Overall
- Ann Arbor
- 100.9
- Coeur d'Alene
- 98.3
Diff -2.6 RPP
Ann Arbor vs Coeur d'Alene
Cost of living comparison based on BEA Regional Price Parities. Coeur d'Alene is 2.6% less expensive than Ann Arbor.
2.6% less expensive
Coeur d'Alene, ID is 2.6% less expensive than Ann Arbor, MI on BEA Regional Price Parities (overall RPP 98.3 vs 100.9). A $100,000 salary in Ann Arbor buys about the same as $97,436 in Coeur d'Alene; the largest component gap is services.
- Overall RPP 100.9 (Ann Arbor) vs 98.3 (Coeur d'Alene)
- $100k in Ann Arbor ≈ $97,436 purchasing power in Coeur d'Alene
- Services drives the gap (-27.4 RPP points)
RPP parity plate
Pair MI:ID 100.9→98.3
TIER-NEAR · CROSS-STATE · SPLIT-BUDGET · BENCH-CROSS · PP-SHIFT
- TIER-NEAR Near tier
- CROSS-STATE MI × ID
- SPLIT-BUDGET Split budget
- BENCH-CROSS Benchmark cross
- PP-SHIFT PP shift
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.
Category Breakdown
Goods
- Ann Arbor
- 93.7
- Coeur d'Alene
- 96.2
Diff +2.5 RPP
Services
- Ann Arbor
- 98.2
- Coeur d'Alene
- 70.8
Diff -27.4 RPP
Rents
- Ann Arbor
- 125.3
- Coeur d'Alene
- 105.6
Diff -19.7 RPP
| Category | Ann Arbor | Coeur d'Alene | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Overall | 100.9 | 98.3 | -2.6 |
| Goods | 93.7 | 96.2 | +2.5 |
| Services | 98.2 | 70.8 | -27.4 |
| Rents | 125.3 | 105.6 | -19.7 |
Visual Comparison
Overall
Ann Arbor 100.9
Coeur d'Alene 98.3
Goods
Ann Arbor 93.7
Coeur d'Alene 96.2
Services
Ann Arbor 98.2
Coeur d'Alene 70.8
Rents
Ann Arbor 125.3
Coeur d'Alene 105.6
Vertical line = national average (100)
What This Comparison Actually Tells You
Services creates the largest separation: Coeur d'Alene is 27.4 points lower. But goods move against the overall direction, so this is a split budget rather than a clean across-the-board winner.
Coeur d'Alene, ID is 2.6% less expensive than Ann Arbor, MI, a meaningful but not extreme shift. The move decision turns on which budget category creates the 2.6-point overall gap.
This route crosses the national benchmark: Ann Arbor is above 100 while Coeur d'Alene is below it. That makes the move a change of price regime, not merely a rank swap.
Comparable population context is incomplete for this pair, so no market-scale explanation is inferred from the price indexes.
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 Ann Arbor to $97,436 in Coeur d'Alene, but it is not a personal spending weight.
Ann Arbor
100.9
Cost Index
Coeur d'Alene
98.3
Cost Index
Salary Equivalents
What a salary in Ann Arbor would need to be in Coeur d'Alene for the same purchasing power:
| In Ann Arbor | In Coeur d'Alene | Difference |
|---|---|---|
| $50,000 | $48,718 | $-1,282 |
| $75,000 | $73,077 | $-1,923 |
| $100,000 | $97,436 | $-2,564 |
| $150,000 | $146,153 | $-3,847 |
$ in Ann Arbor = in Coeur d'Alene
Same BEA Regional Price Parity ratio as the table above (100.9 → 98.3), computed live from your number, nothing is sent anywhere.
How the Price Gap Changed
Ann Arbor and Coeur d'Alene share 17 published annual releases from 2008 through 2024. Their overall gap narrowed, moving from 5.5 to 2.6 RPP points. Ann Arbor remained the higher-index metro in the latest release.
Rents changed the most within this pair: its gap moved 16.8 points between the first and latest shared releases (36.5 to 19.7 points). This describes a relative price-index history, not a forecast or a household budget.
| Release Year | Ann Arbor RPP | Coeur d'Alene RPP | Relative Gap |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2008 | 103.6 | 98.1 | 5.5 points Ann Arbor higher |
| 2012 | 100.9 | 94.9 | 6.0 points Ann Arbor higher |
| 2016 | 98.4 | 97.5 | 0.9 points Ann Arbor higher |
| 2020 | 98.6 | 93.0 | 5.5 points Ann Arbor higher |
| 2024 | 100.9 | 98.3 | 2.6 points Ann Arbor 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.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Coeur d'Alene more expensive than Ann Arbor?
Coeur d'Alene is 2.6% less expensive than Ann Arbor. The overall cost index is 98.3 vs 100.9 (national average = 100).
What salary in Coeur d'Alene equals $100K in Ann Arbor?
A $100,000 salary in Ann Arbor has the same purchasing power as $97,436 in Coeur d'Alene. This is based on the BEA Regional Price Parity indexes.
How do rents compare between Ann Arbor and Coeur d'Alene?
Rents in Ann Arbor are indexed at 125.3 while Coeur d'Alene is at 105.6 (national average = 100). Ann Arbor 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.