Overall
- Missoula
- 96.4
Diff +0.9 RPP
Grand Rapids-Wyoming-Kentwood vs Missoula
Cost of living comparison based on BEA Regional Price Parities. Missoula is 0.9% more expensive than Grand Rapids-Wyoming-Kentwood.
0.9% more expensive
Missoula, MT is 0.9% more expensive than Grand Rapids-Wyoming-Kentwood, MI on BEA Regional Price Parities (overall RPP 96.4 vs 95.5). A $100,000 salary in Grand Rapids-Wyoming-Kentwood buys about the same as $100,941 in Missoula; the largest component gap is services.
- Overall RPP 95.5 (Grand Rapids-Wyoming-Kentwood) vs 96.4 (Missoula)
- $100k in Grand Rapids-Wyoming-Kentwood ≈ $100,941 purchasing power in Missoula
- Services drives the gap (-21.7 RPP points)
RPP parity plate
Pair MI:MT 95.5→96.4
PHOTO-FINISH · CROSS-STATE · SPLIT-BUDGET · BOTH-BELOW · PP-PAR
- PHOTO-FINISH Photo finish
- CROSS-STATE MI × MT
- SPLIT-BUDGET Split budget
- BOTH-BELOW Both below 100
- 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.
Grand Rapids-Wyoming-Kentwood
95.5
Cost Index
Missoula
96.4
Cost Index
What This Comparison Actually Tells You
Grand Rapids-Wyoming-Kentwood, MI and Missoula, MT are a photo finish on overall price level, only 0.9 RPP points apart. A salary conversion is therefore a fine adjustment, not evidence of a fundamentally different cost regime.
Services creates the largest separation: Missoula is 21.7 points lower. But services move against the overall direction, so this is a split budget rather than a clean across-the-board winner.
Comparable population context is incomplete for this pair, so no market-scale explanation is inferred from the price indexes.
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.
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 Grand Rapids-Wyoming-Kentwood to $100,941 in Missoula, but it is not a personal spending weight.
Category Breakdown
Goods
- Missoula
- 96.0
Diff +2.3 RPP
Services
- Missoula
- 72.1
Diff -21.7 RPP
Rents
- Missoula
- 94.9
Diff +8.3 RPP
| Category | Grand Rapids-Wyoming-Kentwood | Missoula | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Overall | 95.5 | 96.4 | +0.9 |
| Goods | 93.7 | 96.0 | +2.3 |
| Services | 93.8 | 72.1 | -21.7 |
| Rents | 86.6 | 94.9 | +8.3 |
Visual Comparison
Overall
Grand Rapids-Wyoming-Kentwood 95.5
Missoula 96.4
Goods
Grand Rapids-Wyoming-Kentwood 93.7
Missoula 96.0
Services
Grand Rapids-Wyoming-Kentwood 93.8
Missoula 72.1
Rents
Grand Rapids-Wyoming-Kentwood 86.6
Missoula 94.9
Vertical line = national average (100)
How the Price Gap Changed
Grand Rapids-Wyoming-Kentwood and Missoula share 17 published annual releases from 2008 through 2024. Their overall gap narrowed, moving from 2.4 to 0.9 RPP points. Missoula remained the higher-index metro in the latest release.
Rents changed the most within this pair: its gap moved 11.6 points between the first and latest shared releases (3.3 to 8.3 points). This describes a relative price-index history, not a forecast or a household budget.
| Release Year | Grand Rapids-Wyoming-Kentwood RPP | Missoula RPP | Relative Gap |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2008 | 95.6 | 98.0 | 2.4 points Missoula higher |
| 2012 | 94.7 | 93.9 | 0.8 points Grand Rapids-Wyoming-Kentwood higher |
| 2016 | 94.2 | 95.8 | 1.6 points Missoula higher |
| 2020 | 94.3 | 93.9 | 0.4 points Grand Rapids-Wyoming-Kentwood higher |
| 2024 | 95.5 | 96.4 | 0.9 points Missoula 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.
Salary Equivalents
What a salary in Grand Rapids-Wyoming-Kentwood would need to be in Missoula for the same purchasing power:
| In Grand Rapids-Wyoming-Kentwood | In Missoula | Difference |
|---|---|---|
| $50,000 | $50,470 | +$470 |
| $75,000 | $75,706 | +$706 |
| $100,000 | $100,941 | +$941 |
| $150,000 | $151,411 | +$1,411 |
$ in Grand Rapids-Wyoming-Kentwood = in Missoula
Same BEA Regional Price Parity ratio as the table above (95.5 → 96.4), computed live from your number, nothing is sent anywhere.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Missoula more expensive than Grand Rapids-Wyoming-Kentwood?
Missoula is 0.9% more expensive than Grand Rapids-Wyoming-Kentwood. The overall cost index is 96.4 vs 95.5 (national average = 100).
What salary in Missoula equals $100K in Grand Rapids-Wyoming-Kentwood?
A $100,000 salary in Grand Rapids-Wyoming-Kentwood has the same purchasing power as $100,941 in Missoula. This is based on the BEA Regional Price Parity indexes.
How do rents compare between Grand Rapids-Wyoming-Kentwood and Missoula?
Rents in Grand Rapids-Wyoming-Kentwood are indexed at 86.6 while Missoula is at 94.9 (national average = 100). Missoula 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.