Overall
- Colorado Springs
- 100.7
- Merced
- 98.3
Diff -2.4 RPP
Colorado Springs vs Merced
Cost of living comparison based on BEA Regional Price Parities. Merced is 2.4% less expensive than Colorado Springs.
2.4% less expensive
Merced, CA is 2.4% less expensive than Colorado Springs, CO on BEA Regional Price Parities (overall RPP 98.3 vs 100.7). A $100,000 salary in Colorado Springs buys about the same as $97,585 in Merced; the largest component gap is services.
- Overall RPP 100.7 (Colorado Springs) vs 98.3 (Merced)
- $100k in Colorado Springs ≈ $97,585 purchasing power in Merced
- Services drives the gap (+75.1 RPP points)
RPP parity plate
Pair CO:CA 100.7→98.3
TIER-NEAR · CROSS-STATE · SPLIT-BUDGET · BENCH-CROSS · PP-PAR
- TIER-NEAR Near tier
- CROSS-STATE CO × CA
- 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.
Category Breakdown
Goods
- Colorado Springs
- 96.1
- Merced
- 105.2
Diff +9.1 RPP
Services
- Colorado Springs
- 83.2
- Merced
- 158.3
Diff +75.1 RPP
Rents
- Colorado Springs
- 116.2
- Merced
- 78.6
Diff -37.6 RPP
| Category | Colorado Springs | Merced | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Overall | 100.7 | 98.3 | -2.4 |
| Goods | 96.1 | 105.2 | +9.1 |
| Services | 83.2 | 158.3 | +75.1 |
| Rents | 116.2 | 78.6 | -37.6 |
Visual Comparison
Overall
Colorado Springs 100.7
Merced 98.3
Goods
Colorado Springs 96.1
Merced 105.2
Services
Colorado Springs 83.2
Merced 158.3
Rents
Colorado Springs 116.2
Merced 78.6
Vertical line = national average (100)
What This Comparison Actually Tells You
Services creates the largest separation: Merced is 75.1 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.
Merced, CA is 2.4% less expensive than Colorado Springs, CO, a meaningful but not extreme shift. The move decision turns on which budget category creates the 2.4-point overall gap.
This route crosses the national benchmark: Colorado Springs is above 100 while Merced is below it. That makes the move a change of price regime, not merely a rank swap.
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 Colorado Springs to $97,585 in Merced, but it is not a personal spending weight.
Colorado Springs
100.7
Cost Index
Merced
98.3
Cost Index
Salary Equivalents
What a salary in Colorado Springs would need to be in Merced for the same purchasing power:
| In Colorado Springs | In Merced | Difference |
|---|---|---|
| $50,000 | $48,793 | $-1,207 |
| $75,000 | $73,189 | $-1,811 |
| $100,000 | $97,585 | $-2,415 |
| $150,000 | $146,378 | $-3,622 |
$ in Colorado Springs = in Merced
Same BEA Regional Price Parity ratio as the table above (100.7 → 98.3), computed live from your number, nothing is sent anywhere.
How the Price Gap Changed
Colorado Springs and Merced share 17 published annual releases from 2008 through 2024. Their overall gap narrowed, moving from 3.7 to 2.4 RPP points. Colorado Springs remained the higher-index metro in the latest release.
Services changed the most within this pair: its gap moved 52.8 points between the first and latest shared releases (22.3 to 75.1 points). This describes a relative price-index history, not a forecast or a household budget.
| Release Year | Colorado Springs RPP | Merced RPP | Relative Gap |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2008 | 98.0 | 94.3 | 3.7 points Colorado Springs higher |
| 2012 | 102.2 | 98.6 | 3.6 points Colorado Springs higher |
| 2016 | 99.0 | 95.3 | 3.6 points Colorado Springs higher |
| 2020 | 98.6 | 98.7 | 0.2 points Merced higher |
| 2024 | 100.7 | 98.3 | 2.4 points Colorado Springs 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 Merced more expensive than Colorado Springs?
Merced is 2.4% less expensive than Colorado Springs. The overall cost index is 98.3 vs 100.7 (national average = 100).
What salary in Merced equals $100K in Colorado Springs?
A $100,000 salary in Colorado Springs has the same purchasing power as $97,585 in Merced. This is based on the BEA Regional Price Parity indexes.
How do rents compare between Colorado Springs and Merced?
Rents in Colorado Springs are indexed at 116.2 while Merced is at 78.6 (national average = 100). Colorado Springs 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.