Overall
- Medford
- 101.4
Diff -0.5 RPP
Medford vs Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater
Cost of living comparison based on BEA Regional Price Parities. Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater is 0.5% less expensive than Medford.
0.5% less expensive
Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater, FL is 0.5% less expensive than Medford, OR on BEA Regional Price Parities (overall RPP 100.9 vs 101.4). A $100,000 salary in Medford buys about the same as $99,465 in Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater; the largest component gap is rents.
- Overall RPP 101.4 (Medford) vs 100.9 (Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater)
- $100k in Medford ≈ $99,465 purchasing power in Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater
- Rents drives the gap (+28.2 RPP points)
RPP parity plate
Pair OR:FL 101.4→100.9
PHOTO-FINISH · CROSS-STATE · SPLIT-BUDGET · BOTH-ABOVE · PP-PAR
- PHOTO-FINISH Photo finish
- CROSS-STATE OR × FL
- SPLIT-BUDGET Split budget
- BOTH-ABOVE Both above 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.
Medford
101.4
Cost Index
Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater
100.9
Cost Index
What This Comparison Actually Tells You
Medford, OR and Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater, FL are a photo finish on overall price level, only 0.5 RPP points apart. A salary conversion is therefore a fine adjustment, not evidence of a fundamentally different cost regime.
Rents creates the largest separation: Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater is 28.2 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 exceed the U.S. benchmark of 100. The choice is between two national premiums, so local wages need to clear the higher baseline in either market.
For a housing-sensitive move, validate the rent gap first: HUD Fair Market Rent and the actual unit size can overturn what the blended index implies. On the BEA ratio alone, $100,000 in Medford corresponds to $99,465 in Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater.
Category Breakdown
Goods
- Medford
- 105.3
Diff -9.8 RPP
Services
- Medford
- 102.3
Diff -13.7 RPP
Rents
- Medford
- 97.7
Diff +28.2 RPP
| Category | Medford | Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Overall | 101.4 | 100.9 | -0.5 |
| Goods | 105.3 | 95.5 | -9.8 |
| Services | 102.3 | 88.5 | -13.7 |
| Rents | 97.7 | 125.8 | +28.2 |
Visual Comparison
Overall
Medford 101.4
Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater 100.9
Goods
Medford 105.3
Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater 95.5
Services
Medford 102.3
Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater 88.5
Rents
Medford 97.7
Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater 125.8
Vertical line = national average (100)
How the Price Gap Changed
Medford and Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater share 17 published annual releases from 2008 through 2024. Their overall gap narrowed, moving from 5.8 to 0.5 RPP points. Medford remained the higher-index metro in the latest release.
Services changed the most within this pair: its gap moved 33.6 points between the first and latest shared releases (19.9 to 13.7 points). This describes a relative price-index history, not a forecast or a household budget.
| Release Year | Medford RPP | Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater RPP | Relative Gap |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2008 | 97.5 | 103.3 | 5.8 points Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater higher |
| 2012 | 100.9 | 100.3 | 0.6 points Medford higher |
| 2016 | 98.1 | 97.1 | 1.0 points Medford higher |
| 2020 | 101.9 | 101.3 | 0.6 points Medford higher |
| 2024 | 101.4 | 100.9 | 0.5 points Medford 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 Medford would need to be in Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater for the same purchasing power:
| In Medford | In Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater | Difference |
|---|---|---|
| $50,000 | $49,732 | $-268 |
| $75,000 | $74,599 | $-401 |
| $100,000 | $99,465 | $-535 |
| $150,000 | $149,197 | $-803 |
$ in Medford = in Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater
Same BEA Regional Price Parity ratio as the table above (101.4 → 100.9), computed live from your number, nothing is sent anywhere.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater more expensive than Medford?
Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater is 0.5% less expensive than Medford. The overall cost index is 100.9 vs 101.4 (national average = 100).
What salary in Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater equals $100K in Medford?
A $100,000 salary in Medford has the same purchasing power as $99,465 in Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater. This is based on the BEA Regional Price Parity indexes.
How do rents compare between Medford and Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater?
Rents in Medford are indexed at 97.7 while Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater is at 125.8 (national average = 100). Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater 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.