Overall
- Flagstaff
- 100.3
- Coeur d'Alene
- 98.3
Diff -2.0 RPP
Flagstaff vs Coeur d'Alene
Cost of living comparison based on BEA Regional Price Parities. Coeur d'Alene is 2% less expensive than Flagstaff.
2% less expensive
Coeur d'Alene, ID is 2% less expensive than Flagstaff, AZ on BEA Regional Price Parities (overall RPP 98.3 vs 100.3). A $100,000 salary in Flagstaff buys about the same as $97,975 in Coeur d'Alene; the largest component gap is services.
- Overall RPP 100.3 (Flagstaff) vs 98.3 (Coeur d'Alene)
- $100k in Flagstaff ≈ $97,975 purchasing power in Coeur d'Alene
- Services drives the gap (-23.1 RPP points)
RPP parity plate
Pair AZ:ID 100.3→98.3
TIER-NEAR · CROSS-STATE · SERVICES-LED · BENCH-CROSS · PP-PAR
- TIER-NEAR Near tier
- CROSS-STATE AZ × ID
- SERVICES-LED Services-led gap
- 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.
What This Comparison Actually Tells You
Coeur d'Alene, ID is 2% less expensive than Flagstaff, AZ, a meaningful but not extreme shift. The move decision turns on which budget category creates the 2.0-point overall gap.
This route crosses the national benchmark: Flagstaff 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 Coeur d'Alene 23.1 points lower than Flagstaff. 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 Flagstaff to $97,975 in Coeur d'Alene, but it is not a personal spending weight.
How the Price Gap Changed
Flagstaff and Coeur d'Alene share 17 published annual releases from 2008 through 2024. Their overall gap held broadly steady, moving from 1.6 to 2.0 RPP points. Flagstaff remained the higher-index metro in the latest release.
Services changed the most within this pair: its gap moved 1.4 points between the first and latest shared releases (21.7 to 23.1 points). This describes a relative price-index history, not a forecast or a household budget.
| Release Year | Flagstaff RPP | Coeur d'Alene RPP | Relative Gap |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2008 | 99.8 | 98.1 | 1.6 points Flagstaff higher |
| 2012 | 99.2 | 94.9 | 4.3 points Flagstaff higher |
| 2016 | 97.7 | 97.5 | 0.2 points Flagstaff higher |
| 2020 | 97.0 | 93.0 | 4.0 points Flagstaff higher |
| 2024 | 100.3 | 98.3 | 2.0 points Flagstaff 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
- Flagstaff
- 96.2
- Coeur d'Alene
- 96.2
Diff -0.1 RPP
Services
- Flagstaff
- 93.8
- Coeur d'Alene
- 70.8
Diff -23.1 RPP
Rents
- Flagstaff
- 109.0
- Coeur d'Alene
- 105.6
Diff -3.4 RPP
| Category | Flagstaff | Coeur d'Alene | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Overall | 100.3 | 98.3 | -2.0 |
| Goods | 96.2 | 96.2 | -0.1 |
| Services | 93.8 | 70.8 | -23.1 |
| Rents | 109.0 | 105.6 | -3.4 |
Visual Comparison
Overall
Flagstaff 100.3
Coeur d'Alene 98.3
Goods
Flagstaff 96.2
Coeur d'Alene 96.2
Services
Flagstaff 93.8
Coeur d'Alene 70.8
Rents
Flagstaff 109.0
Coeur d'Alene 105.6
Vertical line = national average (100)
Salary Equivalents
What a salary in Flagstaff would need to be in Coeur d'Alene for the same purchasing power:
| In Flagstaff | In Coeur d'Alene | Difference |
|---|---|---|
| $50,000 | $48,987 | $-1,013 |
| $75,000 | $73,481 | $-1,519 |
| $100,000 | $97,975 | $-2,025 |
| $150,000 | $146,962 | $-3,038 |
$ in Flagstaff = in Coeur d'Alene
Same BEA Regional Price Parity ratio as the table above (100.3 → 98.3), computed live from your number, nothing is sent anywhere.
Flagstaff
100.3
Cost Index
Coeur d'Alene
98.3
Cost Index
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Coeur d'Alene more expensive than Flagstaff?
Coeur d'Alene is 2% less expensive than Flagstaff. The overall cost index is 98.3 vs 100.3 (national average = 100).
What salary in Coeur d'Alene equals $100K in Flagstaff?
A $100,000 salary in Flagstaff has the same purchasing power as $97,975 in Coeur d'Alene. This is based on the BEA Regional Price Parity indexes.
How do rents compare between Flagstaff and Coeur d'Alene?
Rents in Flagstaff are indexed at 109.0 while Coeur d'Alene is at 105.6 (national average = 100). Flagstaff 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.