Overall
- Charlottesville
- 99.1
- Kennewick-Richland
- 100.1
Diff +0.9 RPP
Charlottesville vs Kennewick-Richland
Cost of living comparison based on BEA Regional Price Parities. Kennewick-Richland is 0.9% more expensive than Charlottesville.
0.9% more expensive
Kennewick-Richland, WA is 0.9% more expensive than Charlottesville, VA on BEA Regional Price Parities (overall RPP 100.1 vs 99.1). A $100,000 salary in Charlottesville buys about the same as $100,941 in Kennewick-Richland; the largest component gap is rents.
- Overall RPP 99.1 (Charlottesville) vs 100.1 (Kennewick-Richland)
- $100k in Charlottesville ≈ $100,941 purchasing power in Kennewick-Richland
- Rents drives the gap (-12.2 RPP points)
RPP parity plate
Pair VA:WA 99.1→100.1
PHOTO-FINISH · CROSS-STATE · SPLIT-BUDGET · BENCH-CROSS · PP-PAR
- PHOTO-FINISH Photo finish
- CROSS-STATE VA × WA
- SPLIT-BUDGET Split budget
- BENCH-CROSS Benchmark cross
- 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.
Charlottesville
99.1
Cost Index
Kennewick-Richland
100.1
Cost Index
What This Comparison Actually Tells You
Charlottesville, VA and Kennewick-Richland, WA are a photo finish on overall price level, only 0.9 RPP points apart. A salary conversion is therefore a fine adjustment, not evidence of a fundamentally different cost regime.
Rents creates the largest separation: Kennewick-Richland is 12.2 points lower. 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.
This route crosses the national benchmark: Kennewick-Richland is above 100 while Charlottesville is below it. That makes the move a change of price regime, not merely a rank swap.
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 Charlottesville corresponds to $100,941 in Kennewick-Richland.
Category Breakdown
Goods
- Charlottesville
- 96.8
- Kennewick-Richland
- 105.0
Diff +8.3 RPP
Services
- Charlottesville
- 89.0
- Kennewick-Richland
- 93.6
Diff +4.6 RPP
Rents
- Charlottesville
- 107.0
- Kennewick-Richland
- 94.8
Diff -12.2 RPP
| Category | Charlottesville | Kennewick-Richland | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Overall | 99.1 | 100.1 | +0.9 |
| Goods | 96.8 | 105.0 | +8.3 |
| Services | 89.0 | 93.6 | +4.6 |
| Rents | 107.0 | 94.8 | -12.2 |
Visual Comparison
Overall
Charlottesville 99.1
Kennewick-Richland 100.1
Goods
Charlottesville 96.8
Kennewick-Richland 105.0
Services
Charlottesville 89.0
Kennewick-Richland 93.6
Rents
Charlottesville 107.0
Kennewick-Richland 94.8
Vertical line = national average (100)
How the Price Gap Changed
Charlottesville and Kennewick-Richland share 17 published annual releases from 2008 through 2024. Their overall gap narrowed, moving from 5.6 to 0.9 RPP points. Kennewick-Richland remained the higher-index metro in the latest release.
Services changed the most within this pair: its gap moved 19.2 points between the first and latest shared releases (14.6 to 4.6 points). This describes a relative price-index history, not a forecast or a household budget.
| Release Year | Charlottesville RPP | Kennewick-Richland RPP | Relative Gap |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2008 | 99.7 | 94.2 | 5.6 points Charlottesville higher |
| 2012 | 98.9 | 99.3 | 0.5 points Kennewick-Richland higher |
| 2016 | 100.3 | 97.4 | 2.9 points Charlottesville higher |
| 2020 | 98.3 | 99.8 | 1.5 points Kennewick-Richland higher |
| 2024 | 99.1 | 100.1 | 0.9 points Kennewick-Richland 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 Charlottesville would need to be in Kennewick-Richland for the same purchasing power:
| In Charlottesville | In Kennewick-Richland | Difference |
|---|---|---|
| $50,000 | $50,471 | +$471 |
| $75,000 | $75,706 | +$706 |
| $100,000 | $100,941 | +$941 |
| $150,000 | $151,412 | +$1,412 |
$ in Charlottesville = in Kennewick-Richland
Same BEA Regional Price Parity ratio as the table above (99.1 → 100.1), computed live from your number, nothing is sent anywhere.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Kennewick-Richland more expensive than Charlottesville?
Kennewick-Richland is 0.9% more expensive than Charlottesville. The overall cost index is 100.1 vs 99.1 (national average = 100).
What salary in Kennewick-Richland equals $100K in Charlottesville?
A $100,000 salary in Charlottesville has the same purchasing power as $100,941 in Kennewick-Richland. This is based on the BEA Regional Price Parity indexes.
How do rents compare between Charlottesville and Kennewick-Richland?
Rents in Charlottesville are indexed at 107.0 while Kennewick-Richland is at 94.8 (national average = 100). Charlottesville 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.