Overall
- Kennewick-Richland
- 100.1
Diff +0.5 RPP
Albany-Schenectady-Troy vs Kennewick-Richland
Cost of living comparison based on BEA Regional Price Parities. Kennewick-Richland is 0.5% more expensive than Albany-Schenectady-Troy.
0.5% more expensive
Kennewick-Richland, WA is 0.5% more expensive than Albany-Schenectady-Troy, NY on BEA Regional Price Parities (overall RPP 100.1 vs 99.6). A $100,000 salary in Albany-Schenectady-Troy buys about the same as $100,515 in Kennewick-Richland; the largest component gap is services.
- Overall RPP 99.6 (Albany-Schenectady-Troy) vs 100.1 (Kennewick-Richland)
- $100k in Albany-Schenectady-Troy ≈ $100,515 purchasing power in Kennewick-Richland
- Services drives the gap (-40.5 RPP points)
RPP parity plate
Pair NY:WA 99.6→100.1
PHOTO-FINISH · CROSS-STATE · SPLIT-BUDGET · BENCH-CROSS · PP-PAR
- PHOTO-FINISH Photo finish
- CROSS-STATE NY × WA
- SPLIT-BUDGET Split budget
- BENCH-CROSS Benchmark cross
- PP-PAR PP near-par
Instrument codes from this pair's BEA Regional Price Parities (overall · goods · services · rents · national benchmark 100 · purchasing-power conversion), not a ranking or recommendation.
Albany-Schenectady-Troy
99.6
Cost Index
Kennewick-Richland
100.1
Cost Index
What This Comparison Actually Tells You
Albany-Schenectady-Troy, NY and Kennewick-Richland, WA are a photo finish on overall price level, only 0.5 RPP points apart. A salary conversion is therefore a fine adjustment, not evidence of a fundamentally different cost regime.
Services creates the largest separation: Kennewick-Richland is 40.5 points lower. But services and rents move against the overall direction, so this is a split budget rather than a clean across-the-board winner.
Comparable population context is incomplete for this pair, so no market-scale explanation is inferred from the price indexes.
This route crosses the national benchmark: Kennewick-Richland is above 100 while Albany-Schenectady-Troy is below it. That makes the move a change of price regime, not merely a rank swap.
For a service-heavy household, test childcare, health, and other locally supplied costs before relying on rent alone. The BEA ratio converts $100,000 in Albany-Schenectady-Troy to $100,515 in Kennewick-Richland, but it is not a personal spending weight.
Category Breakdown
Goods
- Kennewick-Richland
- 105.0
Diff +5.3 RPP
Services
- Albany-Schenectady-Troy
- 134.0
- Kennewick-Richland
- 93.6
Diff -40.5 RPP
Rents
- Albany-Schenectady-Troy
- 102.6
- Kennewick-Richland
- 94.8
Diff -7.8 RPP
| Category | Albany-Schenectady-Troy | Kennewick-Richland | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Overall | 99.6 | 100.1 | +0.5 |
| Goods | 99.7 | 105.0 | +5.3 |
| Services | 134.0 | 93.6 | -40.5 |
| Rents | 102.6 | 94.8 | -7.8 |
Visual Comparison
Overall
Albany-Schenectady-Troy 99.6
Kennewick-Richland 100.1
Goods
Albany-Schenectady-Troy 99.7
Kennewick-Richland 105.0
Services
Albany-Schenectady-Troy 134.0
Kennewick-Richland 93.6
Rents
Albany-Schenectady-Troy 102.6
Kennewick-Richland 94.8
Vertical line = national average (100)
How the Price Gap Changed
Albany-Schenectady-Troy and Kennewick-Richland share 17 published annual releases from 2008 through 2024. Their overall gap narrowed, moving from 8.3 to 0.5 RPP points. Kennewick-Richland remained the higher-index metro in the latest release.
Services changed the most within this pair: its gap moved 30.7 points between the first and latest shared releases (71.2 to 40.5 points). This describes a relative price-index history, not a forecast or a household budget.
| Release Year | Albany-Schenectady-Troy RPP | Kennewick-Richland RPP | Relative Gap |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2008 | 102.4 | 94.2 | 8.3 points Albany-Schenectady-Troy higher |
| 2012 | 99.5 | 99.3 | 0.1 points Albany-Schenectady-Troy higher |
| 2016 | 101.1 | 97.4 | 3.7 points Albany-Schenectady-Troy higher |
| 2020 | 99.0 | 99.8 | 0.8 points Kennewick-Richland higher |
| 2024 | 99.6 | 100.1 | 0.5 points Kennewick-Richland higher |
Annual BEA Regional Price Parity releases; a higher index means a higher price level relative to the national average of 100. Selected years shown from the full shared series.
Salary Equivalents
What a salary in Albany-Schenectady-Troy would need to be in Kennewick-Richland for the same purchasing power:
| In Albany-Schenectady-Troy | In Kennewick-Richland | Difference |
|---|---|---|
| $50,000 | $50,258 | +$258 |
| $75,000 | $75,386 | +$386 |
| $100,000 | $100,515 | +$515 |
| $150,000 | $150,773 | +$773 |
$ in Albany-Schenectady-Troy = in Kennewick-Richland
Same BEA Regional Price Parity ratio as the table above (99.6 → 100.1), computed live from your number, nothing is sent anywhere.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Kennewick-Richland more expensive than Albany-Schenectady-Troy?
Kennewick-Richland is 0.5% more expensive than Albany-Schenectady-Troy. The overall cost index is 100.1 vs 99.6 (national average = 100).
What salary in Kennewick-Richland equals $100K in Albany-Schenectady-Troy?
A $100,000 salary in Albany-Schenectady-Troy has the same purchasing power as $100,515 in Kennewick-Richland. This is based on the BEA Regional Price Parity indexes.
How do rents compare between Albany-Schenectady-Troy and Kennewick-Richland?
Rents in Albany-Schenectady-Troy are indexed at 102.6 while Kennewick-Richland is at 94.8 (national average = 100). Albany-Schenectady-Troy has higher rents.
Data sources
- BEA Regional Price Parities (RPP), the cost-of-living indices shown on this page
- U.S. Census Bureau, American Community Survey (ACS), gross-rent observations behind the rents component
- BLS Consumer Price Index (CPI), goods and services price relatives
- BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS), labor-driven services component
- HUD Fair Market Rents (FMR), 40th-percentile rent cross-reference
Every figure on PlainCost is rendered directly from BEA Regional Price Parity source data, no number is typed in by an editor. See our editorial standards & corrections policy, the methodology behind these numbers, our changelog, or report a data error. Data current as of 2026-08-11. Rankings measure the published cost-of-living index only; we don't recommend where to live or rate any metro's quality of life.