Overall
Diff -2.4 RPP
Bend vs Chico
Cost of living comparison based on BEA Regional Price Parities. Chico is 2.3% less expensive than Bend.
2.3% less expensive
Chico, CA is 2.3% less expensive than Bend, OR on BEA Regional Price Parities (overall RPP 101.2 vs 103.6). A $100,000 salary in Bend buys about the same as $97,674 in Chico; the largest component gap is services.
- Overall RPP 103.6 (Bend) vs 101.2 (Chico)
- $100k in Bend ≈ $97,674 purchasing power in Chico
- Services drives the gap (+53.8 RPP points)
RPP parity plate
Pair OR:CA 103.6→101.2
TIER-NEAR · CROSS-STATE · SPLIT-BUDGET · BOTH-ABOVE · PP-PAR
- TIER-NEAR Near tier
- CROSS-STATE OR × CA
- SPLIT-BUDGET Split budget
- BOTH-ABOVE Both above 100
- PP-PAR PP near-par
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
Diff -0.1 RPP
Services
Diff +53.8 RPP
Rents
Diff -18.0 RPP
| Category | Bend | Chico | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Overall | 103.6 | 101.2 | -2.4 |
| Goods | 105.3 | 105.2 | -0.1 |
| Services | 105.0 | 158.8 | +53.8 |
| Rents | 110.0 | 91.9 | -18.0 |
Visual Comparison
Overall
Bend 103.6
Chico 101.2
Goods
Bend 105.3
Chico 105.2
Services
Bend 105.0
Chico 158.8
Rents
Bend 110.0
Chico 91.9
Vertical line = national average (100)
What This Comparison Actually Tells You
Services creates the largest separation: Chico is 53.8 points higher. But services move against the overall direction, so this is a split budget rather than a clean across-the-board winner.
Chico, CA is 2.3% less expensive than Bend, OR, a meaningful but not extreme shift. The move decision turns on which budget category creates the 2.4-point overall gap.
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.
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 Bend to $97,674 in Chico, but it is not a personal spending weight.
Bend
103.6
Cost Index
Chico
101.2
Cost Index
Salary Equivalents
What a salary in Bend would need to be in Chico for the same purchasing power:
| In Bend | In Chico | Difference |
|---|---|---|
| $50,000 | $48,837 | $-1,163 |
| $75,000 | $73,255 | $-1,745 |
| $100,000 | $97,674 | $-2,326 |
| $150,000 | $146,511 | $-3,489 |
$ in Bend = in Chico
Same BEA Regional Price Parity ratio as the table above (103.6 → 101.2), computed live from your number, nothing is sent anywhere.
How the Price Gap Changed
Bend and Chico share 17 published annual releases from 2008 through 2024. Their overall gap widened, moving from 0.4 to 2.4 RPP points. Bend remained the higher-index metro in the latest release.
Rents changed the most within this pair: its gap moved 34.4 points between the first and latest shared releases (16.4 to 18.0 points). This describes a relative price-index history, not a forecast or a household budget.
| Release Year | Bend RPP | Chico RPP | Relative Gap |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2008 | 99.8 | 99.4 | 0.4 points Bend higher |
| 2012 | 95.8 | 103.5 | 7.7 points Chico higher |
| 2016 | 99.0 | 97.1 | 1.9 points Bend higher |
| 2020 | 102.9 | 101.8 | 1.1 points Bend higher |
| 2024 | 103.6 | 101.2 | 2.4 points Bend 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 Chico more expensive than Bend?
Chico is 2.3% less expensive than Bend. The overall cost index is 101.2 vs 103.6 (national average = 100).
What salary in Chico equals $100K in Bend?
A $100,000 salary in Bend has the same purchasing power as $97,674 in Chico. This is based on the BEA Regional Price Parity indexes.
How do rents compare between Bend and Chico?
Rents in Bend are indexed at 110.0 while Chico is at 91.9 (national average = 100). Bend 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.