Overall
- Merced
- 98.3
Diff +7.3 RPP
Merced vs Bremerton-Silverdale-Port Orchard
Cost of living comparison based on BEA Regional Price Parities. Bremerton-Silverdale-Port Orchard is 7.5% more expensive than Merced.
7.5% more expensive
Bremerton-Silverdale-Port Orchard, WA is 7.5% more expensive than Merced, CA on BEA Regional Price Parities (overall RPP 105.6 vs 98.3). A $100,000 salary in Merced buys about the same as $107,461 in Bremerton-Silverdale-Port Orchard; the largest component gap is services.
- Overall RPP 98.3 (Merced) vs 105.6 (Bremerton-Silverdale-Port Orchard)
- $100k in Merced ≈ $107,461 purchasing power in Bremerton-Silverdale-Port Orchard
- Services drives the gap (-66.3 RPP points)
RPP parity plate
Pair CA:WA 98.3→105.6
TIER-NEAR · CROSS-STATE · SPLIT-BUDGET · BENCH-CROSS · PP-SHIFT
- TIER-NEAR Near tier
- CROSS-STATE CA × WA
- SPLIT-BUDGET Split budget
- BENCH-CROSS Benchmark cross
- PP-SHIFT PP shift
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.
Category Breakdown
Goods
- Merced
- 105.2
Diff -0.1 RPP
Services
- Merced
- 158.3
Diff -66.3 RPP
Rents
- Merced
- 78.6
Diff +51.0 RPP
| Category | Merced | Bremerton-Silverdale-Port Orchard | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Overall | 98.3 | 105.6 | +7.3 |
| Goods | 105.2 | 105.0 | -0.1 |
| Services | 158.3 | 92.0 | -66.3 |
| Rents | 78.6 | 129.6 | +51.0 |
Visual Comparison
Overall
Merced 98.3
Bremerton-Silverdale-Port Orchard 105.6
Goods
Merced 105.2
Bremerton-Silverdale-Port Orchard 105.0
Services
Merced 158.3
Bremerton-Silverdale-Port Orchard 92.0
Rents
Merced 78.6
Bremerton-Silverdale-Port Orchard 129.6
Vertical line = national average (100)
What This Comparison Actually Tells You
Services creates the largest separation: Bremerton-Silverdale-Port Orchard is 66.3 points lower. But services and goods move against the overall direction, so this is a split budget rather than a clean across-the-board winner.
Bremerton-Silverdale-Port Orchard, WA is 7.5% more expensive than Merced, CA, a meaningful but not extreme shift. The move decision turns on which budget category creates the 7.3-point overall gap.
This route crosses the national benchmark: Bremerton-Silverdale-Port Orchard is above 100 while Merced is below it. That makes the move a change of price regime, not merely a rank swap.
Comparable population context is incomplete for this pair, so no market-scale explanation is inferred from the price indexes.
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 $107,461 in Bremerton-Silverdale-Port Orchard, but it is not a personal spending weight.
Merced
98.3
Cost Index
Bremerton-Silverdale-Port Orchard
105.6
Cost Index
Salary Equivalents
What a salary in Merced would need to be in Bremerton-Silverdale-Port Orchard for the same purchasing power:
| In Merced | In Bremerton-Silverdale-Port Orchard | Difference |
|---|---|---|
| $50,000 | $53,730 | +$3,730 |
| $75,000 | $80,596 | +$5,596 |
| $100,000 | $107,461 | +$7,461 |
| $150,000 | $161,191 | +$11,191 |
$ in Merced = in Bremerton-Silverdale-Port Orchard
Same BEA Regional Price Parity ratio as the table above (98.3 → 105.6), computed live from your number, nothing is sent anywhere.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Bremerton-Silverdale-Port Orchard more expensive than Merced?
Bremerton-Silverdale-Port Orchard is 7.5% more expensive than Merced. The overall cost index is 105.6 vs 98.3 (national average = 100).
What salary in Bremerton-Silverdale-Port Orchard equals $100K in Merced?
A $100,000 salary in Merced has the same purchasing power as $107,461 in Bremerton-Silverdale-Port Orchard. This is based on the BEA Regional Price Parity indexes.
How do rents compare between Merced and Bremerton-Silverdale-Port Orchard?
Rents in Merced are indexed at 78.6 while Bremerton-Silverdale-Port Orchard is at 129.6 (national average = 100). Bremerton-Silverdale-Port Orchard 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.