Great Falls → Colorado Springs

Moving from Great Falls to Colorado Springs shifts your BEA Regional Price Parity from 96.8 to 100.7 (100 = US average), so a Great Falls salary needs to be multiplied by 1.04 to hold the same purchasing power in Colorado Springs. On rent, HUD Fair Market Rent for a 2-bedroom goes from $1,284/month in Great Falls to $1,735/month in Colorado Springs - a higher monthly bill of $451, or $5,412/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 $60,566 in Great Falls versus $72,907 in Colorado Springs - a raw gap of $12,341 higher. The Colorado Springs labor market has 304,920 tracked jobs against 31,100 in Great Falls, 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 Great Falls and Colorado Springs are 426 and 481 per 100,000 (state-level). NCES student-teacher ratios run 11.8:1 at origin versus 16.6:1 at destination. DOL center-based infant care costs $11,466/year in Great Falls versus $12,821/year in Colorado Springs. Our composite verdict - Unfavorable - weighs all seven federal sources; the dimension table below lets you override that with your personal priorities.