Overall
- Bellingham
- 103.3
- Walla Walla
- 98.5
Diff -4.8 RPP
Bellingham vs Walla Walla
Cost of living comparison based on BEA Regional Price Parities. Walla Walla is 4.7% less expensive than Bellingham.
4.7% less expensive
Walla Walla, WA is 4.7% less expensive than Bellingham, WA on BEA Regional Price Parities (overall RPP 98.5 vs 103.3). A $100,000 salary in Bellingham buys about the same as $95,340 in Walla Walla; the largest component gap is rents.
- Overall RPP 103.3 (Bellingham) vs 98.5 (Walla Walla)
- $100k in Bellingham ≈ $95,340 purchasing power in Walla Walla
- Rents drives the gap (-26.4 RPP points)
RPP parity plate
Pair WA:WA 103.3→98.5
TIER-NEAR · SAME-STATE · SPLIT-BUDGET · BENCH-CROSS · PP-SHIFT
- TIER-NEAR Near tier
- SAME-STATE Same state · 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
- Bellingham
- 105.0
- Walla Walla
- 105.0
Diff 0.0 RPP
Services
- Bellingham
- 99.9
- Walla Walla
- 94.3
Diff -5.6 RPP
Rents
- Bellingham
- 112.9
- Walla Walla
- 86.6
Diff -26.4 RPP
| Category | Bellingham | Walla Walla | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Overall | 103.3 | 98.5 | -4.8 |
| Goods | 105.0 | 105.0 | 0.0 |
| Services | 99.9 | 94.3 | -5.6 |
| Rents | 112.9 | 86.6 | -26.4 |
Visual Comparison
Overall
Bellingham 103.3
Walla Walla 98.5
Goods
Bellingham 105.0
Walla Walla 105.0
Services
Bellingham 99.9
Walla Walla 94.3
Rents
Bellingham 112.9
Walla Walla 86.6
Vertical line = national average (100)
What This Comparison Actually Tells You
Rents creates the largest separation: Walla Walla is 26.4 points lower. But goods move against the overall direction, so this is a split budget rather than a clean across-the-board winner.
Walla Walla, WA is 4.7% less expensive than Bellingham, WA, a meaningful but not extreme shift. The move decision turns on which budget category creates the 4.8-point overall gap.
This route crosses the national benchmark: Bellingham is above 100 while Walla Walla 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 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 Bellingham corresponds to $95,340 in Walla Walla.
Bellingham
103.3
Cost Index
Walla Walla
98.5
Cost Index
Salary Equivalents
What a salary in Bellingham would need to be in Walla Walla for the same purchasing power:
| In Bellingham | In Walla Walla | Difference |
|---|---|---|
| $50,000 | $47,670 | $-2,330 |
| $75,000 | $71,505 | $-3,495 |
| $100,000 | $95,340 | $-4,660 |
| $150,000 | $143,011 | $-6,989 |
$ in Bellingham = in Walla Walla
Same BEA Regional Price Parity ratio as the table above (103.3 → 98.5), computed live from your number, nothing is sent anywhere.
How the Price Gap Changed
Bellingham and Walla Walla share 17 published annual releases from 2008 through 2024. Their overall gap widened, moving from 0.6 to 4.8 RPP points. Bellingham remained the higher-index metro in the latest release.
Goods changed the most within this pair: its gap moved 6.3 points between the first and latest shared releases (6.3 to 0.0 points). This describes a relative price-index history, not a forecast or a household budget.
| Release Year | Bellingham RPP | Walla Walla RPP | Relative Gap |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2008 | 96.2 | 95.6 | 0.6 points Bellingham higher |
| 2012 | 102.0 | 95.1 | 6.8 points Bellingham higher |
| 2016 | 98.7 | 96.3 | 2.4 points Bellingham higher |
| 2020 | 103.5 | 95.2 | 8.3 points Bellingham higher |
| 2024 | 103.3 | 98.5 | 4.8 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.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Walla Walla more expensive than Bellingham?
Walla Walla is 4.7% less expensive than Bellingham. The overall cost index is 98.5 vs 103.3 (national average = 100).
What salary in Walla Walla equals $100K in Bellingham?
A $100,000 salary in Bellingham has the same purchasing power as $95,340 in Walla Walla. This is based on the BEA Regional Price Parity indexes.
How do rents compare between Bellingham and Walla Walla?
Rents in Bellingham are indexed at 112.9 while Walla Walla is at 86.6 (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.