Overall
- Amherst Town-Northampton
- 100.2
- Merced
- 98.3
Diff -2.0 RPP
Amherst Town-Northampton vs Merced
Cost of living comparison based on BEA Regional Price Parities. Merced is 2% less expensive than Amherst Town-Northampton.
2% less expensive
Merced, CA is 2% less expensive than Amherst Town-Northampton, MA on BEA Regional Price Parities (overall RPP 98.3 vs 100.2). A $100,000 salary in Amherst Town-Northampton buys about the same as $98,037 in Merced; the largest component gap is rents.
- Overall RPP 100.2 (Amherst Town-Northampton) vs 98.3 (Merced)
- $100k in Amherst Town-Northampton ≈ $98,037 purchasing power in Merced
- Rents drives the gap (-18.9 RPP points)
RPP parity plate
Pair MA:CA 100.2→98.3
PHOTO-FINISH · CROSS-STATE · SPLIT-BUDGET · BENCH-CROSS · PP-PAR
- PHOTO-FINISH Photo finish
- CROSS-STATE MA × CA
- 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.
Amherst Town-Northampton
100.2
Cost Index
Merced
98.3
Cost Index
What This Comparison Actually Tells You
Amherst Town-Northampton, MA and Merced, CA are a photo finish on overall price level, only 2.0 RPP points apart. A salary conversion is therefore a fine adjustment, not evidence of a fundamentally different cost regime.
Rents creates the largest separation: Merced is 18.9 points lower. But goods and services 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: Amherst Town-Northampton is above 100 while Merced is below it. That makes the move a change of price regime, not merely a rank swap.
For a housing-sensitive move, validate the rent gap first: HUD Fair Market Rent and the actual unit size can overturn what the blended index implies. On the BEA ratio alone, $100,000 in Amherst Town-Northampton corresponds to $98,037 in Merced.
Category Breakdown
Goods
- Merced
- 105.2
Diff +8.2 RPP
Services
- Amherst Town-Northampton
- 155.7
- Merced
- 158.3
Diff +2.6 RPP
Rents
- Merced
- 78.6
Diff -18.9 RPP
| Category | Amherst Town-Northampton | Merced | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Overall | 100.2 | 98.3 | -2.0 |
| Goods | 97.0 | 105.2 | +8.2 |
| Services | 155.7 | 158.3 | +2.6 |
| Rents | 97.5 | 78.6 | -18.9 |
Visual Comparison
Overall
Amherst Town-Northampton 100.2
Merced 98.3
Goods
Amherst Town-Northampton 97.0
Merced 105.2
Services
Amherst Town-Northampton 155.7
Merced 158.3
Rents
Amherst Town-Northampton 97.5
Merced 78.6
Vertical line = national average (100)
How the Price Gap Changed
Amherst Town-Northampton and Merced share 17 published annual releases from 2008 through 2024. Their overall gap narrowed, moving from 5.4 to 2.0 RPP points. Amherst Town-Northampton remained the higher-index metro in the latest release.
Services changed the most within this pair: its gap moved 41.0 points between the first and latest shared releases (38.4 to 2.6 points). This describes a relative price-index history, not a forecast or a household budget.
| Release Year | Amherst Town-Northampton RPP | Merced RPP | Relative Gap |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2008 | 99.7 | 94.3 | 5.4 points Amherst Town-Northampton higher |
| 2012 | 99.3 | 98.6 | 0.8 points Amherst Town-Northampton higher |
| 2016 | 99.7 | 95.3 | 4.4 points Amherst Town-Northampton higher |
| 2020 | 101.8 | 98.7 | 3.0 points Amherst Town-Northampton higher |
| 2024 | 100.2 | 98.3 | 2.0 points Amherst Town-Northampton 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 Amherst Town-Northampton would need to be in Merced for the same purchasing power:
| In Amherst Town-Northampton | In Merced | Difference |
|---|---|---|
| $50,000 | $49,018 | $-982 |
| $75,000 | $73,528 | $-1,472 |
| $100,000 | $98,037 | $-1,963 |
| $150,000 | $147,055 | $-2,945 |
$ in Amherst Town-Northampton = in Merced
Same BEA Regional Price Parity ratio as the table above (100.2 → 98.3), computed live from your number, nothing is sent anywhere.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Merced more expensive than Amherst Town-Northampton?
Merced is 2% less expensive than Amherst Town-Northampton. The overall cost index is 98.3 vs 100.2 (national average = 100).
What salary in Merced equals $100K in Amherst Town-Northampton?
A $100,000 salary in Amherst Town-Northampton has the same purchasing power as $98,037 in Merced. This is based on the BEA Regional Price Parity indexes.
How do rents compare between Amherst Town-Northampton and Merced?
Rents in Amherst Town-Northampton are indexed at 97.5 while Merced is at 78.6 (national average = 100). Amherst Town-Northampton 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.