Overall
- Great Falls
- 96.8
- Merced
- 98.3
Diff +1.4 RPP
Great Falls vs Merced
Cost of living comparison based on BEA Regional Price Parities. Merced is 1.5% more expensive than Great Falls.
1.5% more expensive
Merced, CA is 1.5% more expensive than Great Falls, MT on BEA Regional Price Parities (overall RPP 98.3 vs 96.8). A $100,000 salary in Great Falls buys about the same as $101,477 in Merced; the largest component gap is services.
- Overall RPP 96.8 (Great Falls) vs 98.3 (Merced)
- $100k in Great Falls ≈ $101,477 purchasing power in Merced
- Services drives the gap (+85.3 RPP points)
RPP parity plate
Pair MT:CA 96.8→98.3
PHOTO-FINISH · CROSS-STATE · SPLIT-BUDGET · BOTH-BELOW · PP-PAR
- PHOTO-FINISH Photo finish
- CROSS-STATE MT × CA
- 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.
Great Falls
96.8
Cost Index
Merced
98.3
Cost Index
What This Comparison Actually Tells You
Great Falls, MT and Merced, CA are a photo finish on overall price level, only 1.4 RPP points apart. A salary conversion is therefore a fine adjustment, not evidence of a fundamentally different cost regime.
Services creates the largest separation: Merced is 85.3 points higher. But rents 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 Great Falls to $101,477 in Merced, but it is not a personal spending weight.
Category Breakdown
Goods
- Great Falls
- 96.0
- Merced
- 105.2
Diff +9.2 RPP
Services
- Great Falls
- 73.0
- Merced
- 158.3
Diff +85.3 RPP
Rents
- Great Falls
- 97.1
- Merced
- 78.6
Diff -18.5 RPP
| Category | Great Falls | Merced | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Overall | 96.8 | 98.3 | +1.4 |
| Goods | 96.0 | 105.2 | +9.2 |
| Services | 73.0 | 158.3 | +85.3 |
| Rents | 97.1 | 78.6 | -18.5 |
Visual Comparison
Overall
Great Falls 96.8
Merced 98.3
Goods
Great Falls 96.0
Merced 105.2
Services
Great Falls 73.0
Merced 158.3
Rents
Great Falls 97.1
Merced 78.6
Vertical line = national average (100)
How the Price Gap Changed
Great Falls and Merced share 17 published annual releases from 2008 through 2024. Their overall gap narrowed, moving from 9.0 to 1.4 RPP points. Merced remained the higher-index metro in the latest release.
Services changed the most within this pair: its gap moved 63.4 points between the first and latest shared releases (21.9 to 85.3 points). This describes a relative price-index history, not a forecast or a household budget.
| Release Year | Great Falls RPP | Merced RPP | Relative Gap |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2008 | 85.3 | 94.3 | 9.0 points Merced higher |
| 2012 | 92.3 | 98.6 | 6.3 points Merced higher |
| 2016 | 88.0 | 95.3 | 7.3 points Merced higher |
| 2020 | 87.0 | 98.7 | 11.8 points Merced higher |
| 2024 | 96.8 | 98.3 | 1.4 points Merced 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 Great Falls would need to be in Merced for the same purchasing power:
| In Great Falls | In Merced | Difference |
|---|---|---|
| $50,000 | $50,738 | +$738 |
| $75,000 | $76,107 | +$1,107 |
| $100,000 | $101,477 | +$1,477 |
| $150,000 | $152,215 | +$2,215 |
$ in Great Falls = in Merced
Same BEA Regional Price Parity ratio as the table above (96.8 → 98.3), computed live from your number, nothing is sent anywhere.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Merced more expensive than Great Falls?
Merced is 1.5% more expensive than Great Falls. The overall cost index is 98.3 vs 96.8 (national average = 100).
What salary in Merced equals $100K in Great Falls?
A $100,000 salary in Great Falls has the same purchasing power as $101,477 in Merced. This is based on the BEA Regional Price Parity indexes.
How do rents compare between Great Falls and Merced?
Rents in Great Falls are indexed at 97.1 while Merced is at 78.6 (national average = 100). Great Falls 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.