Overall
- Olympia-Lacey-Tumwater
- 103.7
Diff +6.3 RPP
Charlotte-Concord-Gastonia vs Olympia-Lacey-Tumwater
Cost of living comparison based on BEA Regional Price Parities. Olympia-Lacey-Tumwater is 6.5% more expensive than Charlotte-Concord-Gastonia.
6.5% more expensive
Olympia-Lacey-Tumwater, WA is 6.5% more expensive than Charlotte-Concord-Gastonia, NC-SC on BEA Regional Price Parities (overall RPP 103.7 vs 97.3). A $100,000 salary in Charlotte-Concord-Gastonia buys about the same as $106,494 in Olympia-Lacey-Tumwater; the largest component gap is rents.
- Overall RPP 97.3 (Charlotte-Concord-Gastonia) vs 103.7 (Olympia-Lacey-Tumwater)
- $100k in Charlotte-Concord-Gastonia ≈ $106,494 purchasing power in Olympia-Lacey-Tumwater
- Rents drives the gap (+19.0 RPP points)
RPP parity plate
Pair NC:WA 97.3→103.7
TIER-NEAR · CROSS-STATE · RENT-LED · BENCH-CROSS · PP-SHIFT
- TIER-NEAR Near tier
- CROSS-STATE NC × WA
- RENT-LED Rent-led gap
- 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.
Salary Equivalents
What a salary in Charlotte-Concord-Gastonia would need to be in Olympia-Lacey-Tumwater for the same purchasing power:
| In Charlotte-Concord-Gastonia | In Olympia-Lacey-Tumwater | Difference |
|---|---|---|
| $50,000 | $53,247 | +$3,247 |
| $75,000 | $79,871 | +$4,871 |
| $100,000 | $106,494 | +$6,494 |
| $150,000 | $159,741 | +$9,741 |
$ in Charlotte-Concord-Gastonia = in Olympia-Lacey-Tumwater
Same BEA Regional Price Parity ratio as the table above (97.3 → 103.7), computed live from your number, nothing is sent anywhere.
What This Comparison Actually Tells You
Olympia-Lacey-Tumwater, WA is 6.5% more expensive than Charlotte-Concord-Gastonia, NC-SC, a meaningful but not extreme shift. The move decision turns on which budget category creates the 6.3-point overall gap.
This route crosses the national benchmark: Olympia-Lacey-Tumwater is above 100 while Charlotte-Concord-Gastonia is below it. That makes the move a change of price regime, not merely a rank swap.
Rents leads the difference, with Olympia-Lacey-Tumwater 19.0 points higher than Charlotte-Concord-Gastonia. Goods, services, and rents all point in the same broad direction, making the headline comparison more transferable across household types.
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 Charlotte-Concord-Gastonia corresponds to $106,494 in Olympia-Lacey-Tumwater.
Category Breakdown
Goods
- Olympia-Lacey-Tumwater
- 105.0
Diff +8.4 RPP
Services
Diff +2.5 RPP
Rents
- Olympia-Lacey-Tumwater
- 116.7
Diff +19.0 RPP
| Category | Charlotte-Concord-Gastonia | Olympia-Lacey-Tumwater | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Overall | 97.3 | 103.7 | +6.3 |
| Goods | 96.6 | 105.0 | +8.4 |
| Services | 89.2 | 91.7 | +2.5 |
| Rents | 97.6 | 116.7 | +19.0 |
Visual Comparison
Overall
Charlotte-Concord-Gastonia 97.3
Olympia-Lacey-Tumwater 103.7
Goods
Charlotte-Concord-Gastonia 96.6
Olympia-Lacey-Tumwater 105.0
Services
Charlotte-Concord-Gastonia 89.2
Olympia-Lacey-Tumwater 91.7
Rents
Charlotte-Concord-Gastonia 97.6
Olympia-Lacey-Tumwater 116.7
Vertical line = national average (100)
Charlotte-Concord-Gastonia
97.3
Cost Index
Olympia-Lacey-Tumwater
103.7
Cost Index
How the Price Gap Changed
Charlotte-Concord-Gastonia and Olympia-Lacey-Tumwater share 17 published annual releases from 2008 through 2024. Their overall gap narrowed, moving from 10.1 to 6.3 RPP points. Olympia-Lacey-Tumwater remained the higher-index metro in the latest release.
Services changed the most within this pair: its gap moved 9.2 points between the first and latest shared releases (6.6 to 2.5 points). This describes a relative price-index history, not a forecast or a household budget.
| Release Year | Charlotte-Concord-Gastonia RPP | Olympia-Lacey-Tumwater RPP | Relative Gap |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2008 | 95.3 | 105.4 | 10.1 points Olympia-Lacey-Tumwater higher |
| 2012 | 96.1 | 101.3 | 5.2 points Olympia-Lacey-Tumwater higher |
| 2016 | 96.9 | 106.0 | 9.1 points Olympia-Lacey-Tumwater higher |
| 2020 | 94.2 | 101.9 | 7.7 points Olympia-Lacey-Tumwater higher |
| 2024 | 97.3 | 103.7 | 6.3 points Olympia-Lacey-Tumwater 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 Olympia-Lacey-Tumwater more expensive than Charlotte-Concord-Gastonia?
Olympia-Lacey-Tumwater is 6.5% more expensive than Charlotte-Concord-Gastonia. The overall cost index is 103.7 vs 97.3 (national average = 100).
What salary in Olympia-Lacey-Tumwater equals $100K in Charlotte-Concord-Gastonia?
A $100,000 salary in Charlotte-Concord-Gastonia has the same purchasing power as $106,494 in Olympia-Lacey-Tumwater. This is based on the BEA Regional Price Parity indexes.
How do rents compare between Charlotte-Concord-Gastonia and Olympia-Lacey-Tumwater?
Rents in Charlotte-Concord-Gastonia are indexed at 97.6 while Olympia-Lacey-Tumwater is at 116.7 (national average = 100). Olympia-Lacey-Tumwater 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.