Overall
- Boise City
- 98.4
- Missoula
- 96.4
Diff -1.9 RPP
Boise City vs Missoula
Cost of living comparison based on BEA Regional Price Parities. Missoula is 2% less expensive than Boise City.
2% less expensive
Missoula, MT is 2% less expensive than Boise City, ID on BEA Regional Price Parities (overall RPP 96.4 vs 98.4). A $100,000 salary in Boise City buys about the same as $98,022 in Missoula; the largest component gap is rents.
- Overall RPP 98.4 (Boise City) vs 96.4 (Missoula)
- $100k in Boise City ≈ $98,022 purchasing power in Missoula
- Rents drives the gap (-10.6 RPP points)
RPP parity plate
Pair ID:MT 98.4→96.4
PHOTO-FINISH · CROSS-STATE · SPLIT-BUDGET · BOTH-BELOW · PP-PAR
- PHOTO-FINISH Photo finish
- CROSS-STATE ID × MT
- SPLIT-BUDGET Split budget
- BOTH-BELOW Both below 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.
Boise City
98.4
Cost Index
Missoula
96.4
Cost Index
What This Comparison Actually Tells You
Boise City, ID and Missoula, MT are a photo finish on overall price level, only 1.9 RPP points apart. A salary conversion is therefore a fine adjustment, not evidence of a fundamentally different cost regime.
Rents creates the largest separation: Missoula is 10.6 points lower. But services move against the overall direction, so this is a split budget rather than a clean across-the-board winner.
Comparable population context is incomplete for this pair, so no market-scale explanation is inferred from the price indexes.
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.
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 $98,022 in Missoula.
Category Breakdown
Goods
- Boise City
- 96.2
- Missoula
- 96.0
Diff -0.2 RPP
Services
- Boise City
- 70.7
- Missoula
- 72.1
Diff +1.4 RPP
Rents
- Boise City
- 105.6
- Missoula
- 94.9
Diff -10.6 RPP
| Category | Boise City | Missoula | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Overall | 98.4 | 96.4 | -1.9 |
| Goods | 96.2 | 96.0 | -0.2 |
| Services | 70.7 | 72.1 | +1.4 |
| Rents | 105.6 | 94.9 | -10.6 |
Visual Comparison
Overall
Boise City 98.4
Missoula 96.4
Goods
Boise City 96.2
Missoula 96.0
Services
Boise City 70.7
Missoula 72.1
Rents
Boise City 105.6
Missoula 94.9
Vertical line = national average (100)
How the Price Gap Changed
Boise City and Missoula share 17 published annual releases from 2008 through 2024. Their overall gap narrowed, moving from 2.7 to 1.9 RPP points. Boise City remained the higher-index metro in the latest release.
Goods changed the most within this pair: its gap moved 6.7 points between the first and latest shared releases (6.5 to 0.2 points). This describes a relative price-index history, not a forecast or a household budget.
| Release Year | Boise City RPP | Missoula RPP | Relative Gap |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2008 | 95.3 | 98.0 | 2.7 points Missoula higher |
| 2012 | 96.7 | 93.9 | 2.8 points Boise City higher |
| 2016 | 93.2 | 95.8 | 2.6 points Missoula higher |
| 2020 | 93.6 | 93.9 | 0.3 points Missoula higher |
| 2024 | 98.4 | 96.4 | 1.9 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.
Salary Equivalents
What a salary in Boise City would need to be in Missoula for the same purchasing power:
| In Boise City | In Missoula | Difference |
|---|---|---|
| $50,000 | $49,011 | $-989 |
| $75,000 | $73,517 | $-1,483 |
| $100,000 | $98,022 | $-1,978 |
| $150,000 | $147,033 | $-2,967 |
$ in Boise City = in Missoula
Same BEA Regional Price Parity ratio as the table above (98.4 → 96.4), computed live from your number, nothing is sent anywhere.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Missoula more expensive than Boise City?
Missoula is 2% less expensive than Boise City. The overall cost index is 96.4 vs 98.4 (national average = 100).
What salary in Missoula equals $100K in Boise City?
A $100,000 salary in Boise City has the same purchasing power as $98,022 in Missoula. This is based on the BEA Regional Price Parity indexes.
How do rents compare between Boise City and Missoula?
Rents in Boise City are indexed at 105.6 while Missoula is at 94.9 (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.