Ames → Cincinnati

Moving from Ames to Cincinnati shifts your BEA Regional Price Parity from 88.8 to 95.4 (100 = US average), so a Ames salary needs to be multiplied by 1.07 to hold the same purchasing power in Cincinnati. On rent, HUD Fair Market Rent for a 2-bedroom goes from $1,026/month in Ames to $1,353/month in Cincinnati - a higher monthly bill of $327, or $3,924/year. That rent delta alone is often the single biggest line item when relocating.

Wages tell the other half. BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics report a median salary of $64,722 in Ames versus $71,458 in Cincinnati - a raw gap of $6,736 higher. The Cincinnati labor market has 1,092,010 tracked jobs against 48,070 in Ames, shaping how easy it is to find a comparable role. Combine that with the cost-of-living shift above and you get the real purchasing-power delta, sometimes a "higher salary" is actually a pay cut once rent and RPP are applied.

Safety, schools, and childcare round out the move. FBI UCR violent crime rates near Ames and Cincinnati are 238 and 293 per 100,000 (state-level). NCES student-teacher ratios run 14.8:1 at origin versus 18.2:1 at destination. DOL center-based infant care costs $8,306/year in Ames versus $11,791/year in Cincinnati. Our composite verdict - Unfavorable - weighs all seven federal sources; the dimension table below lets you override that with your personal priorities.