Overall
- Boise City
- 98.4
- Ann Arbor
- 100.9
Diff +2.5 RPP
Boise City vs Ann Arbor
Cost of living comparison based on BEA Regional Price Parities. Ann Arbor is 2.5% more expensive than Boise City.
2.5% more expensive
Ann Arbor, MI is 2.5% more expensive than Boise City, ID on BEA Regional Price Parities (overall RPP 100.9 vs 98.4). A $100,000 salary in Boise City buys about the same as $102,530 in Ann Arbor; the largest component gap is services.
- Overall RPP 98.4 (Boise City) vs 100.9 (Ann Arbor)
- $100k in Boise City ≈ $102,530 purchasing power in Ann Arbor
- Services drives the gap (+27.5 RPP points)
RPP parity plate
Pair ID:MI 98.4→100.9
TIER-NEAR · CROSS-STATE · SPLIT-BUDGET · BENCH-CROSS · PP-SHIFT
- TIER-NEAR Near tier
- CROSS-STATE ID × MI
- 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
- Boise City
- 96.2
- Ann Arbor
- 93.7
Diff -2.5 RPP
Services
- Boise City
- 70.7
- Ann Arbor
- 98.2
Diff +27.5 RPP
Rents
- Boise City
- 105.6
- Ann Arbor
- 125.3
Diff +19.7 RPP
| Category | Boise City | Ann Arbor | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Overall | 98.4 | 100.9 | +2.5 |
| Goods | 96.2 | 93.7 | -2.5 |
| Services | 70.7 | 98.2 | +27.5 |
| Rents | 105.6 | 125.3 | +19.7 |
Visual Comparison
Overall
Boise City 98.4
Ann Arbor 100.9
Goods
Boise City 96.2
Ann Arbor 93.7
Services
Boise City 70.7
Ann Arbor 98.2
Rents
Boise City 105.6
Ann Arbor 125.3
Vertical line = national average (100)
What This Comparison Actually Tells You
Services creates the largest separation: Ann Arbor is 27.5 points higher. But goods move against the overall direction, so this is a split budget rather than a clean across-the-board winner.
Ann Arbor, MI is 2.5% more expensive than Boise City, ID, a meaningful but not extreme shift. The move decision turns on which budget category creates the 2.5-point overall gap.
This route crosses the national benchmark: Ann Arbor is above 100 while Boise City 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 Boise City to $102,530 in Ann Arbor, but it is not a personal spending weight.
Boise City
98.4
Cost Index
Ann Arbor
100.9
Cost Index
Salary Equivalents
What a salary in Boise City would need to be in Ann Arbor for the same purchasing power:
| In Boise City | In Ann Arbor | Difference |
|---|---|---|
| $50,000 | $51,265 | +$1,265 |
| $75,000 | $76,897 | +$1,897 |
| $100,000 | $102,530 | +$2,530 |
| $150,000 | $153,795 | +$3,795 |
$ in Boise City = in Ann Arbor
Same BEA Regional Price Parity ratio as the table above (98.4 → 100.9), computed live from your number, nothing is sent anywhere.
How the Price Gap Changed
Boise City and Ann Arbor share 17 published annual releases from 2008 through 2024. Their overall gap narrowed, moving from 8.4 to 2.5 RPP points. Ann Arbor remained the higher-index metro in the latest release.
Rents changed the most within this pair: its gap moved 13.4 points between the first and latest shared releases (33.2 to 19.7 points). This describes a relative price-index history, not a forecast or a household budget.
| Release Year | Boise City RPP | Ann Arbor RPP | Relative Gap |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2008 | 95.3 | 103.6 | 8.4 points Ann Arbor higher |
| 2012 | 96.7 | 100.9 | 4.2 points Ann Arbor higher |
| 2016 | 93.2 | 98.4 | 5.2 points Ann Arbor higher |
| 2020 | 93.6 | 98.6 | 4.9 points Ann Arbor higher |
| 2024 | 98.4 | 100.9 | 2.5 points Ann Arbor 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 Ann Arbor more expensive than Boise City?
Ann Arbor is 2.5% more expensive than Boise City. The overall cost index is 100.9 vs 98.4 (national average = 100).
What salary in Ann Arbor equals $100K in Boise City?
A $100,000 salary in Boise City has the same purchasing power as $102,530 in Ann Arbor. This is based on the BEA Regional Price Parity indexes.
How do rents compare between Boise City and Ann Arbor?
Rents in Boise City are indexed at 105.6 while Ann Arbor is at 125.3 (national average = 100). Ann Arbor 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.