Mankato → Fort Smith

Moving from Mankato to Fort Smith shifts your BEA Regional Price Parity from 91.0 to 85.9 (100 = US average), so a Mankato salary needs to be multiplied by 0.94 to hold the same purchasing power in Fort Smith. On rent, HUD Fair Market Rent for a 2-bedroom goes from $1,171/month in Mankato to $937/month in Fort Smith - a lower monthly bill of $234, or $2,808/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 $70,136 in Mankato versus $53,744 in Fort Smith - a raw gap of $16,392 lower. The Fort Smith labor market has 89,060 tracked jobs against 48,900 in Mankato, 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 Mankato and Fort Smith are 259 and 580 per 100,000 (state-level). NCES student-teacher ratios run 15.8:1 at origin versus 13.6:1 at destination. Our composite verdict - Neutral — Depends on Priorities - weighs all seven federal sources; the dimension table below lets you override that with your personal priorities.