Chicago-Naperville-Elgin → Hagerstown-Martinsburg

Moving from Chicago-Naperville-Elgin to Hagerstown-Martinsburg shifts your BEA Regional Price Parity from 103.6 to 94.2 (100 = US average), so a Chicago-Naperville-Elgin salary needs to be multiplied by 0.91 to hold the same purchasing power in Hagerstown-Martinsburg. On rent, HUD Fair Market Rent for a 2-bedroom goes from $1,781/month in Chicago-Naperville-Elgin to $1,261/month in Hagerstown-Martinsburg - a lower monthly bill of $520, or $6,240/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 $77,100 in Chicago-Naperville-Elgin versus $64,224 in Hagerstown-Martinsburg - a raw gap of $12,876 lower. The Hagerstown-Martinsburg labor market has 100,850 tracked jobs against 4,480,500 in Chicago-Naperville-Elgin, 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 Chicago-Naperville-Elgin and Hagerstown-Martinsburg are 277 and 425 per 100,000 (state-level). NCES student-teacher ratios run 14:1 at origin versus 14.5:1 at destination. DOL center-based infant care costs $12,257/year in Chicago-Naperville-Elgin versus $14,631/year in Hagerstown-Martinsburg. Our composite verdict - Neutral — Depends on Priorities - weighs all seven federal sources; the dimension table below lets you override that with your personal priorities.