Lima → Charleston-North Charleston

Moving from Lima to Charleston-North Charleston shifts your BEA Regional Price Parity from 89.7 to 101.0 (100 = US average), so a Lima salary needs to be multiplied by 1.13 to hold the same purchasing power in Charleston-North Charleston. On rent, HUD Fair Market Rent for a 2-bedroom goes from $1,108/month in Lima to $1,787/month in Charleston-North Charleston - a higher monthly bill of $679, or $8,148/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 $61,326 in Lima versus $67,686 in Charleston-North Charleston - a raw gap of $6,360 higher. The Charleston-North Charleston labor market has 381,130 tracked jobs against 43,810 in Lima, 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 Lima and Charleston-North Charleston are 293 and 439 per 100,000 (state-level). NCES student-teacher ratios run 18.2:1 at origin versus 14.3:1 at destination. DOL center-based infant care costs $11,791/year in Lima versus $7,732/year in Charleston-North Charleston. Our composite verdict - Favorable - weighs all seven federal sources; the dimension table below lets you override that with your personal priorities.