Overall
- Bellingham
- 103.3
Diff -3.3 RPP
Bellingham vs Palm Bay-Melbourne-Titusville
Cost of living comparison based on BEA Regional Price Parities. Palm Bay-Melbourne-Titusville is 3.2% less expensive than Bellingham.
3.2% less expensive
Palm Bay-Melbourne-Titusville, FL is 3.2% less expensive than Bellingham, WA on BEA Regional Price Parities (overall RPP 100.0 vs 103.3). A $100,000 salary in Bellingham buys about the same as $96,778 in Palm Bay-Melbourne-Titusville; the largest component gap is services.
- Overall RPP 103.3 (Bellingham) vs 100.0 (Palm Bay-Melbourne-Titusville)
- $100k in Bellingham ≈ $96,778 purchasing power in Palm Bay-Melbourne-Titusville
- Services drives the gap (-11.8 RPP points)
RPP parity plate
Pair WA:FL 103.3→100.0
TIER-NEAR · CROSS-STATE · SERVICES-LED · BOTH-ABOVE · PP-SHIFT
- TIER-NEAR Near tier
- CROSS-STATE WA × FL
- SERVICES-LED Services-led gap
- BOTH-ABOVE Both above 100
- 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
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.
Palm Bay-Melbourne-Titusville, FL is 3.2% less expensive than Bellingham, WA, a meaningful but not extreme shift. The move decision turns on which budget category creates the 3.3-point overall gap.
Services leads the difference, with Palm Bay-Melbourne-Titusville 11.8 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 $96,778 in Palm Bay-Melbourne-Titusville, but it is not a personal spending weight.
How the Price Gap Changed
Bellingham and Palm Bay-Melbourne-Titusville share 17 published annual releases from 2008 through 2024. Their overall gap narrowed, moving from 3.7 to 3.3 RPP points. Bellingham remained the higher-index metro in the latest release.
Services changed the most within this pair: its gap moved 32.1 points between the first and latest shared releases (20.3 to 11.8 points). This describes a relative price-index history, not a forecast or a household budget.
| Release Year | Bellingham RPP | Palm Bay-Melbourne-Titusville RPP | Relative Gap |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2008 | 96.2 | 99.9 | 3.7 points Palm Bay-Melbourne-Titusville higher |
| 2012 | 102.0 | 98.0 | 4.0 points Bellingham higher |
| 2016 | 98.7 | 98.8 | 0.1 points Palm Bay-Melbourne-Titusville higher |
| 2020 | 103.5 | 96.8 | 6.7 points Bellingham higher |
| 2024 | 103.3 | 100.0 | 3.3 points Bellingham 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.
Category Breakdown
Goods
- Bellingham
- 105.0
Diff -8.8 RPP
Services
- Bellingham
- 99.9
Diff -11.8 RPP
Rents
- Bellingham
- 112.9
Diff -1.2 RPP
| Category | Bellingham | Palm Bay-Melbourne-Titusville | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Overall | 103.3 | 100.0 | -3.3 |
| Goods | 105.0 | 96.2 | -8.8 |
| Services | 99.9 | 88.1 | -11.8 |
| Rents | 112.9 | 111.7 | -1.2 |
Visual Comparison
Overall
Bellingham 103.3
Palm Bay-Melbourne-Titusville 100.0
Goods
Bellingham 105.0
Palm Bay-Melbourne-Titusville 96.2
Services
Bellingham 99.9
Palm Bay-Melbourne-Titusville 88.1
Rents
Bellingham 112.9
Palm Bay-Melbourne-Titusville 111.7
Vertical line = national average (100)
Salary Equivalents
What a salary in Bellingham would need to be in Palm Bay-Melbourne-Titusville for the same purchasing power:
| In Bellingham | In Palm Bay-Melbourne-Titusville | Difference |
|---|---|---|
| $50,000 | $48,389 | $-1,611 |
| $75,000 | $72,584 | $-2,416 |
| $100,000 | $96,778 | $-3,222 |
| $150,000 | $145,168 | $-4,832 |
$ in Bellingham = in Palm Bay-Melbourne-Titusville
Same BEA Regional Price Parity ratio as the table above (103.3 → 100.0), computed live from your number, nothing is sent anywhere.
Bellingham
103.3
Cost Index
Palm Bay-Melbourne-Titusville
100.0
Cost Index
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Palm Bay-Melbourne-Titusville more expensive than Bellingham?
Palm Bay-Melbourne-Titusville is 3.2% less expensive than Bellingham. The overall cost index is 100.0 vs 103.3 (national average = 100).
What salary in Palm Bay-Melbourne-Titusville equals $100K in Bellingham?
A $100,000 salary in Bellingham has the same purchasing power as $96,778 in Palm Bay-Melbourne-Titusville. This is based on the BEA Regional Price Parity indexes.
How do rents compare between Bellingham and Palm Bay-Melbourne-Titusville?
Rents in Bellingham are indexed at 112.9 while Palm Bay-Melbourne-Titusville is at 111.7 (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.