Overall
- Bangor
- 96.5
- Kennewick-Richland
- 100.1
Diff +3.6 RPP
Bangor vs Kennewick-Richland
Cost of living comparison based on BEA Regional Price Parities. Kennewick-Richland is 3.7% more expensive than Bangor.
3.7% more expensive
Kennewick-Richland, WA is 3.7% more expensive than Bangor, ME on BEA Regional Price Parities (overall RPP 100.1 vs 96.5). A $100,000 salary in Bangor buys about the same as $103,700 in Kennewick-Richland; the largest component gap is services.
- Overall RPP 96.5 (Bangor) vs 100.1 (Kennewick-Richland)
- $100k in Bangor ≈ $103,700 purchasing power in Kennewick-Richland
- Services drives the gap (-41.2 RPP points)
RPP parity plate
Pair ME:WA 96.5→100.1
TIER-NEAR · CROSS-STATE · SPLIT-BUDGET · BENCH-CROSS · PP-SHIFT
- TIER-NEAR Near tier
- CROSS-STATE ME × WA
- 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
- Bangor
- 97.2
- Kennewick-Richland
- 105.0
Diff +7.9 RPP
Services
- Bangor
- 134.8
- Kennewick-Richland
- 93.6
Diff -41.2 RPP
Rents
- Bangor
- 77.7
- Kennewick-Richland
- 94.8
Diff +17.1 RPP
| Category | Bangor | Kennewick-Richland | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Overall | 96.5 | 100.1 | +3.6 |
| Goods | 97.2 | 105.0 | +7.9 |
| Services | 134.8 | 93.6 | -41.2 |
| Rents | 77.7 | 94.8 | +17.1 |
Visual Comparison
Overall
Bangor 96.5
Kennewick-Richland 100.1
Goods
Bangor 97.2
Kennewick-Richland 105.0
Services
Bangor 134.8
Kennewick-Richland 93.6
Rents
Bangor 77.7
Kennewick-Richland 94.8
Vertical line = national average (100)
What This Comparison Actually Tells You
Services creates the largest separation: Kennewick-Richland is 41.2 points lower. But services move against the overall direction, so this is a split budget rather than a clean across-the-board winner.
Kennewick-Richland, WA is 3.7% more expensive than Bangor, ME, a meaningful but not extreme shift. The move decision turns on which budget category creates the 3.6-point overall gap.
This route crosses the national benchmark: Kennewick-Richland is above 100 while Bangor 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 Bangor to $103,700 in Kennewick-Richland, but it is not a personal spending weight.
Bangor
96.5
Cost Index
Kennewick-Richland
100.1
Cost Index
Salary Equivalents
What a salary in Bangor would need to be in Kennewick-Richland for the same purchasing power:
| In Bangor | In Kennewick-Richland | Difference |
|---|---|---|
| $50,000 | $51,850 | +$1,850 |
| $75,000 | $77,775 | +$2,775 |
| $100,000 | $103,700 | +$3,700 |
| $150,000 | $155,550 | +$5,550 |
$ in Bangor = in Kennewick-Richland
Same BEA Regional Price Parity ratio as the table above (96.5 → 100.1), computed live from your number, nothing is sent anywhere.
How the Price Gap Changed
Bangor and Kennewick-Richland share 17 published annual releases from 2008 through 2024. Their overall gap widened, moving from 0.2 to 3.6 RPP points. Kennewick-Richland remained the higher-index metro in the latest release.
Services changed the most within this pair: its gap moved 24.9 points between the first and latest shared releases (66.2 to 41.2 points). This describes a relative price-index history, not a forecast or a household budget.
| Release Year | Bangor RPP | Kennewick-Richland RPP | Relative Gap |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2008 | 93.9 | 94.2 | 0.2 points Kennewick-Richland higher |
| 2012 | 96.3 | 99.3 | 3.0 points Kennewick-Richland higher |
| 2016 | 93.4 | 97.4 | 4.0 points Kennewick-Richland higher |
| 2020 | 97.5 | 99.8 | 2.2 points Kennewick-Richland higher |
| 2024 | 96.5 | 100.1 | 3.6 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.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Kennewick-Richland more expensive than Bangor?
Kennewick-Richland is 3.7% more expensive than Bangor. The overall cost index is 100.1 vs 96.5 (national average = 100).
What salary in Kennewick-Richland equals $100K in Bangor?
A $100,000 salary in Bangor has the same purchasing power as $103,700 in Kennewick-Richland. This is based on the BEA Regional Price Parity indexes.
How do rents compare between Bangor and Kennewick-Richland?
Rents in Bangor are indexed at 77.7 while Kennewick-Richland is at 94.8 (national average = 100). Kennewick-Richland 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.