Overall
- Walla Walla
- 98.5
Diff +3.8 RPP
Daphne-Fairhope-Foley vs Walla Walla
Cost of living comparison based on BEA Regional Price Parities. Walla Walla is 4% more expensive than Daphne-Fairhope-Foley.
4% more expensive
Walla Walla, WA is 4% more expensive than Daphne-Fairhope-Foley, AL on BEA Regional Price Parities (overall RPP 98.5 vs 94.7). A $100,000 salary in Daphne-Fairhope-Foley buys about the same as $104,044 in Walla Walla; the largest component gap is services.
- Overall RPP 94.7 (Daphne-Fairhope-Foley) vs 98.5 (Walla Walla)
- $100k in Daphne-Fairhope-Foley ≈ $104,044 purchasing power in Walla Walla
- Services drives the gap (+11.0 RPP points)
RPP parity plate
Pair AL:WA 94.7→98.5
TIER-NEAR · CROSS-STATE · SPLIT-BUDGET · BOTH-BELOW · PP-SHIFT
- TIER-NEAR Near tier
- CROSS-STATE AL × WA
- SPLIT-BUDGET Split budget
- BOTH-BELOW Both below 100
- 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.
Category Breakdown
Goods
- Walla Walla
- 105.0
Diff +8.6 RPP
Services
- Walla Walla
- 94.3
Diff +11.0 RPP
Rents
- Walla Walla
- 86.6
Diff -2.6 RPP
| Category | Daphne-Fairhope-Foley | Walla Walla | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Overall | 94.7 | 98.5 | +3.8 |
| Goods | 96.4 | 105.0 | +8.6 |
| Services | 83.3 | 94.3 | +11.0 |
| Rents | 89.2 | 86.6 | -2.6 |
Visual Comparison
Overall
Daphne-Fairhope-Foley 94.7
Walla Walla 98.5
Goods
Daphne-Fairhope-Foley 96.4
Walla Walla 105.0
Services
Daphne-Fairhope-Foley 83.3
Walla Walla 94.3
Rents
Daphne-Fairhope-Foley 89.2
Walla Walla 86.6
Vertical line = national average (100)
What This Comparison Actually Tells You
Services creates the largest separation: Walla Walla is 11.0 points higher. But rents move against the overall direction, so this is a split budget rather than a clean across-the-board winner.
Walla Walla, WA is 4% more expensive than Daphne-Fairhope-Foley, AL, a meaningful but not extreme shift. The move decision turns on which budget category creates the 3.8-point overall gap.
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.
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 Daphne-Fairhope-Foley to $104,044 in Walla Walla, but it is not a personal spending weight.
Daphne-Fairhope-Foley
94.7
Cost Index
Walla Walla
98.5
Cost Index
Salary Equivalents
What a salary in Daphne-Fairhope-Foley would need to be in Walla Walla for the same purchasing power:
| In Daphne-Fairhope-Foley | In Walla Walla | Difference |
|---|---|---|
| $50,000 | $52,022 | +$2,022 |
| $75,000 | $78,033 | +$3,033 |
| $100,000 | $104,044 | +$4,044 |
| $150,000 | $156,066 | +$6,066 |
$ in Daphne-Fairhope-Foley = in Walla Walla
Same BEA Regional Price Parity ratio as the table above (94.7 → 98.5), computed live from your number, nothing is sent anywhere.
How the Price Gap Changed
Daphne-Fairhope-Foley and Walla Walla share 17 published annual releases from 2008 through 2024. Their overall gap widened, moving from 0.4 to 3.8 RPP points. Walla Walla remained the higher-index metro in the latest release.
Services changed the most within this pair: its gap moved 34.5 points between the first and latest shared releases (23.4 to 11.0 points). This describes a relative price-index history, not a forecast or a household budget.
| Release Year | Daphne-Fairhope-Foley RPP | Walla Walla RPP | Relative Gap |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2008 | 95.3 | 95.6 | 0.4 points Walla Walla higher |
| 2012 | 95.9 | 95.1 | 0.7 points Daphne-Fairhope-Foley higher |
| 2016 | 94.8 | 96.3 | 1.5 points Walla Walla higher |
| 2020 | 90.8 | 95.2 | 4.4 points Walla Walla higher |
| 2024 | 94.7 | 98.5 | 3.8 points Walla Walla 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 Walla Walla more expensive than Daphne-Fairhope-Foley?
Walla Walla is 4% more expensive than Daphne-Fairhope-Foley. The overall cost index is 98.5 vs 94.7 (national average = 100).
What salary in Walla Walla equals $100K in Daphne-Fairhope-Foley?
A $100,000 salary in Daphne-Fairhope-Foley has the same purchasing power as $104,044 in Walla Walla. This is based on the BEA Regional Price Parity indexes.
How do rents compare between Daphne-Fairhope-Foley and Walla Walla?
Rents in Daphne-Fairhope-Foley are indexed at 89.2 while Walla Walla is at 86.6 (national average = 100). Daphne-Fairhope-Foley 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.