Overall
- Chico
- 101.2
- Walla Walla
- 98.5
Diff -2.7 RPP
Chico vs Walla Walla
Cost of living comparison based on BEA Regional Price Parities. Walla Walla is 2.6% less expensive than Chico.
2.6% less expensive
Walla Walla, WA is 2.6% less expensive than Chico, CA on BEA Regional Price Parities (overall RPP 98.5 vs 101.2). A $100,000 salary in Chico buys about the same as $97,354 in Walla Walla; the largest component gap is services.
- Overall RPP 101.2 (Chico) vs 98.5 (Walla Walla)
- $100k in Chico ≈ $97,354 purchasing power in Walla Walla
- Services drives the gap (-64.5 RPP points)
RPP parity plate
Pair CA:WA 101.2→98.5
TIER-NEAR · CROSS-STATE · SERVICES-LED · BENCH-CROSS · PP-SHIFT
- TIER-NEAR Near tier
- CROSS-STATE CA × WA
- SERVICES-LED Services-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.
What This Comparison Actually Tells You
Walla Walla, WA is 2.6% less expensive than Chico, CA, a meaningful but not extreme shift. The move decision turns on which budget category creates the 2.7-point overall gap.
This route crosses the national benchmark: Chico is above 100 while Walla Walla is below it. That makes the move a change of price regime, not merely a rank swap.
Services leads the difference, with Walla Walla 64.5 points lower than Chico. 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 service-heavy household, test childcare, health, and other locally supplied costs before relying on rent alone. The BEA ratio converts $100,000 in Chico to $97,354 in Walla Walla, but it is not a personal spending weight.
How the Price Gap Changed
Chico and Walla Walla share 17 published annual releases from 2008 through 2024. Their overall gap narrowed, moving from 3.8 to 2.7 RPP points. Chico remained the higher-index metro in the latest release.
Rents changed the most within this pair: its gap moved 30.1 points between the first and latest shared releases (35.4 to 5.4 points). This describes a relative price-index history, not a forecast or a household budget.
| Release Year | Chico RPP | Walla Walla RPP | Relative Gap |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2008 | 99.4 | 95.6 | 3.8 points Chico higher |
| 2012 | 103.5 | 95.1 | 8.3 points Chico higher |
| 2016 | 97.1 | 96.3 | 0.8 points Chico higher |
| 2020 | 101.8 | 95.2 | 6.6 points Chico higher |
| 2024 | 101.2 | 98.5 | 2.7 points Chico 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.
Category Breakdown
Goods
- Chico
- 105.2
- Walla Walla
- 105.0
Diff -0.1 RPP
Services
- Chico
- 158.8
- Walla Walla
- 94.3
Diff -64.5 RPP
Rents
- Chico
- 91.9
- Walla Walla
- 86.6
Diff -5.4 RPP
| Category | Chico | Walla Walla | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Overall | 101.2 | 98.5 | -2.7 |
| Goods | 105.2 | 105.0 | -0.1 |
| Services | 158.8 | 94.3 | -64.5 |
| Rents | 91.9 | 86.6 | -5.4 |
Visual Comparison
Overall
Chico 101.2
Walla Walla 98.5
Goods
Chico 105.2
Walla Walla 105.0
Services
Chico 158.8
Walla Walla 94.3
Rents
Chico 91.9
Walla Walla 86.6
Vertical line = national average (100)
Salary Equivalents
What a salary in Chico would need to be in Walla Walla for the same purchasing power:
| In Chico | In Walla Walla | Difference |
|---|---|---|
| $50,000 | $48,677 | $-1,323 |
| $75,000 | $73,015 | $-1,985 |
| $100,000 | $97,354 | $-2,646 |
| $150,000 | $146,031 | $-3,969 |
$ in Chico = in Walla Walla
Same BEA Regional Price Parity ratio as the table above (101.2 → 98.5), computed live from your number, nothing is sent anywhere.
Chico
101.2
Cost Index
Walla Walla
98.5
Cost Index
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Walla Walla more expensive than Chico?
Walla Walla is 2.6% less expensive than Chico. The overall cost index is 98.5 vs 101.2 (national average = 100).
What salary in Walla Walla equals $100K in Chico?
A $100,000 salary in Chico has the same purchasing power as $97,354 in Walla Walla. This is based on the BEA Regional Price Parity indexes.
How do rents compare between Chico and Walla Walla?
Rents in Chico are indexed at 91.9 while Walla Walla is at 86.6 (national average = 100). Chico 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.