Overall
- Merced
- 98.3
- Amherst Town-Northampton
- 100.2
Diff +2.0 RPP
Merced vs Amherst Town-Northampton
Cost of living comparison based on BEA Regional Price Parities. Amherst Town-Northampton is 2% more expensive than Merced.
2% more expensive
Amherst Town-Northampton, MA is 2% more expensive than Merced, CA on BEA Regional Price Parities (overall RPP 100.2 vs 98.3). A $100,000 salary in Merced buys about the same as $102,003 in Amherst Town-Northampton; the largest component gap is rents.
- Overall RPP 98.3 (Merced) vs 100.2 (Amherst Town-Northampton)
- $100k in Merced ≈ $102,003 purchasing power in Amherst Town-Northampton
- Rents drives the gap (+18.9 RPP points)
RPP parity plate
Pair CA:MA 98.3→100.2
PHOTO-FINISH · CROSS-STATE · SPLIT-BUDGET · BENCH-CROSS · PP-PAR
- PHOTO-FINISH Photo finish
- CROSS-STATE CA × MA
- 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.
Merced
98.3
Cost Index
Amherst Town-Northampton
100.2
Cost Index
What This Comparison Actually Tells You
Merced, CA and Amherst Town-Northampton, MA are a photo finish on overall price level, only 2.0 RPP points apart. A salary conversion is therefore a fine adjustment, not evidence of a fundamentally different cost regime.
Rents creates the largest separation: Amherst Town-Northampton is 18.9 points higher. But goods and 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: Amherst Town-Northampton is above 100 while Merced is below it. That makes the move a change of price regime, not merely a rank swap.
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 Merced corresponds to $102,003 in Amherst Town-Northampton.
Category Breakdown
Goods
- Merced
- 105.2
Diff -8.2 RPP
Services
- Merced
- 158.3
- Amherst Town-Northampton
- 155.7
Diff -2.6 RPP
Rents
- Merced
- 78.6
Diff +18.9 RPP
| Category | Merced | Amherst Town-Northampton | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Overall | 98.3 | 100.2 | +2.0 |
| Goods | 105.2 | 97.0 | -8.2 |
| Services | 158.3 | 155.7 | -2.6 |
| Rents | 78.6 | 97.5 | +18.9 |
Visual Comparison
Overall
Merced 98.3
Amherst Town-Northampton 100.2
Goods
Merced 105.2
Amherst Town-Northampton 97.0
Services
Merced 158.3
Amherst Town-Northampton 155.7
Rents
Merced 78.6
Amherst Town-Northampton 97.5
Vertical line = national average (100)
How the Price Gap Changed
Merced and Amherst Town-Northampton share 17 published annual releases from 2008 through 2024. Their overall gap narrowed, moving from 5.4 to 2.0 RPP points. Amherst Town-Northampton remained the higher-index metro in the latest release.
Services changed the most within this pair: its gap moved 41.0 points between the first and latest shared releases (38.4 to 2.6 points). This describes a relative price-index history, not a forecast or a household budget.
| Release Year | Merced RPP | Amherst Town-Northampton RPP | Relative Gap |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2008 | 94.3 | 99.7 | 5.4 points Amherst Town-Northampton higher |
| 2012 | 98.6 | 99.3 | 0.8 points Amherst Town-Northampton higher |
| 2016 | 95.3 | 99.7 | 4.4 points Amherst Town-Northampton higher |
| 2020 | 98.7 | 101.8 | 3.0 points Amherst Town-Northampton higher |
| 2024 | 98.3 | 100.2 | 2.0 points Amherst Town-Northampton 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 Merced would need to be in Amherst Town-Northampton for the same purchasing power:
| In Merced | In Amherst Town-Northampton | Difference |
|---|---|---|
| $50,000 | $51,001 | +$1,001 |
| $75,000 | $76,502 | +$1,502 |
| $100,000 | $102,003 | +$2,003 |
| $150,000 | $153,004 | +$3,004 |
$ in Merced = in Amherst Town-Northampton
Same BEA Regional Price Parity ratio as the table above (98.3 → 100.2), computed live from your number, nothing is sent anywhere.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Amherst Town-Northampton more expensive than Merced?
Amherst Town-Northampton is 2% more expensive than Merced. The overall cost index is 100.2 vs 98.3 (national average = 100).
What salary in Amherst Town-Northampton equals $100K in Merced?
A $100,000 salary in Merced has the same purchasing power as $102,003 in Amherst Town-Northampton. This is based on the BEA Regional Price Parity indexes.
How do rents compare between Merced and Amherst Town-Northampton?
Rents in Merced are indexed at 78.6 while Amherst Town-Northampton is at 97.5 (national average = 100). Amherst Town-Northampton 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.