Dubuque → Charlottesville

Moving from Dubuque to Charlottesville shifts your BEA Regional Price Parity from 87.3 to 99.1 (100 = US average), so a Dubuque salary needs to be multiplied by 1.14 to hold the same purchasing power in Charlottesville. On rent, HUD Fair Market Rent for a 2-bedroom goes from $1,077/month in Dubuque to $1,824/month in Charlottesville - a higher monthly bill of $747, or $8,964/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 $61,930 in Dubuque versus $70,567 in Charlottesville - a raw gap of $8,637 higher. The Charlottesville labor market has 96,390 tracked jobs against 51,410 in Dubuque, 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 Dubuque and Charlottesville are 238 and 223 per 100,000 (state-level). NCES student-teacher ratios run 14.8:1 at origin versus 13.9:1 at destination. DOL center-based infant care costs $8,306/year in Dubuque versus $10,407/year in Charlottesville. Our composite verdict - Unfavorable - weighs all seven federal sources; the dimension table below lets you override that with your personal priorities.