Overall
- Bellingham
- 103.3
- Coeur d'Alene
- 98.3
Diff -5.0 RPP
Bellingham vs Coeur d'Alene
Cost of living comparison based on BEA Regional Price Parities. Coeur d'Alene is 4.9% less expensive than Bellingham.
4.9% less expensive
Coeur d'Alene, ID is 4.9% less expensive than Bellingham, WA on BEA Regional Price Parities (overall RPP 98.3 vs 103.3). A $100,000 salary in Bellingham buys about the same as $95,122 in Coeur d'Alene; the largest component gap is services.
- Overall RPP 103.3 (Bellingham) vs 98.3 (Coeur d'Alene)
- $100k in Bellingham ≈ $95,122 purchasing power in Coeur d'Alene
- Services drives the gap (-29.1 RPP points)
RPP parity plate
Pair WA:ID 103.3→98.3
TIER-NEAR · CROSS-STATE · SERVICES-LED · BENCH-CROSS · PP-SHIFT
- TIER-NEAR Near tier
- CROSS-STATE WA × ID
- SERVICES-LED Services-led gap
- 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.
What This Comparison Actually Tells You
Coeur d'Alene, ID is 4.9% less expensive than Bellingham, WA, a meaningful but not extreme shift. The move decision turns on which budget category creates the 5.0-point overall gap.
This route crosses the national benchmark: Bellingham is above 100 while Coeur d'Alene is below it. That makes the move a change of price regime, not merely a rank swap.
Services leads the difference, with Coeur d'Alene 29.1 points lower than Bellingham. Goods, services, and rents all point in the same broad direction, making the headline comparison more transferable across household types.
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 Bellingham to $95,122 in Coeur d'Alene, but it is not a personal spending weight.
Category Breakdown
Goods
- Bellingham
- 105.0
- Coeur d'Alene
- 96.2
Diff -8.8 RPP
Services
- Bellingham
- 99.9
- Coeur d'Alene
- 70.8
Diff -29.1 RPP
Rents
- Bellingham
- 112.9
- Coeur d'Alene
- 105.6
Diff -7.3 RPP
| Category | Bellingham | Coeur d'Alene | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Overall | 103.3 | 98.3 | -5.0 |
| Goods | 105.0 | 96.2 | -8.8 |
| Services | 99.9 | 70.8 | -29.1 |
| Rents | 112.9 | 105.6 | -7.3 |
Visual Comparison
Overall
Bellingham 103.3
Coeur d'Alene 98.3
Goods
Bellingham 105.0
Coeur d'Alene 96.2
Services
Bellingham 99.9
Coeur d'Alene 70.8
Rents
Bellingham 112.9
Coeur d'Alene 105.6
Vertical line = national average (100)
Salary Equivalents
What a salary in Bellingham would need to be in Coeur d'Alene for the same purchasing power:
| In Bellingham | In Coeur d'Alene | Difference |
|---|---|---|
| $50,000 | $47,561 | $-2,439 |
| $75,000 | $71,341 | $-3,659 |
| $100,000 | $95,122 | $-4,878 |
| $150,000 | $142,682 | $-7,318 |
$ in Bellingham = in Coeur d'Alene
Same BEA Regional Price Parity ratio as the table above (103.3 → 98.3), computed live from your number, nothing is sent anywhere.
Bellingham
103.3
Cost Index
Coeur d'Alene
98.3
Cost Index
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Coeur d'Alene more expensive than Bellingham?
Coeur d'Alene is 4.9% less expensive than Bellingham. The overall cost index is 98.3 vs 103.3 (national average = 100).
What salary in Coeur d'Alene equals $100K in Bellingham?
A $100,000 salary in Bellingham has the same purchasing power as $95,122 in Coeur d'Alene. This is based on the BEA Regional Price Parity indexes.
How do rents compare between Bellingham and Coeur d'Alene?
Rents in Bellingham are indexed at 112.9 while Coeur d'Alene is at 105.6 (national average = 100). Bellingham 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.