Overall
- Coeur d'Alene
- 98.3
- Worcester
- 102.5
Diff +4.2 RPP
Coeur d'Alene vs Worcester
Cost of living comparison based on BEA Regional Price Parities. Worcester is 4.3% more expensive than Coeur d'Alene.
4.3% more expensive
Worcester, MA is 4.3% more expensive than Coeur d'Alene, ID on BEA Regional Price Parities (overall RPP 102.5 vs 98.3). A $100,000 salary in Coeur d'Alene buys about the same as $104,303 in Worcester; the largest component gap is services.
- Overall RPP 98.3 (Coeur d'Alene) vs 102.5 (Worcester)
- $100k in Coeur d'Alene ≈ $104,303 purchasing power in Worcester
- Services drives the gap (+84.4 RPP points)
RPP parity plate
Pair ID:MA 98.3→102.5
TIER-NEAR · CROSS-STATE · SERVICES-LED · BENCH-CROSS · PP-SHIFT
- TIER-NEAR Near tier
- CROSS-STATE ID × MA
- 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
Worcester, MA is 4.3% more expensive than Coeur d'Alene, ID, a meaningful but not extreme shift. The move decision turns on which budget category creates the 4.2-point overall gap.
This route crosses the national benchmark: Worcester is above 100 while Coeur d'Alene is below it. That makes the move a change of price regime, not merely a rank swap.
Services leads the difference, with Worcester 84.4 points higher than Coeur d'Alene. 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 Coeur d'Alene to $104,303 in Worcester, but it is not a personal spending weight.
How the Price Gap Changed
Coeur d'Alene and Worcester share 17 published annual releases from 2008 through 2024. Their overall gap narrowed, moving from 6.5 to 4.2 RPP points. Worcester remained the higher-index metro in the latest release.
Rents changed the most within this pair: its gap moved 15.3 points between the first and latest shared releases (22.7 to 7.4 points). This describes a relative price-index history, not a forecast or a household budget.
| Release Year | Coeur d'Alene RPP | Worcester RPP | Relative Gap |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2008 | 98.1 | 104.7 | 6.5 points Worcester higher |
| 2012 | 94.9 | 103.0 | 8.1 points Worcester higher |
| 2016 | 97.5 | 106.3 | 8.8 points Worcester higher |
| 2020 | 93.0 | 101.8 | 8.8 points Worcester higher |
| 2024 | 98.3 | 102.5 | 4.2 points Worcester 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
- Coeur d'Alene
- 96.2
- Worcester
- 97.0
Diff +0.8 RPP
Services
- Coeur d'Alene
- 70.8
- Worcester
- 155.2
Diff +84.4 RPP
Rents
- Coeur d'Alene
- 105.6
- Worcester
- 113.0
Diff +7.4 RPP
| Category | Coeur d'Alene | Worcester | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Overall | 98.3 | 102.5 | +4.2 |
| Goods | 96.2 | 97.0 | +0.8 |
| Services | 70.8 | 155.2 | +84.4 |
| Rents | 105.6 | 113.0 | +7.4 |
Visual Comparison
Overall
Coeur d'Alene 98.3
Worcester 102.5
Goods
Coeur d'Alene 96.2
Worcester 97.0
Services
Coeur d'Alene 70.8
Worcester 155.2
Rents
Coeur d'Alene 105.6
Worcester 113.0
Vertical line = national average (100)
Salary Equivalents
What a salary in Coeur d'Alene would need to be in Worcester for the same purchasing power:
| In Coeur d'Alene | In Worcester | Difference |
|---|---|---|
| $50,000 | $52,152 | +$2,152 |
| $75,000 | $78,228 | +$3,228 |
| $100,000 | $104,303 | +$4,303 |
| $150,000 | $156,455 | +$6,455 |
$ in Coeur d'Alene = in Worcester
Same BEA Regional Price Parity ratio as the table above (98.3 → 102.5), computed live from your number, nothing is sent anywhere.
Coeur d'Alene
98.3
Cost Index
Worcester
102.5
Cost Index
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Worcester more expensive than Coeur d'Alene?
Worcester is 4.3% more expensive than Coeur d'Alene. The overall cost index is 102.5 vs 98.3 (national average = 100).
What salary in Worcester equals $100K in Coeur d'Alene?
A $100,000 salary in Coeur d'Alene has the same purchasing power as $104,303 in Worcester. This is based on the BEA Regional Price Parity indexes.
How do rents compare between Coeur d'Alene and Worcester?
Rents in Coeur d'Alene are indexed at 105.6 while Worcester is at 113.0 (national average = 100). Worcester 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.