Overall
- Merced
- 98.3
Diff +11.1 RPP
Merced vs Kiryas Joel-Poughkeepsie-Newburgh
Cost of living comparison based on BEA Regional Price Parities. Kiryas Joel-Poughkeepsie-Newburgh is 11.3% more expensive than Merced.
11.3% more expensive
Kiryas Joel-Poughkeepsie-Newburgh, NY is 11.3% more expensive than Merced, CA on BEA Regional Price Parities (overall RPP 109.4 vs 98.3). A $100,000 salary in Merced buys about the same as $111,343 in Kiryas Joel-Poughkeepsie-Newburgh; the largest component gap is rents.
- Overall RPP 98.3 (Merced) vs 109.4 (Kiryas Joel-Poughkeepsie-Newburgh)
- $100k in Merced ≈ $111,343 purchasing power in Kiryas Joel-Poughkeepsie-Newburgh
- Rents drives the gap (+37.1 RPP points)
RPP parity plate
Pair CA:NY 98.3→109.4
TIER-GAP · CROSS-STATE · SPLIT-BUDGET · BENCH-CROSS · PP-SHIFT
- TIER-GAP Clear tier gap
- CROSS-STATE CA × NY
- 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 +5.1 RPP
Services
- Merced
- 158.3
Diff -21.6 RPP
Rents
- Merced
- 78.6
Diff +37.1 RPP
| Category | Merced | Kiryas Joel-Poughkeepsie-Newburgh | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Overall | 98.3 | 109.4 | +11.1 |
| Goods | 105.2 | 110.3 | +5.1 |
| Services | 158.3 | 136.8 | -21.6 |
| Rents | 78.6 | 115.8 | +37.1 |
Visual Comparison
Overall
Merced 98.3
Kiryas Joel-Poughkeepsie-Newburgh 109.4
Goods
Merced 105.2
Kiryas Joel-Poughkeepsie-Newburgh 110.3
Services
Merced 158.3
Kiryas Joel-Poughkeepsie-Newburgh 136.8
Rents
Merced 78.6
Kiryas Joel-Poughkeepsie-Newburgh 115.8
Vertical line = national average (100)
What This Comparison Actually Tells You
Rents creates the largest separation: Kiryas Joel-Poughkeepsie-Newburgh is 37.1 points higher. But services move against the overall direction, so this is a split budget rather than a clean across-the-board winner.
Merced, CA and Kiryas Joel-Poughkeepsie-Newburgh, NY sit in clearly different price tiers, separated by 11.1 RPP points. At this distance, treating the same nominal salary as equivalent would materially change purchasing power.
This route crosses the national benchmark: Kiryas Joel-Poughkeepsie-Newburgh 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 housing-sensitive move, validate the rent gap first: HUD Fair Market Rent and the actual unit size can overturn what the blended index implies. On the BEA ratio alone, $100,000 in Merced corresponds to $111,343 in Kiryas Joel-Poughkeepsie-Newburgh.
Merced
98.3
Cost Index
Kiryas Joel-Poughkeepsie-Newburgh
109.4
Cost Index
Salary Equivalents
What a salary in Merced would need to be in Kiryas Joel-Poughkeepsie-Newburgh for the same purchasing power:
| In Merced | In Kiryas Joel-Poughkeepsie-Newburgh | Difference |
|---|---|---|
| $50,000 | $55,671 | +$5,671 |
| $75,000 | $83,507 | +$8,507 |
| $100,000 | $111,343 | +$11,343 |
| $150,000 | $167,014 | +$17,014 |
$ in Merced = in Kiryas Joel-Poughkeepsie-Newburgh
Same BEA Regional Price Parity ratio as the table above (98.3 → 109.4), computed live from your number, nothing is sent anywhere.
How the Price Gap Changed
Merced and Kiryas Joel-Poughkeepsie-Newburgh share 17 published annual releases from 2008 through 2024. Their overall gap narrowed, moving from 94.3 to 11.1 RPP points. Kiryas Joel-Poughkeepsie-Newburgh remained the higher-index metro in the latest release.
Rents changed the most within this pair: its gap moved 119.4 points between the first and latest shared releases (82.3 to 37.1 points). This describes a relative price-index history, not a forecast or a household budget.
| Release Year | Merced RPP | Kiryas Joel-Poughkeepsie-Newburgh RPP | Relative Gap |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2008 | 94.3 | 0.0 | 94.3 points Merced higher |
| 2012 | 98.6 | 0.0 | 98.6 points Merced higher |
| 2016 | 95.3 | 109.8 | 14.4 points Kiryas Joel-Poughkeepsie-Newburgh higher |
| 2020 | 98.7 | 109.7 | 10.9 points Kiryas Joel-Poughkeepsie-Newburgh higher |
| 2024 | 98.3 | 109.4 | 11.1 points Kiryas Joel-Poughkeepsie-Newburgh 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 Kiryas Joel-Poughkeepsie-Newburgh more expensive than Merced?
Kiryas Joel-Poughkeepsie-Newburgh is 11.3% more expensive than Merced. The overall cost index is 109.4 vs 98.3 (national average = 100).
What salary in Kiryas Joel-Poughkeepsie-Newburgh equals $100K in Merced?
A $100,000 salary in Merced has the same purchasing power as $111,343 in Kiryas Joel-Poughkeepsie-Newburgh. This is based on the BEA Regional Price Parity indexes.
How do rents compare between Merced and Kiryas Joel-Poughkeepsie-Newburgh?
Rents in Merced are indexed at 78.6 while Kiryas Joel-Poughkeepsie-Newburgh is at 115.8 (national average = 100). Kiryas Joel-Poughkeepsie-Newburgh 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.