California vs Indiana

Household income

Currently in

Moving to

Your $100,000 in California is worth

$90,334

at national prices · RPP 110.7BEA RPP SARPPSource: BEA Regional Price Parities · SARPP · 2024 vintage · released February 2026 · Official API

The same income in Indiana is worth

$107,181

at national prices · RPP 93.3BEA RPP SARPPSource: BEA Regional Price Parities · SARPP · 2024 vintage · released February 2026 · Official API

Your income goes +$16,847 further in Indiana (+18.6% purchasing power).

Show the math

adjusted = income ÷ (RPP ÷ 100)

California: $100,000 ÷ (110.7 ÷ 100) = $90,334

Indiana: $100,000 ÷ (93.3 ÷ 100) = $107,181

difference: $107,181 − $90,334 = +$16,847

Where the difference comes from

Price level by component, 100 = US average. Higher means more expensive.

Regional price parity by component for the two states, with the percentage difference.
Component	California	Indiana	Difference
All items	110.7	93.3	−15.7%
Housing rents	154.3	73.9	−52.1%
Goods	106.1	95.5	−10.0%
Utilities	158.9	85.5	−46.2%
Other services	102.6	99.1	−3.4%

BEA Regional Price Parities · SARPP · 2024 · rel. February 2026 · Official API

Housing reality check

Typical rent and home price in each state — tangible context beyond the index.

CaliforniaMedian rent$2,036/moMedian home$734,700

IndianaMedian rent$1,062/moMedian home$218,200

US Census ACS 5-Year Estimates · ACS5 · 2024 · rel. December 2025 · Official API

Tax at a glance

Hand-curated, tax year 2026 · verified 2026-07-20

Income and sales tax for the two states.
Tax	California	Indiana
Income tax (top rate)	13.30%	2.95%
Sales tax (combined avg)	8.99%	7.00%

Tax Foundation (income & sales) · Tax · 2026 · rel. tax year 2026 · Manually maintained · verified 2026-07-20

Official API Manually maintained2 of 3 metrics sourced from official APIs, 1 manually maintained. How every number is calculated →

California vs Indiana: the read

The bottom line

Move a $100,000 income from California to Indiana and its purchasing power changes from $90,334 to $107,181 in national-average terms — a gain of $16,847. Indiana is the cheaper of the two, running at 93.3 on the price index versus 110.7.

Where the difference comes from

The widest gap is housing rents: California sits at 154.3 and Indiana at 73.9 (100 = national). Indiana has the edge there, and it's the main reason the two states diverge.

Housing

Median rent runs $2,036 in California against $1,062 in Indiana, and the typical home $734,700 versus $218,200. Indiana is the more affordable place to buy.

Taxes

On tax, California has 13.30% top income tax and a combined sales tax of 8.99%; Indiana has 2.95% top income tax and 7.00%. Weigh both against the purchasing-power figure above.

Full profiles: California ·Indiana. Every figure here is sourced on the pages linked above.

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