Overall
- El Centro
- 95.2
- Boise City
- 98.4
Diff +3.2 RPP
El Centro vs Boise City
Cost of living comparison based on BEA Regional Price Parities. Boise City is 3.4% more expensive than El Centro.
3.4% more expensive
Boise City, ID is 3.4% more expensive than El Centro, CA on BEA Regional Price Parities (overall RPP 98.4 vs 95.2). A $100,000 salary in El Centro buys about the same as $103,380 in Boise City; the largest component gap is services.
- Overall RPP 95.2 (El Centro) vs 98.4 (Boise City)
- $100k in El Centro ≈ $103,380 purchasing power in Boise City
- Services drives the gap (-86.5 RPP points)
RPP parity plate
Pair CA:ID 95.2→98.4
TIER-NEAR · CROSS-STATE · SPLIT-BUDGET · BOTH-BELOW · PP-SHIFT
- TIER-NEAR Near tier
- CROSS-STATE CA × ID
- 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
- El Centro
- 105.2
- Boise City
- 96.2
Diff -9.0 RPP
Services
- El Centro
- 157.2
- Boise City
- 70.7
Diff -86.5 RPP
Rents
- El Centro
- 66.3
- Boise City
- 105.6
Diff +39.3 RPP
| Category | El Centro | Boise City | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Overall | 95.2 | 98.4 | +3.2 |
| Goods | 105.2 | 96.2 | -9.0 |
| Services | 157.2 | 70.7 | -86.5 |
| Rents | 66.3 | 105.6 | +39.3 |
Visual Comparison
Overall
El Centro 95.2
Boise City 98.4
Goods
El Centro 105.2
Boise City 96.2
Services
El Centro 157.2
Boise City 70.7
Rents
El Centro 66.3
Boise City 105.6
Vertical line = national average (100)
What This Comparison Actually Tells You
Services creates the largest separation: Boise City is 86.5 points lower. But services and goods move against the overall direction, so this is a split budget rather than a clean across-the-board winner.
Boise City, ID is 3.4% more expensive than El Centro, CA, a meaningful but not extreme shift. The move decision turns on which budget category creates the 3.2-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 El Centro to $103,380 in Boise City, but it is not a personal spending weight.
El Centro
95.2
Cost Index
Boise City
98.4
Cost Index
Salary Equivalents
What a salary in El Centro would need to be in Boise City for the same purchasing power:
| In El Centro | In Boise City | Difference |
|---|---|---|
| $50,000 | $51,690 | +$1,690 |
| $75,000 | $77,535 | +$2,535 |
| $100,000 | $103,380 | +$3,380 |
| $150,000 | $155,070 | +$5,070 |
$ in El Centro = in Boise City
Same BEA Regional Price Parity ratio as the table above (95.2 → 98.4), computed live from your number, nothing is sent anywhere.
How the Price Gap Changed
El Centro and Boise City share 17 published annual releases from 2008 through 2024. Their overall gap widened, moving from 0.0 to 3.2 RPP points. Boise City remained the higher-index metro in the latest release.
Services changed the most within this pair: its gap moved 68.8 points between the first and latest shared releases (17.8 to 86.5 points). This describes a relative price-index history, not a forecast or a household budget.
| Release Year | El Centro RPP | Boise City RPP | Relative Gap |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2008 | 95.3 | 95.3 | 0.0 points El Centro higher |
| 2012 | 94.0 | 96.7 | 2.6 points Boise City higher |
| 2016 | 95.7 | 93.2 | 2.6 points El Centro higher |
| 2020 | 96.9 | 93.6 | 3.3 points El Centro higher |
| 2024 | 95.2 | 98.4 | 3.2 points Boise City 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 Boise City more expensive than El Centro?
Boise City is 3.4% more expensive than El Centro. The overall cost index is 98.4 vs 95.2 (national average = 100).
What salary in Boise City equals $100K in El Centro?
A $100,000 salary in El Centro has the same purchasing power as $103,380 in Boise City. This is based on the BEA Regional Price Parity indexes.
How do rents compare between El Centro and Boise City?
Rents in El Centro are indexed at 66.3 while Boise City is at 105.6 (national average = 100). Boise City 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.