Overall
- Coeur d'Alene
- 98.3
- Wilmington
- 96.4
Diff -1.9 RPP
Coeur d'Alene vs Wilmington
Cost of living comparison based on BEA Regional Price Parities. Wilmington is 1.9% less expensive than Coeur d'Alene.
1.9% less expensive
Wilmington, NC is 1.9% less expensive than Coeur d'Alene, ID on BEA Regional Price Parities (overall RPP 96.4 vs 98.3). A $100,000 salary in Coeur d'Alene buys about the same as $98,097 in Wilmington; the largest component gap is services.
- Overall RPP 98.3 (Coeur d'Alene) vs 96.4 (Wilmington)
- $100k in Coeur d'Alene ≈ $98,097 purchasing power in Wilmington
- Services drives the gap (+17.1 RPP points)
RPP parity plate
Pair ID:NC 98.3→96.4
PHOTO-FINISH · CROSS-STATE · SPLIT-BUDGET · BOTH-BELOW · PP-PAR
- PHOTO-FINISH Photo finish
- CROSS-STATE ID × NC
- 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.
Coeur d'Alene
98.3
Cost Index
Wilmington
96.4
Cost Index
What This Comparison Actually Tells You
Coeur d'Alene, ID and Wilmington, NC 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.
Services creates the largest separation: Wilmington is 17.1 points higher. But services and goods 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 service-heavy household, test childcare, health, and other locally supplied costs before relying on rent alone. The BEA ratio converts $100,000 in Coeur d'Alene to $98,097 in Wilmington, but it is not a personal spending weight.
Category Breakdown
Goods
- Coeur d'Alene
- 96.2
- Wilmington
- 96.6
Diff +0.4 RPP
Services
- Coeur d'Alene
- 70.8
- Wilmington
- 87.9
Diff +17.1 RPP
Rents
- Coeur d'Alene
- 105.6
- Wilmington
- 93.2
Diff -12.4 RPP
| Category | Coeur d'Alene | Wilmington | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Overall | 98.3 | 96.4 | -1.9 |
| Goods | 96.2 | 96.6 | +0.4 |
| Services | 70.8 | 87.9 | +17.1 |
| Rents | 105.6 | 93.2 | -12.4 |
Visual Comparison
Overall
Coeur d'Alene 98.3
Wilmington 96.4
Goods
Coeur d'Alene 96.2
Wilmington 96.6
Services
Coeur d'Alene 70.8
Wilmington 87.9
Rents
Coeur d'Alene 105.6
Wilmington 93.2
Vertical line = national average (100)
How the Price Gap Changed
Coeur d'Alene and Wilmington share 17 published annual releases from 2008 through 2024. Their overall gap narrowed, moving from 4.9 to 1.9 RPP points. Coeur d'Alene remained the higher-index metro in the latest release.
Goods changed the most within this pair: its gap moved 6.9 points between the first and latest shared releases (6.4 to 0.4 points). This describes a relative price-index history, not a forecast or a household budget.
| Release Year | Coeur d'Alene RPP | Wilmington RPP | Relative Gap |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2008 | 98.1 | 93.2 | 4.9 points Coeur d'Alene higher |
| 2012 | 94.9 | 95.2 | 0.3 points Wilmington higher |
| 2016 | 97.5 | 95.1 | 2.4 points Coeur d'Alene higher |
| 2020 | 93.0 | 94.0 | 1.0 points Wilmington higher |
| 2024 | 98.3 | 96.4 | 1.9 points Coeur d'Alene 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 Coeur d'Alene would need to be in Wilmington for the same purchasing power:
| In Coeur d'Alene | In Wilmington | Difference |
|---|---|---|
| $50,000 | $49,048 | $-952 |
| $75,000 | $73,572 | $-1,428 |
| $100,000 | $98,097 | $-1,903 |
| $150,000 | $147,145 | $-2,855 |
$ in Coeur d'Alene = in Wilmington
Same BEA Regional Price Parity ratio as the table above (98.3 → 96.4), computed live from your number, nothing is sent anywhere.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Wilmington more expensive than Coeur d'Alene?
Wilmington is 1.9% less expensive than Coeur d'Alene. The overall cost index is 96.4 vs 98.3 (national average = 100).
What salary in Wilmington equals $100K in Coeur d'Alene?
A $100,000 salary in Coeur d'Alene has the same purchasing power as $98,097 in Wilmington. This is based on the BEA Regional Price Parity indexes.
How do rents compare between Coeur d'Alene and Wilmington?
Rents in Coeur d'Alene are indexed at 105.6 while Wilmington is at 93.2 (national average = 100). Coeur d'Alene 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.