Metro comparison

Cheyenne vs Wildwood

Cheyenne, WY and Wildwood-The Villages, FL side by side, cost of living, rent, wages, crime, schools, childcare and environment, all from the same federal datasets so every number is directly comparable.

51.5
Cheyenne Life Score
B-
Cheyenne grade
71.6
Wildwood Life Score
A+
Wildwood grade

Head-to-head verdict

Across the seven dimensions, Cheyenne scores higher on 4 (wages, rent, safety, childcare) and Wildwood on 3 (cost of living, schools, environment). The radar shows the full shape; the tables below break out every figure.

Cheyenne vs Wildwood across all seven dimensions (each scored 0–100 as a national percentile, bigger area = stronger overall)

Cheyenne vs Wildwood across all seven dimensions (each scored 0–100 as a national percentile, bigger area = stronger overall) 7-axis radar comparing 2 series across Cost, Wages, Rent, Safety, Schools, Childcare, Environ.. CostWagesRentSafetySchoolsChildcareEnviron. CheyenneWildwood
Cheyenne vs Wildwood across all seven dimensions (each scored 0–100 as a national percentile, bigger area = stronger overall)

Source: BEA, HUD, BLS, FBI, NCES, DOL, EPA As of December 2024

Dimension scorecard

Where each metro wins, and by how much

Every dimension is a national percentile (0–100). Each bar leans toward the stronger metro, a long lean is a decisive edge, a near-even split is a toss-up. The radar shows the overall shape; this shows the per-dimension margins.

◖ Cheyenne Wildwood ◗
cost of living
35
98
wages
63
47
rent
69
48
safety
88
83
schools
2
88
childcare
63
46
environment
17
97

Cheyenne and Wildwood differ across eleven dimensions of livability. Cheyenne has a cost-of-living index of 96.5 vs Wildwood's 85.4 (national average = 100). Median salaries are $64,093 in Cheyenne and $63,776 in Wildwood. A 2-bedroom averages $1,174/mo vs $1,328/mo.

How to read this matchup

Reading the Cheyenne vs Wildwood Comparison

Cheyenne (WY) and Wildwood (FL) are assembled here from the same federal data pipeline, BEA Regional Price Parities, HUD Fair Market Rents, BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, FBI Uniform Crime Reports, NCES public-school counts, and EPA environmental indicators, so every number on this page is directly comparable. The overall cost index reads 96.5 for Cheyenne against 85.4 for Wildwood, a 11.1-point gap on a scale where 100 equals the U.S. average. HUD's 2-bedroom Fair Market Rent, the figure used to set housing-choice voucher payment standards, is $1,174/mo in Cheyenne and $1,328/mo in Wildwood, a $154/mo difference that compounds to $1,848 over a year.

On wages, BLS OES reports a median salary of $64,093 across 42,290 jobs in Cheyenne against $63,776 across 34,870 jobs in Wildwood. Adjusted through the BEA cost-of-living lens, $100,000 earned in Cheyenne carries the same local purchasing power as $88,531 in Wildwood - the most honest way to read the salary headline, because nominal wages and rents move together in tight metros. State-level violent crime, the most reliable geographic tier FBI UCR publishes, is 190.9 per 100,000 residents in WY vs 210.3 in FL, with property-crime rates of 1187.7 and 1030.0 respectively.

Schools are reported at the state tier by NCES: WY lists 351 public schools at a 11.4:1 student-teacher ratio, while FL lists 4,029 schools at 17.8:1, a signal of class-size staffing, though individual district and school-level variation within each state is substantial. Department of Labor center-based infant care runs $8,502/yr in the Cheyenne area versus $10,505/yr in Wildwood - a line item that shifts the real cost-of-living picture for households with children under five far more than headline RPP does. When these pieces are read together rather than in isolation, Cheyenne and Wildwood are not simply "cheaper" or "more expensive" - they trade across dimensions, and which metro wins depends on whether your household optimizes for rent, wages, schools, childcare, safety, or environment. Treat the tables below as inputs to that trade-off, not as a single ranking.

Cheyenne composite

51.5 /100

Grade B- · weighted across 7 dims

Wildwood composite

71.6 /100

Grade A+ · weighted across 7 dims

Cost-of-living gap

11.1 pts

Cheyenne vs Wildwood BEA RPP

2-bed rent delta

$154 /mo

Wildwood priced higher

Composite life score on the national 0–100 scale

Cheyenne

Cheyenne composite (Grade B-)

Wildwood

Wildwood composite (Grade A+)

Composite is a weighted roll-up of seven dimensions: cost (20%), wages (20%), rent (15%), safety (15%), schools (10%), childcare (10%), environment (10%). Each input normalized to a 0–100 percentile across all metros.

💰 Cost of Living BEA →

Category Cheyenne Wildwood
Overall RPP 96.5 85.4
Goods 95.4 96.2
Services 78.0 89.0
Rents 89.8 51.7

Salary Equivalent Calculator

What salary in Wildwood gives the same purchasing power as your salary in Cheyenne?

$
Equivalent in Wildwood: $88,531

Based on BEA Regional Price Parities (Cheyenne: 96.5, Wildwood: 85.4, national avg = 100).

🏠 Rent (Fair Market Rent) HUD →

Bedrooms Cheyenne Wildwood
Studio $809/mo $1,076/mo
1 Bedroom $917/mo $1,139/mo
2 Bedroom $1,174/mo $1,328/mo
3 Bedroom $1,633/mo $1,655/mo
4 Bedroom $1,969/mo $1,937/mo

💼 Wages & Employment BLS →

Metric Cheyenne Wildwood
Avg Median Salary $64,093 $63,776
Total Employment 42,290 34,870

🛡️ Crime Rates (state-level) FBI →

Crime Type (per 100K) Cheyenne (WY) Wildwood (FL)
Violent Crime 190.9 210.3
Property Crime 1187.7 1030.0

🎓 Schools (state-level) NCES →

Metric WY FL
Total Schools 351 4,029
Student-Teacher Ratio 11.4:1 17.8:1
Charter Schools 1.4% 17.9%

👶 Childcare Costs (Annual Avg) (state-level) DOL →

Age Group WY FL
Infant (Center) $8,502/yr $10,505/yr
Toddler (Center) $7,656/yr $8,611/yr
Preschool (Center) $7,689/yr $7,983/yr

🌿 Environment (state-level) EPA →

Metric WY FL
EPA Facilities 78 864
Water Systems 316 1,516
Superfund Sites 3 81
Water Violations 713 2,676
Government-verified data - Air quality (EPA AQS), water safety (EPA SDWIS), healthcare access (HRSA), and disaster risk (FEMA NRI) are sourced directly from U.S. federal agencies. No crowdsourced estimates.

💨 Air Quality (EPA AQS) EPA AQS →

Metric Cheyenne Wildwood
Median AQI 45.0 41.0
Good Air Days 74.0% 76.6%
Unhealthy Air Days 4 days N/A

Wildwood air quality shown at state level. Cheyenne has metro-level data.

💧 Water Safety (EPA SDWIS, state-level) EPA SDWIS →

Metric WY FL
Water Safety Score 7/100 9/100
Total Violations 32,465 184,355
Health-Based Violations 4,023 24,266
Systems with Violations 94.5% 93.2%

🏥 Healthcare Access (HRSA, state-level) HRSA →

Metric WY FL
Healthcare Access Score 0/100 0/100
Population in Shortage Area 100.0% 100.0%
HPSA Designations 95 612

HPSA = Health Professional Shortage Area, designated by HRSA. Higher access score = better healthcare availability.

⚠️ Natural Disaster Risk (FEMA NRI, state-level) FEMA NRI →

Metric WY FL
Disaster Safety Score 79/100 29/100
NRI Risk Score (avg county) 37.9 75.7
Expected Annual Loss Score 40.7 72.9

FEMA National Risk Index (NRI) scores are county-level percentiles (0–100). Higher disaster safety score = lower relative risk. State-level values are county averages.

Crime, schools, childcare, and environment data shown at state level. Metro-specific data for these dimensions is not available.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is Cheyenne more expensive than Wildwood?
Cheyenne has a cost of living index of 96.5 compared to Wildwood's 85.4 (national average = 100). Cheyenne is 11.1 points above Wildwood on the BEA Regional Price Parity scale.
What is the rent difference between Cheyenne and Wildwood?
A 2-bedroom apartment averages $1,174/mo in Cheyenne vs $1,328/mo in Wildwood, based on HUD Fair Market Rent data. Studios range from $809/mo to $1,076/mo.
How do salaries compare between Cheyenne and Wildwood?
The average median salary across all occupations is $64,093 in Cheyenne and $63,776 in Wildwood, according to BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics. After adjusting for cost of living, $100,000 in Cheyenne has the same purchasing power as $88,531 in Wildwood.
Is Cheyenne or Wildwood safer?
At the state level, WY has a violent crime rate of 190.9 per 100,000 residents compared to FL's 210.3 per 100,000. Property crime rates are 1187.7 vs 1030.0 per 100,000 respectively, based on FBI Uniform Crime Report data.
How do schools compare between Cheyenne and Wildwood?
WY has 351 public schools with an average student-teacher ratio of 11.4:1, while FL has 4,029 schools at 17.8:1. Charter schools make up 1.4% of WY schools vs 17.9% in FL. Data from the National Center for Education Statistics.
Where does the comparison data come from?
All data comes from official U.S. government sources: Bureau of Economic Analysis (cost of living), HUD (fair market rents), BLS (wages), FBI UCR (crime), NCES (schools), Department of Labor (childcare), EPA (environment, air quality, water safety), HRSA (healthcare access), and FEMA NRI (disaster risk). No crowdsourced estimates or proprietary ratings are used.

Research Guides

Data from BEA, HUD, FBI UCR, BLS OES, NCES, DOL, EPA AQS, EPA SDWIS, HRSA, and FEMA NRI. Not affiliated with the U.S. Government.

Disclaimer: This comparison is provided for informational purposes only and does not constitute financial, legal, or relocation advice. Consult a qualified professional before making decisions based on this data.

Data sourced from official public datasets, current as of 2026. See our methodology for details. Retrieved and formatted by PlainCompare Editorial