Overall
- Fort Collins-Loveland
- 101.1
- Boise City
- 98.4
Diff -2.7 RPP
Fort Collins-Loveland vs Boise City
Cost of living comparison based on BEA Regional Price Parities. Boise City is 2.7% less expensive than Fort Collins-Loveland.
2.7% less expensive
Boise City, ID is 2.7% less expensive than Fort Collins-Loveland, CO on BEA Regional Price Parities (overall RPP 98.4 vs 101.1). A $100,000 salary in Fort Collins-Loveland buys about the same as $97,294 in Boise City; the largest component gap is rents.
- Overall RPP 101.1 (Fort Collins-Loveland) vs 98.4 (Boise City)
- $100k in Fort Collins-Loveland ≈ $97,294 purchasing power in Boise City
- Rents drives the gap (-15.0 RPP points)
RPP parity plate
Pair CO:ID 101.1→98.4
TIER-NEAR · CROSS-STATE · SPLIT-BUDGET · BENCH-CROSS · PP-SHIFT
- TIER-NEAR Near tier
- CROSS-STATE CO × ID
- SPLIT-BUDGET Split budget
- 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.
Category Breakdown
Goods
- Boise City
- 96.2
Diff +0.1 RPP
Services
- Boise City
- 70.7
Diff -11.5 RPP
Rents
- Fort Collins-Loveland
- 120.6
- Boise City
- 105.6
Diff -15.0 RPP
| Category | Fort Collins-Loveland | Boise City | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Overall | 101.1 | 98.4 | -2.7 |
| Goods | 96.1 | 96.2 | +0.1 |
| Services | 82.2 | 70.7 | -11.5 |
| Rents | 120.6 | 105.6 | -15.0 |
Visual Comparison
Overall
Fort Collins-Loveland 101.1
Boise City 98.4
Goods
Fort Collins-Loveland 96.1
Boise City 96.2
Services
Fort Collins-Loveland 82.2
Boise City 70.7
Rents
Fort Collins-Loveland 120.6
Boise City 105.6
Vertical line = national average (100)
What This Comparison Actually Tells You
Rents creates the largest separation: Boise City is 15.0 points lower. But goods move against the overall direction, so this is a split budget rather than a clean across-the-board winner.
Boise City, ID is 2.7% less expensive than Fort Collins-Loveland, CO, a meaningful but not extreme shift. The move decision turns on which budget category creates the 2.7-point overall gap.
This route crosses the national benchmark: Fort Collins-Loveland is above 100 while Boise City 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 housing-sensitive move, validate the rent gap first: HUD Fair Market Rent and the actual unit size can overturn what the blended index implies. On the BEA ratio alone, $100,000 in Fort Collins-Loveland corresponds to $97,294 in Boise City.
Fort Collins-Loveland
101.1
Cost Index
Boise City
98.4
Cost Index
Salary Equivalents
What a salary in Fort Collins-Loveland would need to be in Boise City for the same purchasing power:
| In Fort Collins-Loveland | In Boise City | Difference |
|---|---|---|
| $50,000 | $48,647 | $-1,353 |
| $75,000 | $72,970 | $-2,030 |
| $100,000 | $97,294 | $-2,706 |
| $150,000 | $145,940 | $-4,060 |
$ in Fort Collins-Loveland = in Boise City
Same BEA Regional Price Parity ratio as the table above (101.1 → 98.4), computed live from your number, nothing is sent anywhere.
How the Price Gap Changed
Fort Collins-Loveland and Boise City share 17 published annual releases from 2008 through 2024. Their overall gap held broadly steady, moving from 2.0 to 2.7 RPP points. Fort Collins-Loveland remained the higher-index metro in the latest release.
Rents changed the most within this pair: its gap moved 9.3 points between the first and latest shared releases (5.7 to 15.0 points). This describes a relative price-index history, not a forecast or a household budget.
| Release Year | Fort Collins-Loveland RPP | Boise City RPP | Relative Gap |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2008 | 97.2 | 95.3 | 2.0 points Fort Collins-Loveland higher |
| 2012 | 104.7 | 96.7 | 8.1 points Fort Collins-Loveland higher |
| 2016 | 101.4 | 93.2 | 8.2 points Fort Collins-Loveland higher |
| 2020 | 98.5 | 93.6 | 4.9 points Fort Collins-Loveland higher |
| 2024 | 101.1 | 98.4 | 2.7 points Fort Collins-Loveland 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 Fort Collins-Loveland?
Boise City is 2.7% less expensive than Fort Collins-Loveland. The overall cost index is 98.4 vs 101.1 (national average = 100).
What salary in Boise City equals $100K in Fort Collins-Loveland?
A $100,000 salary in Fort Collins-Loveland has the same purchasing power as $97,294 in Boise City. This is based on the BEA Regional Price Parity indexes.
How do rents compare between Fort Collins-Loveland and Boise City?
Rents in Fort Collins-Loveland are indexed at 120.6 while Boise City is at 105.6 (national average = 100). Fort Collins-Loveland 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.