Overall
- Boise City
- 98.4
- Kenosha
- 101.1
Diff +2.7 RPP
Boise City vs Kenosha
Cost of living comparison based on BEA Regional Price Parities. Kenosha is 2.8% more expensive than Boise City.
2.8% more expensive
Kenosha, WI is 2.8% more expensive than Boise City, ID on BEA Regional Price Parities (overall RPP 101.1 vs 98.4). A $100,000 salary in Boise City buys about the same as $102,772 in Kenosha; the largest component gap is services.
- Overall RPP 98.4 (Boise City) vs 101.1 (Kenosha)
- $100k in Boise City ≈ $102,772 purchasing power in Kenosha
- Services drives the gap (+15.2 RPP points)
RPP parity plate
Pair ID:WI 98.4→101.1
TIER-NEAR · CROSS-STATE · SPLIT-BUDGET · BENCH-CROSS · PP-SHIFT
- TIER-NEAR Near tier
- CROSS-STATE ID × WI
- 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
- Kenosha
- 106.2
Diff +10.0 RPP
Services
- Boise City
- 70.7
- Kenosha
- 85.9
Diff +15.2 RPP
Rents
- Boise City
- 105.6
- Kenosha
- 95.8
Diff -9.8 RPP
| Category | Boise City | Kenosha | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Overall | 98.4 | 101.1 | +2.7 |
| Goods | 96.2 | 106.2 | +10.0 |
| Services | 70.7 | 85.9 | +15.2 |
| Rents | 105.6 | 95.8 | -9.8 |
Visual Comparison
Overall
Boise City 98.4
Kenosha 101.1
Goods
Boise City 96.2
Kenosha 106.2
Services
Boise City 70.7
Kenosha 85.9
Rents
Boise City 105.6
Kenosha 95.8
Vertical line = national average (100)
What This Comparison Actually Tells You
Services creates the largest separation: Kenosha is 15.2 points higher. But rents move against the overall direction, so this is a split budget rather than a clean across-the-board winner.
Kenosha, WI is 2.8% more expensive than Boise City, ID, a meaningful but not extreme shift. The move decision turns on which budget category creates the 2.7-point overall gap.
This route crosses the national benchmark: Kenosha 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 $102,772 in Kenosha, but it is not a personal spending weight.
Boise City
98.4
Cost Index
Kenosha
101.1
Cost Index
Salary Equivalents
What a salary in Boise City would need to be in Kenosha for the same purchasing power:
| In Boise City | In Kenosha | Difference |
|---|---|---|
| $50,000 | $51,386 | +$1,386 |
| $75,000 | $77,079 | +$2,079 |
| $100,000 | $102,772 | +$2,772 |
| $150,000 | $154,157 | +$4,157 |
$ in Boise City = in Kenosha
Same BEA Regional Price Parity ratio as the table above (98.4 → 101.1), computed live from your number, nothing is sent anywhere.
How the Price Gap Changed
Boise City and Kenosha share 17 published annual releases from 2008 through 2024. Their overall gap narrowed, moving from 8.5 to 2.7 RPP points. Kenosha remained the higher-index metro in the latest release.
Rents changed the most within this pair: its gap moved 25.7 points between the first and latest shared releases (16.0 to 9.8 points). This describes a relative price-index history, not a forecast or a household budget.
| Release Year | Boise City RPP | Kenosha RPP | Relative Gap |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2008 | 95.3 | 103.7 | 8.5 points Kenosha higher |
| 2012 | 96.7 | 99.3 | 2.6 points Kenosha higher |
| 2016 | 93.2 | 100.2 | 7.1 points Kenosha higher |
| 2020 | 93.6 | 99.4 | 5.7 points Kenosha higher |
| 2024 | 98.4 | 101.1 | 2.7 points Kenosha 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 Kenosha more expensive than Boise City?
Kenosha is 2.8% more expensive than Boise City. The overall cost index is 101.1 vs 98.4 (national average = 100).
What salary in Kenosha equals $100K in Boise City?
A $100,000 salary in Boise City has the same purchasing power as $102,772 in Kenosha. This is based on the BEA Regional Price Parity indexes.
How do rents compare between Boise City and Kenosha?
Rents in Boise City are indexed at 105.6 while Kenosha is at 95.8 (national average = 100). Boise City 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.