Overall
- Merced
- 98.3
- New Orleans-Metairie
- 92.6
Diff -5.7 RPP
Merced vs New Orleans-Metairie
Cost of living comparison based on BEA Regional Price Parities. New Orleans-Metairie is 5.8% less expensive than Merced.
5.8% less expensive
New Orleans-Metairie, LA is 5.8% less expensive than Merced, CA on BEA Regional Price Parities (overall RPP 92.6 vs 98.3). A $100,000 salary in Merced buys about the same as $94,222 in New Orleans-Metairie; the largest component gap is services.
- Overall RPP 98.3 (Merced) vs 92.6 (New Orleans-Metairie)
- $100k in Merced ≈ $94,222 purchasing power in New Orleans-Metairie
- Services drives the gap (-87.1 RPP points)
RPP parity plate
Pair CA:LA 98.3→92.6
TIER-NEAR · CROSS-STATE · SPLIT-BUDGET · BOTH-BELOW · PP-SHIFT
- TIER-NEAR Near tier
- CROSS-STATE CA × LA
- SPLIT-BUDGET Split budget
- BOTH-BELOW Both below 100
- 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
- New Orleans-Metairie
- 93.7
Diff -11.5 RPP
Services
- Merced
- 158.3
- New Orleans-Metairie
- 71.2
Diff -87.1 RPP
Rents
- Merced
- 78.6
- New Orleans-Metairie
- 86.0
Diff +7.4 RPP
| Category | Merced | New Orleans-Metairie | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Overall | 98.3 | 92.6 | -5.7 |
| Goods | 105.2 | 93.7 | -11.5 |
| Services | 158.3 | 71.2 | -87.1 |
| Rents | 78.6 | 86.0 | +7.4 |
Visual Comparison
Overall
Merced 98.3
New Orleans-Metairie 92.6
Goods
Merced 105.2
New Orleans-Metairie 93.7
Services
Merced 158.3
New Orleans-Metairie 71.2
Rents
Merced 78.6
New Orleans-Metairie 86.0
Vertical line = national average (100)
What This Comparison Actually Tells You
Services creates the largest separation: New Orleans-Metairie is 87.1 points lower. But rents move against the overall direction, so this is a split budget rather than a clean across-the-board winner.
New Orleans-Metairie, LA is 5.8% less expensive than Merced, CA, a meaningful but not extreme shift. The move decision turns on which budget category creates the 5.7-point overall gap.
Both metros remain below the U.S. benchmark of 100. This comparison chooses between two below-average price levels; “more expensive” here does not mean nationally expensive.
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 $94,222 in New Orleans-Metairie, but it is not a personal spending weight.
Merced
98.3
Cost Index
New Orleans-Metairie
92.6
Cost Index
Salary Equivalents
What a salary in Merced would need to be in New Orleans-Metairie for the same purchasing power:
| In Merced | In New Orleans-Metairie | Difference |
|---|---|---|
| $50,000 | $47,111 | $-2,889 |
| $75,000 | $70,667 | $-4,333 |
| $100,000 | $94,222 | $-5,778 |
| $150,000 | $141,334 | $-8,666 |
$ in Merced = in New Orleans-Metairie
Same BEA Regional Price Parity ratio as the table above (98.3 → 92.6), computed live from your number, nothing is sent anywhere.
How the Price Gap Changed
Merced and New Orleans-Metairie share 17 published annual releases from 2008 through 2024. Their overall gap widened, moving from 4.0 to 5.7 RPP points. Merced remained the higher-index metro in the latest release.
Services changed the most within this pair: its gap moved 73.8 points between the first and latest shared releases (13.3 to 87.1 points). This describes a relative price-index history, not a forecast or a household budget.
| Release Year | Merced RPP | New Orleans-Metairie RPP | Relative Gap |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2008 | 94.3 | 98.2 | 4.0 points New Orleans-Metairie higher |
| 2012 | 98.6 | 97.9 | 0.7 points Merced higher |
| 2016 | 95.3 | 98.2 | 2.8 points New Orleans-Metairie higher |
| 2020 | 98.7 | 95.7 | 3.0 points Merced higher |
| 2024 | 98.3 | 92.6 | 5.7 points Merced 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 New Orleans-Metairie more expensive than Merced?
New Orleans-Metairie is 5.8% less expensive than Merced. The overall cost index is 92.6 vs 98.3 (national average = 100).
What salary in New Orleans-Metairie equals $100K in Merced?
A $100,000 salary in Merced has the same purchasing power as $94,222 in New Orleans-Metairie. This is based on the BEA Regional Price Parity indexes.
How do rents compare between Merced and New Orleans-Metairie?
Rents in Merced are indexed at 78.6 while New Orleans-Metairie is at 86.0 (national average = 100). New Orleans-Metairie 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.