Overall
- Boulder
- 105.2
Diff +1.5 RPP
Boulder vs Sacramento-Roseville-Folsom
Cost of living comparison based on BEA Regional Price Parities. Sacramento-Roseville-Folsom is 1.4% more expensive than Boulder.
1.4% more expensive
Sacramento-Roseville-Folsom, CA is 1.4% more expensive than Boulder, CO on BEA Regional Price Parities (overall RPP 106.7 vs 105.2). A $100,000 salary in Boulder buys about the same as $101,395 in Sacramento-Roseville-Folsom; the largest component gap is services.
- Overall RPP 105.2 (Boulder) vs 106.7 (Sacramento-Roseville-Folsom)
- $100k in Boulder ≈ $101,395 purchasing power in Sacramento-Roseville-Folsom
- Services drives the gap (+68.5 RPP points)
RPP parity plate
Pair CO:CA 105.2→106.7
PHOTO-FINISH · CROSS-STATE · SPLIT-BUDGET · BOTH-ABOVE · PP-PAR
- PHOTO-FINISH Photo finish
- CROSS-STATE CO × 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.
Boulder
105.2
Cost Index
Sacramento-Roseville-Folsom
106.7
Cost Index
What This Comparison Actually Tells You
Boulder, CO and Sacramento-Roseville-Folsom, CA are a photo finish on overall price level, only 1.5 RPP points apart. A salary conversion is therefore a fine adjustment, not evidence of a fundamentally different cost regime.
Services creates the largest separation: Sacramento-Roseville-Folsom is 68.5 points higher. But rents 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 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.
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 Boulder to $101,395 in Sacramento-Roseville-Folsom, but it is not a personal spending weight.
Category Breakdown
Goods
- Boulder
- 96.1
Diff +9.1 RPP
Services
- Boulder
- 82.7
Diff +68.5 RPP
Rents
- Boulder
- 157.0
Diff -26.8 RPP
| Category | Boulder | Sacramento-Roseville-Folsom | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Overall | 105.2 | 106.7 | +1.5 |
| Goods | 96.1 | 105.2 | +9.1 |
| Services | 82.7 | 151.3 | +68.5 |
| Rents | 157.0 | 130.2 | -26.8 |
Visual Comparison
Overall
Boulder 105.2
Sacramento-Roseville-Folsom 106.7
Goods
Boulder 96.1
Sacramento-Roseville-Folsom 105.2
Services
Boulder 82.7
Sacramento-Roseville-Folsom 151.3
Rents
Boulder 157.0
Sacramento-Roseville-Folsom 130.2
Vertical line = national average (100)
How the Price Gap Changed
Boulder and Sacramento-Roseville-Folsom share 17 published annual releases from 2008 through 2024. Their overall gap narrowed, moving from 7.2 to 1.5 RPP points. Sacramento-Roseville-Folsom remained the higher-index metro in the latest release.
Services changed the most within this pair: its gap moved 49.8 points between the first and latest shared releases (18.7 to 68.5 points). This describes a relative price-index history, not a forecast or a household budget.
| Release Year | Boulder RPP | Sacramento-Roseville-Folsom RPP | Relative Gap |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2008 | 108.5 | 101.3 | 7.2 points Boulder higher |
| 2012 | 107.5 | 104.9 | 2.6 points Boulder higher |
| 2016 | 105.6 | 101.1 | 4.5 points Boulder higher |
| 2020 | 101.7 | 107.0 | 5.3 points Sacramento-Roseville-Folsom higher |
| 2024 | 105.2 | 106.7 | 1.5 points Sacramento-Roseville-Folsom 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 Boulder would need to be in Sacramento-Roseville-Folsom for the same purchasing power:
| In Boulder | In Sacramento-Roseville-Folsom | Difference |
|---|---|---|
| $50,000 | $50,698 | +$698 |
| $75,000 | $76,047 | +$1,047 |
| $100,000 | $101,395 | +$1,395 |
| $150,000 | $152,093 | +$2,093 |
$ in Boulder = in Sacramento-Roseville-Folsom
Same BEA Regional Price Parity ratio as the table above (105.2 → 106.7), computed live from your number, nothing is sent anywhere.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Sacramento-Roseville-Folsom more expensive than Boulder?
Sacramento-Roseville-Folsom is 1.4% more expensive than Boulder. The overall cost index is 106.7 vs 105.2 (national average = 100).
What salary in Sacramento-Roseville-Folsom equals $100K in Boulder?
A $100,000 salary in Boulder has the same purchasing power as $101,395 in Sacramento-Roseville-Folsom. This is based on the BEA Regional Price Parity indexes.
How do rents compare between Boulder and Sacramento-Roseville-Folsom?
Rents in Boulder are indexed at 157.0 while Sacramento-Roseville-Folsom is at 130.2 (national average = 100). Boulder 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.