St. Cloud → Wilmington

Moving from St. Cloud to Wilmington shifts your BEA Regional Price Parity from 87.6 to 96.4 (100 = US average), so a St. Cloud salary needs to be multiplied by 1.10 to hold the same purchasing power in Wilmington. On rent, HUD Fair Market Rent for a 2-bedroom goes from $1,206/month in St. Cloud to $1,426/month in Wilmington - a higher monthly bill of $220, or $2,640/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 $72,671 in St. Cloud versus $64,296 in Wilmington - a raw gap of $8,375 lower. The Wilmington labor market has 183,460 tracked jobs against 96,960 in St. Cloud, 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 St. Cloud and Wilmington are 259 and 365 per 100,000 (state-level). NCES student-teacher ratios run 15.8:1 at origin versus 15.8:1 at destination. DOL center-based infant care costs $11,722/year in St. Cloud versus $9,487/year in Wilmington. Our composite verdict - Unfavorable - weighs all seven federal sources; the dimension table below lets you override that with your personal priorities.