Overall
- Kennewick-Richland
- 100.1
- Waterbury-Shelton
- 99.8
Diff -0.3 RPP
Kennewick-Richland vs Waterbury-Shelton
Cost of living comparison based on BEA Regional Price Parities. Waterbury-Shelton is 0.3% less expensive than Kennewick-Richland.
0.3% less expensive
Waterbury-Shelton, CT is 0.3% less expensive than Kennewick-Richland, WA on BEA Regional Price Parities (overall RPP 99.8 vs 100.1). A $100,000 salary in Kennewick-Richland buys about the same as $99,699 in Waterbury-Shelton; the largest component gap is services.
- Overall RPP 100.1 (Kennewick-Richland) vs 99.8 (Waterbury-Shelton)
- $100k in Kennewick-Richland ≈ $99,699 purchasing power in Waterbury-Shelton
- Services drives the gap (+54.0 RPP points)
RPP parity plate
Pair WA:CT 100.1→99.8
PHOTO-FINISH · CROSS-STATE · SPLIT-BUDGET · BENCH-CROSS · PP-PAR
- PHOTO-FINISH Photo finish
- CROSS-STATE WA × CT
- SPLIT-BUDGET Split budget
- BENCH-CROSS Benchmark cross
- 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.
Kennewick-Richland
100.1
Cost Index
Waterbury-Shelton
99.8
Cost Index
What This Comparison Actually Tells You
Kennewick-Richland, WA and Waterbury-Shelton, CT are a photo finish on overall price level, only 0.3 RPP points apart. A salary conversion is therefore a fine adjustment, not evidence of a fundamentally different cost regime.
Services creates the largest separation: Waterbury-Shelton is 54.0 points higher. 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.
This route crosses the national benchmark: Kennewick-Richland is above 100 while Waterbury-Shelton is below it. That makes the move a change of price regime, not merely a rank swap.
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 Kennewick-Richland to $99,699 in Waterbury-Shelton, but it is not a personal spending weight.
Category Breakdown
Goods
- Kennewick-Richland
- 105.0
- Waterbury-Shelton
- 97.3
Diff -7.7 RPP
Services
- Kennewick-Richland
- 93.6
- Waterbury-Shelton
- 147.6
Diff +54.0 RPP
Rents
- Kennewick-Richland
- 94.8
- Waterbury-Shelton
- 89.1
Diff -5.7 RPP
| Category | Kennewick-Richland | Waterbury-Shelton | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Overall | 100.1 | 99.8 | -0.3 |
| Goods | 105.0 | 97.3 | -7.7 |
| Services | 93.6 | 147.6 | +54.0 |
| Rents | 94.8 | 89.1 | -5.7 |
Visual Comparison
Overall
Kennewick-Richland 100.1
Waterbury-Shelton 99.8
Goods
Kennewick-Richland 105.0
Waterbury-Shelton 97.3
Services
Kennewick-Richland 93.6
Waterbury-Shelton 147.6
Rents
Kennewick-Richland 94.8
Waterbury-Shelton 89.1
Vertical line = national average (100)
How the Price Gap Changed
Kennewick-Richland and Waterbury-Shelton share 17 published annual releases from 2008 through 2024. Their overall gap narrowed, moving from 16.6 to 0.3 RPP points. Kennewick-Richland remained the higher-index metro in the latest release.
Rents changed the most within this pair: its gap moved 38.6 points between the first and latest shared releases (32.9 to 5.7 points). This describes a relative price-index history, not a forecast or a household budget.
| Release Year | Kennewick-Richland RPP | Waterbury-Shelton RPP | Relative Gap |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2008 | 94.2 | 110.8 | 16.6 points Waterbury-Shelton higher |
| 2012 | 99.3 | 106.9 | 7.6 points Waterbury-Shelton higher |
| 2016 | 97.4 | 106.5 | 9.1 points Waterbury-Shelton higher |
| 2020 | 99.8 | 103.4 | 3.7 points Waterbury-Shelton higher |
| 2024 | 100.1 | 99.8 | 0.3 points Kennewick-Richland 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 Kennewick-Richland would need to be in Waterbury-Shelton for the same purchasing power:
| In Kennewick-Richland | In Waterbury-Shelton | Difference |
|---|---|---|
| $50,000 | $49,850 | $-150 |
| $75,000 | $74,774 | $-226 |
| $100,000 | $99,699 | $-301 |
| $150,000 | $149,549 | $-451 |
$ in Kennewick-Richland = in Waterbury-Shelton
Same BEA Regional Price Parity ratio as the table above (100.1 → 99.8), computed live from your number, nothing is sent anywhere.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Waterbury-Shelton more expensive than Kennewick-Richland?
Waterbury-Shelton is 0.3% less expensive than Kennewick-Richland. The overall cost index is 99.8 vs 100.1 (national average = 100).
What salary in Waterbury-Shelton equals $100K in Kennewick-Richland?
A $100,000 salary in Kennewick-Richland has the same purchasing power as $99,699 in Waterbury-Shelton. This is based on the BEA Regional Price Parity indexes.
How do rents compare between Kennewick-Richland and Waterbury-Shelton?
Rents in Kennewick-Richland are indexed at 94.8 while Waterbury-Shelton is at 89.1 (national average = 100). Kennewick-Richland 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.