Overall
- Merced
- 98.3
- Fairbanks-College
- 103.2
Diff +4.9 RPP
Merced vs Fairbanks-College
Cost of living comparison based on BEA Regional Price Parities. Fairbanks-College is 5% more expensive than Merced.
5% more expensive
Fairbanks-College, AK is 5% more expensive than Merced, CA on BEA Regional Price Parities (overall RPP 103.2 vs 98.3). A $100,000 salary in Merced buys about the same as $105,020 in Fairbanks-College; the largest component gap is services.
- Overall RPP 98.3 (Merced) vs 103.2 (Fairbanks-College)
- $100k in Merced ≈ $105,020 purchasing power in Fairbanks-College
- Services drives the gap (-38.6 RPP points)
RPP parity plate
Pair CA:AK 98.3→103.2
TIER-NEAR · CROSS-STATE · SPLIT-BUDGET · BENCH-CROSS · PP-SHIFT
- TIER-NEAR Near tier
- CROSS-STATE CA × AK
- 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
- Fairbanks-College
- 107.3
Diff +2.2 RPP
Services
- Merced
- 158.3
- Fairbanks-College
- 119.8
Diff -38.6 RPP
Rents
- Merced
- 78.6
- Fairbanks-College
- 92.6
Diff +13.9 RPP
| Category | Merced | Fairbanks-College | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Overall | 98.3 | 103.2 | +4.9 |
| Goods | 105.2 | 107.3 | +2.2 |
| Services | 158.3 | 119.8 | -38.6 |
| Rents | 78.6 | 92.6 | +13.9 |
Visual Comparison
Overall
Merced 98.3
Fairbanks-College 103.2
Goods
Merced 105.2
Fairbanks-College 107.3
Services
Merced 158.3
Fairbanks-College 119.8
Rents
Merced 78.6
Fairbanks-College 92.6
Vertical line = national average (100)
What This Comparison Actually Tells You
Services creates the largest separation: Fairbanks-College is 38.6 points lower. But services move against the overall direction, so this is a split budget rather than a clean across-the-board winner.
Fairbanks-College, AK is 5% more expensive than Merced, CA, a meaningful but not extreme shift. The move decision turns on which budget category creates the 4.9-point overall gap.
This route crosses the national benchmark: Fairbanks-College 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 $105,020 in Fairbanks-College, but it is not a personal spending weight.
Merced
98.3
Cost Index
Fairbanks-College
103.2
Cost Index
Salary Equivalents
What a salary in Merced would need to be in Fairbanks-College for the same purchasing power:
| In Merced | In Fairbanks-College | Difference |
|---|---|---|
| $50,000 | $52,510 | +$2,510 |
| $75,000 | $78,765 | +$3,765 |
| $100,000 | $105,020 | +$5,020 |
| $150,000 | $157,529 | +$7,529 |
$ in Merced = in Fairbanks-College
Same BEA Regional Price Parity ratio as the table above (98.3 → 103.2), computed live from your number, nothing is sent anywhere.
How the Price Gap Changed
Merced and Fairbanks-College share 17 published annual releases from 2008 through 2024. Their overall gap narrowed, moving from 10.4 to 4.9 RPP points. Fairbanks-College remained the higher-index metro in the latest release.
Services changed the most within this pair: its gap moved 34.2 points between the first and latest shared releases (4.4 to 38.6 points). This describes a relative price-index history, not a forecast or a household budget.
| Release Year | Merced RPP | Fairbanks-College RPP | Relative Gap |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2008 | 94.3 | 104.7 | 10.4 points Fairbanks-College higher |
| 2012 | 98.6 | 97.9 | 0.6 points Merced higher |
| 2016 | 95.3 | 100.4 | 5.1 points Fairbanks-College higher |
| 2020 | 98.7 | 99.4 | 0.6 points Fairbanks-College higher |
| 2024 | 98.3 | 103.2 | 4.9 points Fairbanks-College 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 Fairbanks-College more expensive than Merced?
Fairbanks-College is 5% more expensive than Merced. The overall cost index is 103.2 vs 98.3 (national average = 100).
What salary in Fairbanks-College equals $100K in Merced?
A $100,000 salary in Merced has the same purchasing power as $105,020 in Fairbanks-College. This is based on the BEA Regional Price Parity indexes.
How do rents compare between Merced and Fairbanks-College?
Rents in Merced are indexed at 78.6 while Fairbanks-College is at 92.6 (national average = 100). Fairbanks-College 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.