Overall
- Merced
- 98.3
- Denver-Aurora-Centennial
- 105.8
Diff +7.5 RPP
Merced vs Denver-Aurora-Centennial
Cost of living comparison based on BEA Regional Price Parities. Denver-Aurora-Centennial is 7.6% more expensive than Merced.
7.6% more expensive
Denver-Aurora-Centennial, CO is 7.6% more expensive than Merced, CA on BEA Regional Price Parities (overall RPP 105.8 vs 98.3). A $100,000 salary in Merced buys about the same as $107,639 in Denver-Aurora-Centennial; the largest component gap is services.
- Overall RPP 98.3 (Merced) vs 105.8 (Denver-Aurora-Centennial)
- $100k in Merced ≈ $107,639 purchasing power in Denver-Aurora-Centennial
- Services drives the gap (-70.5 RPP points)
RPP parity plate
Pair CA:CO 98.3→105.8
TIER-NEAR · CROSS-STATE · SPLIT-BUDGET · BENCH-CROSS · PP-SHIFT
- TIER-NEAR Near tier
- CROSS-STATE CA × CO
- 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
- Denver-Aurora-Centennial
- 101.0
Diff -4.2 RPP
Services
- Merced
- 158.3
Diff -70.5 RPP
Rents
- Merced
- 78.6
- Denver-Aurora-Centennial
- 146.9
Diff +68.3 RPP
| Category | Merced | Denver-Aurora-Centennial | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Overall | 98.3 | 105.8 | +7.5 |
| Goods | 105.2 | 101.0 | -4.2 |
| Services | 158.3 | 87.9 | -70.5 |
| Rents | 78.6 | 146.9 | +68.3 |
Visual Comparison
Overall
Merced 98.3
Denver-Aurora-Centennial 105.8
Goods
Merced 105.2
Denver-Aurora-Centennial 101.0
Services
Merced 158.3
Denver-Aurora-Centennial 87.9
Rents
Merced 78.6
Denver-Aurora-Centennial 146.9
Vertical line = national average (100)
What This Comparison Actually Tells You
Services creates the largest separation: Denver-Aurora-Centennial is 70.5 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.
Denver-Aurora-Centennial, CO is 7.6% more expensive than Merced, CA, a meaningful but not extreme shift. The move decision turns on which budget category creates the 7.5-point overall gap.
This route crosses the national benchmark: Denver-Aurora-Centennial 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 $107,639 in Denver-Aurora-Centennial, but it is not a personal spending weight.
Merced
98.3
Cost Index
Denver-Aurora-Centennial
105.8
Cost Index
Salary Equivalents
What a salary in Merced would need to be in Denver-Aurora-Centennial for the same purchasing power:
| In Merced | In Denver-Aurora-Centennial | Difference |
|---|---|---|
| $50,000 | $53,819 | +$3,819 |
| $75,000 | $80,729 | +$5,729 |
| $100,000 | $107,639 | +$7,639 |
| $150,000 | $161,458 | +$11,458 |
$ in Merced = in Denver-Aurora-Centennial
Same BEA Regional Price Parity ratio as the table above (98.3 → 105.8), computed live from your number, nothing is sent anywhere.
How the Price Gap Changed
Merced and Denver-Aurora-Centennial share 17 published annual releases from 2008 through 2024. Their overall gap narrowed, moving from 11.5 to 7.5 RPP points. Denver-Aurora-Centennial remained the higher-index metro in the latest release.
Services changed the most within this pair: its gap moved 47.5 points between the first and latest shared releases (23.0 to 70.5 points). This describes a relative price-index history, not a forecast or a household budget.
| Release Year | Merced RPP | Denver-Aurora-Centennial RPP | Relative Gap |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2008 | 94.3 | 105.8 | 11.5 points Denver-Aurora-Centennial higher |
| 2012 | 98.6 | 105.1 | 6.5 points Denver-Aurora-Centennial higher |
| 2016 | 95.3 | 105.2 | 9.9 points Denver-Aurora-Centennial higher |
| 2020 | 98.7 | 109.4 | 10.6 points Denver-Aurora-Centennial higher |
| 2024 | 98.3 | 105.8 | 7.5 points Denver-Aurora-Centennial 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.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Denver-Aurora-Centennial more expensive than Merced?
Denver-Aurora-Centennial is 7.6% more expensive than Merced. The overall cost index is 105.8 vs 98.3 (national average = 100).
What salary in Denver-Aurora-Centennial equals $100K in Merced?
A $100,000 salary in Merced has the same purchasing power as $107,639 in Denver-Aurora-Centennial. This is based on the BEA Regional Price Parity indexes.
How do rents compare between Merced and Denver-Aurora-Centennial?
Rents in Merced are indexed at 78.6 while Denver-Aurora-Centennial is at 146.9 (national average = 100). Denver-Aurora-Centennial 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.