Overall
- Amherst Town-Northampton
- 100.2
- Spokane-Spokane Valley
- 100.3
Diff +0.1 RPP
Amherst Town-Northampton vs Spokane-Spokane Valley
Cost of living comparison based on BEA Regional Price Parities. Spokane-Spokane Valley is 0.1% more expensive than Amherst Town-Northampton.
0.1% more expensive
Spokane-Spokane Valley, WA is 0.1% more expensive than Amherst Town-Northampton, MA on BEA Regional Price Parities (overall RPP 100.3 vs 100.2). A $100,000 salary in Amherst Town-Northampton buys about the same as $100,103 in Spokane-Spokane Valley; the largest component gap is services.
- Overall RPP 100.2 (Amherst Town-Northampton) vs 100.3 (Spokane-Spokane Valley)
- $100k in Amherst Town-Northampton ≈ $100,103 purchasing power in Spokane-Spokane Valley
- Services drives the gap (-64.5 RPP points)
RPP parity plate
Pair MA:WA 100.2→100.3
PHOTO-FINISH · CROSS-STATE · SPLIT-BUDGET · BOTH-ABOVE · PP-PAR
- PHOTO-FINISH Photo finish
- CROSS-STATE MA × WA
- SPLIT-BUDGET Split budget
- BOTH-ABOVE Both above 100
- 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
Spokane-Spokane Valley
100.3
Cost Index
What This Comparison Actually Tells You
Amherst Town-Northampton, MA and Spokane-Spokane Valley, WA are a photo finish on overall price level, only 0.1 RPP points apart. A salary conversion is therefore a fine adjustment, not evidence of a fundamentally different cost regime.
Services creates the largest separation: Spokane-Spokane Valley is 64.5 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.
Both metros exceed the U.S. benchmark of 100. The choice is between two national premiums, so local wages need to clear the higher baseline in either market.
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 Amherst Town-Northampton to $100,103 in Spokane-Spokane Valley, but it is not a personal spending weight.
Category Breakdown
Goods
- Spokane-Spokane Valley
- 105.0
Diff +8.0 RPP
Services
- Amherst Town-Northampton
- 155.7
Diff -64.5 RPP
Rents
Diff -0.5 RPP
| Category | Amherst Town-Northampton | Spokane-Spokane Valley | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Overall | 100.2 | 100.3 | +0.1 |
| Goods | 97.0 | 105.0 | +8.0 |
| Services | 155.7 | 91.2 | -64.5 |
| Rents | 97.5 | 97.1 | -0.5 |
Visual Comparison
Overall
Amherst Town-Northampton 100.2
Spokane-Spokane Valley 100.3
Goods
Amherst Town-Northampton 97.0
Spokane-Spokane Valley 105.0
Services
Amherst Town-Northampton 155.7
Spokane-Spokane Valley 91.2
Rents
Amherst Town-Northampton 97.5
Spokane-Spokane Valley 97.1
Vertical line = national average (100)
How the Price Gap Changed
Amherst Town-Northampton and Spokane-Spokane Valley share 17 published annual releases from 2008 through 2024. Their overall gap narrowed, moving from 4.4 to 0.1 RPP points. Spokane-Spokane Valley remained the higher-index metro in the latest release.
Goods changed the most within this pair: its gap moved 12.0 points between the first and latest shared releases (4.0 to 8.0 points). This describes a relative price-index history, not a forecast or a household budget.
| Release Year | Amherst Town-Northampton RPP | Spokane-Spokane Valley RPP | Relative Gap |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2008 | 99.7 | 95.3 | 4.4 points Amherst Town-Northampton higher |
| 2012 | 99.3 | 97.9 | 1.5 points Amherst Town-Northampton higher |
| 2016 | 99.7 | 96.1 | 3.6 points Amherst Town-Northampton higher |
| 2020 | 101.8 | 98.6 | 3.2 points Amherst Town-Northampton higher |
| 2024 | 100.2 | 100.3 | 0.1 points Spokane-Spokane Valley 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 Spokane-Spokane Valley for the same purchasing power:
| In Amherst Town-Northampton | In Spokane-Spokane Valley | Difference |
|---|---|---|
| $50,000 | $50,051 | +$51 |
| $75,000 | $75,077 | +$77 |
| $100,000 | $100,103 | +$103 |
| $150,000 | $150,154 | +$154 |
$ in Amherst Town-Northampton = in Spokane-Spokane Valley
Same BEA Regional Price Parity ratio as the table above (100.2 → 100.3), computed live from your number, nothing is sent anywhere.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Spokane-Spokane Valley more expensive than Amherst Town-Northampton?
Spokane-Spokane Valley is 0.1% more expensive than Amherst Town-Northampton. The overall cost index is 100.3 vs 100.2 (national average = 100).
What salary in Spokane-Spokane Valley equals $100K in Amherst Town-Northampton?
A $100,000 salary in Amherst Town-Northampton has the same purchasing power as $100,103 in Spokane-Spokane Valley. This is based on the BEA Regional Price Parity indexes.
How do rents compare between Amherst Town-Northampton and Spokane-Spokane Valley?
Rents in Amherst Town-Northampton are indexed at 97.5 while Spokane-Spokane Valley is at 97.1 (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.