Overall
- Merced
- 98.3
Diff -0.2 RPP
Merced vs Austin-Round Rock-San Marcos
Cost of living comparison based on BEA Regional Price Parities. Austin-Round Rock-San Marcos is 0.2% less expensive than Merced.
0.2% less expensive
Austin-Round Rock-San Marcos, TX is 0.2% less expensive than Merced, CA on BEA Regional Price Parities (overall RPP 98.1 vs 98.3). A $100,000 salary in Merced buys about the same as $99,787 in Austin-Round Rock-San Marcos; the largest component gap is services.
- Overall RPP 98.3 (Merced) vs 98.1 (Austin-Round Rock-San Marcos)
- $100k in Merced ≈ $99,787 purchasing power in Austin-Round Rock-San Marcos
- Services drives the gap (-76.3 RPP points)
RPP parity plate
Pair CA:TX 98.3→98.1
PHOTO-FINISH · CROSS-STATE · SPLIT-BUDGET · BOTH-BELOW · PP-PAR
- PHOTO-FINISH Photo finish
- CROSS-STATE CA × TX
- 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.
Merced
98.3
Cost Index
Austin-Round Rock-San Marcos
98.1
Cost Index
What This Comparison Actually Tells You
Merced, CA and Austin-Round Rock-San Marcos, TX are a photo finish on overall price level, only 0.2 RPP points apart. A salary conversion is therefore a fine adjustment, not evidence of a fundamentally different cost regime.
Services creates the largest separation: Austin-Round Rock-San Marcos is 76.3 points lower. 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 Merced to $99,787 in Austin-Round Rock-San Marcos, but it is not a personal spending weight.
Category Breakdown
Goods
- Merced
- 105.2
Diff -11.4 RPP
Services
- Merced
- 158.3
Diff -76.3 RPP
Rents
- Merced
- 78.6
Diff +41.7 RPP
| Category | Merced | Austin-Round Rock-San Marcos | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Overall | 98.3 | 98.1 | -0.2 |
| Goods | 105.2 | 93.8 | -11.4 |
| Services | 158.3 | 82.0 | -76.3 |
| Rents | 78.6 | 120.4 | +41.7 |
Visual Comparison
Overall
Merced 98.3
Austin-Round Rock-San Marcos 98.1
Goods
Merced 105.2
Austin-Round Rock-San Marcos 93.8
Services
Merced 158.3
Austin-Round Rock-San Marcos 82.0
Rents
Merced 78.6
Austin-Round Rock-San Marcos 120.4
Vertical line = national average (100)
How the Price Gap Changed
Merced and Austin-Round Rock-San Marcos share 17 published annual releases from 2008 through 2024. Their overall gap narrowed, moving from 5.3 to 0.2 RPP points. Merced remained the higher-index metro in the latest release.
Services changed the most within this pair: its gap moved 73.7 points between the first and latest shared releases (2.6 to 76.3 points). This describes a relative price-index history, not a forecast or a household budget.
| Release Year | Merced RPP | Austin-Round Rock-San Marcos RPP | Relative Gap |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2008 | 94.3 | 99.6 | 5.3 points Austin-Round Rock-San Marcos higher |
| 2012 | 98.6 | 100.9 | 2.4 points Austin-Round Rock-San Marcos higher |
| 2016 | 95.3 | 102.6 | 7.2 points Austin-Round Rock-San Marcos higher |
| 2020 | 98.7 | 101.1 | 2.4 points Austin-Round Rock-San Marcos higher |
| 2024 | 98.3 | 98.1 | 0.2 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 Merced would need to be in Austin-Round Rock-San Marcos for the same purchasing power:
| In Merced | In Austin-Round Rock-San Marcos | Difference |
|---|---|---|
| $50,000 | $49,894 | $-106 |
| $75,000 | $74,840 | $-160 |
| $100,000 | $99,787 | $-213 |
| $150,000 | $149,681 | $-319 |
$ in Merced = in Austin-Round Rock-San Marcos
Same BEA Regional Price Parity ratio as the table above (98.3 → 98.1), computed live from your number, nothing is sent anywhere.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Austin-Round Rock-San Marcos more expensive than Merced?
Austin-Round Rock-San Marcos is 0.2% less expensive than Merced. The overall cost index is 98.1 vs 98.3 (national average = 100).
What salary in Austin-Round Rock-San Marcos equals $100K in Merced?
A $100,000 salary in Merced has the same purchasing power as $99,787 in Austin-Round Rock-San Marcos. This is based on the BEA Regional Price Parity indexes.
How do rents compare between Merced and Austin-Round Rock-San Marcos?
Rents in Merced are indexed at 78.6 while Austin-Round Rock-San Marcos is at 120.4 (national average = 100). Austin-Round Rock-San Marcos 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.