Wilmington → St. Cloud

Moving from Wilmington to St. Cloud shifts your BEA Regional Price Parity from 96.4 to 87.6 (100 = US average), so a Wilmington salary needs to be multiplied by 0.91 to hold the same purchasing power in St. Cloud. On rent, HUD Fair Market Rent for a 2-bedroom goes from $1,426/month in Wilmington to $1,206/month in St. Cloud - a lower 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 $64,296 in Wilmington versus $72,671 in St. Cloud - a raw gap of $8,375 higher. The St. Cloud labor market has 96,960 tracked jobs against 183,460 in Wilmington, 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 Wilmington and St. Cloud are 365 and 259 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 $9,487/year in Wilmington versus $11,722/year in St. Cloud. Our composite verdict - Strongly Favorable - weighs all seven federal sources; the dimension table below lets you override that with your personal priorities.