Overall
- Great Falls
- 96.8
Diff +16.7 RPP
Great Falls vs Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim
Cost of living comparison based on BEA Regional Price Parities. Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim is 17.3% more expensive than Great Falls.
17.3% more expensive
Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim, CA is 17.3% more expensive than Great Falls, MT on BEA Regional Price Parities (overall RPP 113.6 vs 96.8). A $100,000 salary in Great Falls buys about the same as $117,266 in Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim; the largest component gap is services.
- Overall RPP 96.8 (Great Falls) vs 113.6 (Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim)
- $100k in Great Falls ≈ $117,266 purchasing power in Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim
- Services drives the gap (+85.5 RPP points)
RPP parity plate
Pair MT:CA 96.8→113.6
TIER-GAP · CROSS-STATE · SERVICES-LED · BENCH-CROSS · PP-STEEP
- TIER-GAP Clear tier gap
- CROSS-STATE MT × CA
- SERVICES-LED Services-led gap
- BENCH-CROSS Benchmark cross
- PP-STEEP Steep PP convert
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
Great Falls, MT and Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim, CA sit in clearly different price tiers, separated by 16.7 RPP points. At this distance, treating the same nominal salary as equivalent would materially change purchasing power.
This route crosses the national benchmark: Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim is above 100 while Great Falls is below it. That makes the move a change of price regime, not merely a rank swap.
Services leads the difference, with Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim 85.5 points higher than Great Falls. 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 Great Falls to $117,266 in Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim, but it is not a personal spending weight.
How the Price Gap Changed
Great Falls and Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim share 17 published annual releases from 2008 through 2024. Their overall gap narrowed, moving from 28.1 to 16.7 RPP points. Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim remained the higher-index metro in the latest release.
Rents changed the most within this pair: its gap moved 71.5 points between the first and latest shared releases (144.9 to 73.3 points). This describes a relative price-index history, not a forecast or a household budget.
| Release Year | Great Falls RPP | Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim RPP | Relative Gap |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2008 | 85.3 | 113.3 | 28.1 points Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim higher |
| 2012 | 92.3 | 112.1 | 19.8 points Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim higher |
| 2016 | 88.0 | 111.3 | 23.2 points Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim higher |
| 2020 | 87.0 | 113.9 | 26.9 points Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim higher |
| 2024 | 96.8 | 113.6 | 16.7 points Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim 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
- Great Falls
- 96.0
Diff +10.6 RPP
Services
- Great Falls
- 73.0
Diff +85.5 RPP
Rents
- Great Falls
- 97.1
Diff +73.3 RPP
| Category | Great Falls | Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Overall | 96.8 | 113.6 | +16.7 |
| Goods | 96.0 | 106.6 | +10.6 |
| Services | 73.0 | 158.6 | +85.5 |
| Rents | 97.1 | 170.4 | +73.3 |
Visual Comparison
Overall
Great Falls 96.8
Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim 113.6
Goods
Great Falls 96.0
Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim 106.6
Services
Great Falls 73.0
Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim 158.6
Rents
Great Falls 97.1
Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim 170.4
Vertical line = national average (100)
Salary Equivalents
What a salary in Great Falls would need to be in Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim for the same purchasing power:
| In Great Falls | In Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim | Difference |
|---|---|---|
| $50,000 | $58,633 | +$8,633 |
| $75,000 | $87,949 | +$12,949 |
| $100,000 | $117,266 | +$17,266 |
| $150,000 | $175,899 | +$25,899 |
$ in Great Falls = in Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim
Same BEA Regional Price Parity ratio as the table above (96.8 → 113.6), computed live from your number, nothing is sent anywhere.
Great Falls
96.8
Cost Index
Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim
113.6
Cost Index
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim more expensive than Great Falls?
Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim is 17.3% more expensive than Great Falls. The overall cost index is 113.6 vs 96.8 (national average = 100).
What salary in Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim equals $100K in Great Falls?
A $100,000 salary in Great Falls has the same purchasing power as $117,266 in Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim. This is based on the BEA Regional Price Parity indexes.
How do rents compare between Great Falls and Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim?
Rents in Great Falls are indexed at 97.1 while Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim is at 170.4 (national average = 100). Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim 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.