Madison → Fort Smith

Moving from Madison to Fort Smith shifts your BEA Regional Price Parity from 97.3 to 85.9 (100 = US average), so a Madison salary needs to be multiplied by 0.88 to hold the same purchasing power in Fort Smith. On rent, HUD Fair Market Rent for a 2-bedroom goes from $1,195/month in Madison to $937/month in Fort Smith - a lower monthly bill of $258, or $3,096/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 $72,527 in Madison versus $53,744 in Fort Smith - a raw gap of $18,783 lower. The Fort Smith labor market has 89,060 tracked jobs against 399,040 in Madison, 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 Madison and Fort Smith are 280 and 580 per 100,000 (state-level). NCES student-teacher ratios run 14.4:1 at origin versus 13.6:1 at destination. Our composite verdict - Less Favorable - weighs all seven federal sources; the dimension table below lets you override that with your personal priorities.