawaii and New Jersey are the three states with the highest all-items RPP the Bureau of Economic Analysis published for 2024; Arkansas, Mississippi, Iowa and Oklahoma are the four states with the lowest. The District of Columbia's own RPP is higher than every state's except California and Hawaii, but BEA reports it separately from the 50-state ranking because it is not a state. This site has not sourced all fifty-one rows: look up your own state directly at the Bureau of Economic Analysis's own release before relying on a number for a state not listed here.
Regional price parity, all items, California 110.7
U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis, Regional Price Parities by State (all items, 2024) — bea.gov, Regional Price Parities by State, 2024
What it means for your kitchen California carried the highest all-items price level of any state in 2024. That is the whole federal series stating plainly what most people already suspect about the West Coast — the index just puts a number and a methodology behind it.
What this index does not measure, said plainly before anyone misuses it
The all-items RPP is dominated by housing rents and by the broad basket of everyday goods and services, not by construction labour or lumber specifically. A state can run well above the national average on rent while its carpenters, tile setters and electricians earn wages close to the national median, or the reverse. This site substitutes the RPP for a state-level construction-wage series it has not yet retrieved — BLS does publish one, described below — and no agency publishes a "how much more does a kitchen remodel cost here" figure by state at all, RPP included.
This site does not feed the RPP into the calculator's own arithmetic anywhere. It is shown here as context for reading your own local quotes against the national wage figures elsewhere on this site, never as a multiplier this site applies on your behalf.
A worked illustration, clearly labelled as an illustration
Scaling the national median carpenter wage by a state's all-items RPP is arithmetic anyone can do, and it is useful for a rough sense of direction even though it is not a published regional wage. Here it is at both extremes of the table above.
29.12 x (110.7 / 100) = 32.24: the national median carpenter wage scaled by California's 2024 all-items Regional Price Parity an illustration of direction and rough size, not a published California wage
Derived on this site from the BLS and BEA rows above — the full derivation on the methodology page
What it means for your kitchen Starting from the national median carpenter wage of $29.12/hr and applying a state's price level is a reasonable first-pass adjustment, not a substitute for an actual local quote — which is exactly why every price field on this site’s calculators asks for your own figure instead of applying one for you.
How to actually use this against a quote
- Look up your own state's current all-items RPP at the Bureau of Economic Analysis release linked below, rather than assuming your state falls near one of the eight rows above.
- Use it as a sanity check on a quote's SCALE, not as a substitute for the quote — a bid 40% above the national-wage calculation in a state with an RPP well above 100 is less surprising than the same gap in a state near the national average.
- Enter your own actual local unit prices into the whole-project calculator rather than a scaled national figure — a real quote from your own market beats any index-based estimate, always.
Sources for this page
- U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis, Regional Price Parities by State (all items, 2024)Highest all-items regional price parity among the 50 states, 2024.
- U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (May 2025)The national median carpenter wage used in the worked illustration above.