Cincinnati → Ames

Moving from Cincinnati to Ames shifts your BEA Regional Price Parity from 95.4 to 88.8 (100 = US average), so a Cincinnati salary needs to be multiplied by 0.93 to hold the same purchasing power in Ames. On rent, HUD Fair Market Rent for a 2-bedroom goes from $1,353/month in Cincinnati to $1,026/month in Ames - a lower 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 $71,458 in Cincinnati versus $64,722 in Ames - a raw gap of $6,736 lower. The Ames labor market has 48,070 tracked jobs against 1,092,010 in Cincinnati, 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 Cincinnati and Ames are 293 and 238 per 100,000 (state-level). NCES student-teacher ratios run 18.2:1 at origin versus 14.8:1 at destination. DOL center-based infant care costs $11,791/year in Cincinnati versus $8,306/year in Ames. Our composite verdict - Strongly Favorable - weighs all seven federal sources; the dimension table below lets you override that with your personal priorities.