Overall
- Boise City
- 98.4
Diff -4.3 RPP
Boise City vs Lake Havasu City-Kingman
Cost of living comparison based on BEA Regional Price Parities. Lake Havasu City-Kingman is 4.4% less expensive than Boise City.
4.4% less expensive
Lake Havasu City-Kingman, AZ is 4.4% less expensive than Boise City, ID on BEA Regional Price Parities (overall RPP 94.1 vs 98.4). A $100,000 salary in Boise City buys about the same as $95,637 in Lake Havasu City-Kingman; the largest component gap is rents.
- Overall RPP 98.4 (Boise City) vs 94.1 (Lake Havasu City-Kingman)
- $100k in Boise City ≈ $95,637 purchasing power in Lake Havasu City-Kingman
- Rents drives the gap (-25.8 RPP points)
RPP parity plate
Pair ID:AZ 98.4→94.1
TIER-NEAR · CROSS-STATE · SPLIT-BUDGET · BOTH-BELOW · PP-SHIFT
- TIER-NEAR Near tier
- CROSS-STATE ID × AZ
- SPLIT-BUDGET Split budget
- BOTH-BELOW Both below 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.
Category Breakdown
Goods
- Boise City
- 96.2
Diff +0.1 RPP
Services
- Boise City
- 70.7
Diff +18.0 RPP
Rents
- Boise City
- 105.6
Diff -25.8 RPP
| Category | Boise City | Lake Havasu City-Kingman | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Overall | 98.4 | 94.1 | -4.3 |
| Goods | 96.2 | 96.2 | +0.1 |
| Services | 70.7 | 88.7 | +18.0 |
| Rents | 105.6 | 79.8 | -25.8 |
Visual Comparison
Overall
Boise City 98.4
Lake Havasu City-Kingman 94.1
Goods
Boise City 96.2
Lake Havasu City-Kingman 96.2
Services
Boise City 70.7
Lake Havasu City-Kingman 88.7
Rents
Boise City 105.6
Lake Havasu City-Kingman 79.8
Vertical line = national average (100)
What This Comparison Actually Tells You
Rents creates the largest separation: Lake Havasu City-Kingman is 25.8 points lower. But services and goods move against the overall direction, so this is a split budget rather than a clean across-the-board winner.
Lake Havasu City-Kingman, AZ is 4.4% less expensive than Boise City, ID, a meaningful but not extreme shift. The move decision turns on which budget category creates the 4.3-point overall gap.
Both metros remain below the U.S. benchmark of 100. This comparison chooses between two below-average price levels; “more expensive” here does not mean nationally expensive.
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 Boise City corresponds to $95,637 in Lake Havasu City-Kingman.
Boise City
98.4
Cost Index
Lake Havasu City-Kingman
94.1
Cost Index
Salary Equivalents
What a salary in Boise City would need to be in Lake Havasu City-Kingman for the same purchasing power:
| In Boise City | In Lake Havasu City-Kingman | Difference |
|---|---|---|
| $50,000 | $47,818 | $-2,182 |
| $75,000 | $71,728 | $-3,272 |
| $100,000 | $95,637 | $-4,363 |
| $150,000 | $143,455 | $-6,545 |
$ in Boise City = in Lake Havasu City-Kingman
Same BEA Regional Price Parity ratio as the table above (98.4 → 94.1), computed live from your number, nothing is sent anywhere.
How the Price Gap Changed
Boise City and Lake Havasu City-Kingman share 17 published annual releases from 2008 through 2024. Their overall gap widened, moving from 1.5 to 4.3 RPP points. Boise City remained the higher-index metro in the latest release.
Rents changed the most within this pair: its gap moved 15.5 points between the first and latest shared releases (10.3 to 25.8 points). This describes a relative price-index history, not a forecast or a household budget.
| Release Year | Boise City RPP | Lake Havasu City-Kingman RPP | Relative Gap |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2008 | 95.3 | 93.8 | 1.5 points Boise City higher |
| 2012 | 96.7 | 95.5 | 1.1 points Boise City higher |
| 2016 | 93.2 | 93.0 | 0.2 points Boise City higher |
| 2020 | 93.6 | 87.7 | 6.0 points Boise City higher |
| 2024 | 98.4 | 94.1 | 4.3 points Boise City 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 Lake Havasu City-Kingman more expensive than Boise City?
Lake Havasu City-Kingman is 4.4% less expensive than Boise City. The overall cost index is 94.1 vs 98.4 (national average = 100).
What salary in Lake Havasu City-Kingman equals $100K in Boise City?
A $100,000 salary in Boise City has the same purchasing power as $95,637 in Lake Havasu City-Kingman. This is based on the BEA Regional Price Parity indexes.
How do rents compare between Boise City and Lake Havasu City-Kingman?
Rents in Boise City are indexed at 105.6 while Lake Havasu City-Kingman is at 79.8 (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.