Overall
- Merced
- 98.3
- Fort Collins-Loveland
- 101.1
Diff +2.9 RPP
Merced vs Fort Collins-Loveland
Cost of living comparison based on BEA Regional Price Parities. Fort Collins-Loveland is 2.9% more expensive than Merced.
2.9% more expensive
Fort Collins-Loveland, CO is 2.9% more expensive than Merced, CA on BEA Regional Price Parities (overall RPP 101.1 vs 98.3). A $100,000 salary in Merced buys about the same as $102,903 in Fort Collins-Loveland; the largest component gap is services.
- Overall RPP 98.3 (Merced) vs 101.1 (Fort Collins-Loveland)
- $100k in Merced ≈ $102,903 purchasing power in Fort Collins-Loveland
- Services drives the gap (-76.2 RPP points)
RPP parity plate
Pair CA:CO 98.3→101.1
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
Diff -9.1 RPP
Services
- Merced
- 158.3
Diff -76.2 RPP
Rents
- Merced
- 78.6
- Fort Collins-Loveland
- 120.6
Diff +42.0 RPP
| Category | Merced | Fort Collins-Loveland | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Overall | 98.3 | 101.1 | +2.9 |
| Goods | 105.2 | 96.1 | -9.1 |
| Services | 158.3 | 82.2 | -76.2 |
| Rents | 78.6 | 120.6 | +42.0 |
Visual Comparison
Overall
Merced 98.3
Fort Collins-Loveland 101.1
Goods
Merced 105.2
Fort Collins-Loveland 96.1
Services
Merced 158.3
Fort Collins-Loveland 82.2
Rents
Merced 78.6
Fort Collins-Loveland 120.6
Vertical line = national average (100)
What This Comparison Actually Tells You
Services creates the largest separation: Fort Collins-Loveland is 76.2 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.
Fort Collins-Loveland, CO is 2.9% more expensive than Merced, CA, a meaningful but not extreme shift. The move decision turns on which budget category creates the 2.9-point overall gap.
This route crosses the national benchmark: Fort Collins-Loveland 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 $102,903 in Fort Collins-Loveland, but it is not a personal spending weight.
Merced
98.3
Cost Index
Fort Collins-Loveland
101.1
Cost Index
Salary Equivalents
What a salary in Merced would need to be in Fort Collins-Loveland for the same purchasing power:
| In Merced | In Fort Collins-Loveland | Difference |
|---|---|---|
| $50,000 | $51,452 | +$1,452 |
| $75,000 | $77,177 | +$2,177 |
| $100,000 | $102,903 | +$2,903 |
| $150,000 | $154,355 | +$4,355 |
$ in Merced = in Fort Collins-Loveland
Same BEA Regional Price Parity ratio as the table above (98.3 → 101.1), computed live from your number, nothing is sent anywhere.
How the Price Gap Changed
Merced and Fort Collins-Loveland share 17 published annual releases from 2008 through 2024. Their overall gap held broadly steady, moving from 3.0 to 2.9 RPP points. Fort Collins-Loveland remained the higher-index metro in the latest release.
Services changed the most within this pair: its gap moved 53.2 points between the first and latest shared releases (23.0 to 76.2 points). This describes a relative price-index history, not a forecast or a household budget.
| Release Year | Merced RPP | Fort Collins-Loveland RPP | Relative Gap |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2008 | 94.3 | 97.2 | 3.0 points Fort Collins-Loveland higher |
| 2012 | 98.6 | 104.7 | 6.1 points Fort Collins-Loveland higher |
| 2016 | 95.3 | 101.4 | 6.1 points Fort Collins-Loveland higher |
| 2020 | 98.7 | 98.5 | 0.2 points Merced higher |
| 2024 | 98.3 | 101.1 | 2.9 points Fort Collins-Loveland 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 Fort Collins-Loveland more expensive than Merced?
Fort Collins-Loveland is 2.9% more expensive than Merced. The overall cost index is 101.1 vs 98.3 (national average = 100).
What salary in Fort Collins-Loveland equals $100K in Merced?
A $100,000 salary in Merced has the same purchasing power as $102,903 in Fort Collins-Loveland. This is based on the BEA Regional Price Parity indexes.
How do rents compare between Merced and Fort Collins-Loveland?
Rents in Merced are indexed at 78.6 while Fort Collins-Loveland is at 120.6 (national average = 100). Fort Collins-Loveland 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.