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Helena vs Yakima

Cost of living comparison based on BEA Regional Price Parities. Yakima is 0.1% less expensive than Helena.

0.1% less expensive

Yakima, WA is 0.1% less expensive than Helena, MT on BEA Regional Price Parities (overall RPP 95.5 vs 95.7). A $100,000 salary in Helena buys about the same as $99,864 in Yakima; the largest component gap is services.

  • Overall RPP 95.7 (Helena) vs 95.5 (Yakima)
  • $100k in Helena ≈ $99,864 purchasing power in Yakima
  • Services drives the gap (+19.3 RPP points)

RPP parity plate

Pair MT:WA 95.7→95.5

PHOTO-FINISH · CROSS-STATE · SPLIT-BUDGET · BOTH-BELOW · PP-PAR

  • PHOTO-FINISH Photo finish
  • CROSS-STATE MT × WA
  • 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.

Helena
95.7
Cost Index
Yakima
95.5
Cost Index

What This Comparison Actually Tells You

Helena, MT and Yakima, WA are a photo finish on overall price level, only 0.1 RPP points apart. A salary conversion is therefore a fine adjustment, not evidence of a fundamentally different cost regime.

Services creates the largest separation: Yakima is 19.3 points higher. But services and goods 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 Helena to $99,864 in Yakima, but it is not a personal spending weight.

Category Breakdown

Visual Comparison

Overall
Helena
95.7
Yakima
95.5
Goods
Helena
96.0
Yakima
105.0
Services
Helena
72.6
Yakima
91.9
Rents
Helena
90.1
Yakima
72.6

Vertical line = national average (100)

Salary Equivalents

What a salary in Helena would need to be in Yakima for the same purchasing power:

In Helena In Yakima Difference
$50,000 $49,932 $-68
$75,000 $74,898 $-102
$100,000 $99,864 $-136
$150,000 $149,796 $-204
$ in Helena = – in Yakima

Same BEA Regional Price Parity ratio as the table above (95.7 → 95.5), computed live from your number, nothing is sent anywhere.

Reverse: Yakima → Helena Helena Details Yakima Details

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Frequently Asked Questions

Is Yakima more expensive than Helena?

Yakima is 0.1% less expensive than Helena. The overall cost index is 95.5 vs 95.7 (national average = 100).

What salary in Yakima equals $100K in Helena?

A $100,000 salary in Helena has the same purchasing power as $99,864 in Yakima. This is based on the BEA Regional Price Parity indexes.

How do rents compare between Helena and Yakima?

Rents in Helena are indexed at 90.1 while Yakima is at 72.6 (national average = 100). Helena has higher rents.

Data sources

Data sourced from official public datasets, Regional Price Parities (2024), index where national average = 100. Retrieved and formatted by PlainCost. See our methodology for details.

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.