Overall
- Amherst Town-Northampton
- 100.2
- Visalia
- 99.8
Diff -0.4 RPP
Amherst Town-Northampton vs Visalia
Cost of living comparison based on BEA Regional Price Parities. Visalia is 0.4% less expensive than Amherst Town-Northampton.
0.4% less expensive
Visalia, CA is 0.4% less expensive than Amherst Town-Northampton, MA on BEA Regional Price Parities (overall RPP 99.8 vs 100.2). A $100,000 salary in Amherst Town-Northampton buys about the same as $99,583 in Visalia; the largest component gap is rents.
- Overall RPP 100.2 (Amherst Town-Northampton) vs 99.8 (Visalia)
- $100k in Amherst Town-Northampton ≈ $99,583 purchasing power in Visalia
- Rents drives the gap (-13.5 RPP points)
RPP parity plate
Pair MA:CA 100.2→99.8
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
Visalia
99.8
Cost Index
What This Comparison Actually Tells You
Amherst Town-Northampton, MA and Visalia, CA are a photo finish on overall price level, only 0.4 RPP points apart. A salary conversion is therefore a fine adjustment, not evidence of a fundamentally different cost regime.
Rents creates the largest separation: Visalia is 13.5 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 Visalia 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 $99,583 in Visalia.
Category Breakdown
Goods
- Visalia
- 105.2
Diff +8.2 RPP
Services
- Amherst Town-Northampton
- 155.7
- Visalia
- 156.4
Diff +0.7 RPP
Rents
- Visalia
- 84.1
Diff -13.5 RPP
| Category | Amherst Town-Northampton | Visalia | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Overall | 100.2 | 99.8 | -0.4 |
| Goods | 97.0 | 105.2 | +8.2 |
| Services | 155.7 | 156.4 | +0.7 |
| Rents | 97.5 | 84.1 | -13.5 |
Visual Comparison
Overall
Amherst Town-Northampton 100.2
Visalia 99.8
Goods
Amherst Town-Northampton 97.0
Visalia 105.2
Services
Amherst Town-Northampton 155.7
Visalia 156.4
Rents
Amherst Town-Northampton 97.5
Visalia 84.1
Vertical line = national average (100)
How the Price Gap Changed
Amherst Town-Northampton and Visalia share 17 published annual releases from 2008 through 2024. Their overall gap narrowed, moving from 4.8 to 0.4 RPP points. Amherst Town-Northampton remained the higher-index metro in the latest release.
Services changed the most within this pair: its gap moved 43.0 points between the first and latest shared releases (42.3 to 0.7 points). This describes a relative price-index history, not a forecast or a household budget.
| Release Year | Amherst Town-Northampton RPP | Visalia RPP | Relative Gap |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2008 | 99.7 | 94.9 | 4.8 points Amherst Town-Northampton higher |
| 2012 | 99.3 | 98.7 | 0.7 points Amherst Town-Northampton higher |
| 2016 | 99.7 | 94.6 | 5.1 points Amherst Town-Northampton higher |
| 2020 | 101.8 | 98.8 | 3.0 points Amherst Town-Northampton higher |
| 2024 | 100.2 | 99.8 | 0.4 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 Visalia for the same purchasing power:
| In Amherst Town-Northampton | In Visalia | Difference |
|---|---|---|
| $50,000 | $49,792 | $-208 |
| $75,000 | $74,687 | $-313 |
| $100,000 | $99,583 | $-417 |
| $150,000 | $149,375 | $-625 |
$ in Amherst Town-Northampton = in Visalia
Same BEA Regional Price Parity ratio as the table above (100.2 → 99.8), computed live from your number, nothing is sent anywhere.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Visalia more expensive than Amherst Town-Northampton?
Visalia is 0.4% less expensive than Amherst Town-Northampton. The overall cost index is 99.8 vs 100.2 (national average = 100).
What salary in Visalia equals $100K in Amherst Town-Northampton?
A $100,000 salary in Amherst Town-Northampton has the same purchasing power as $99,583 in Visalia. This is based on the BEA Regional Price Parity indexes.
How do rents compare between Amherst Town-Northampton and Visalia?
Rents in Amherst Town-Northampton are indexed at 97.5 while Visalia is at 84.1 (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.