Overall
- Merced
- 98.3
Diff +12.3 RPP
Merced vs Oxnard-Thousand Oaks-Ventura
Cost of living comparison based on BEA Regional Price Parities. Oxnard-Thousand Oaks-Ventura is 12.5% more expensive than Merced.
12.5% more expensive
Oxnard-Thousand Oaks-Ventura, CA is 12.5% more expensive than Merced, CA on BEA Regional Price Parities (overall RPP 110.5 vs 98.3). A $100,000 salary in Merced buys about the same as $112,474 in Oxnard-Thousand Oaks-Ventura; the largest component gap is rents.
- Overall RPP 98.3 (Merced) vs 110.5 (Oxnard-Thousand Oaks-Ventura)
- $100k in Merced ≈ $112,474 purchasing power in Oxnard-Thousand Oaks-Ventura
- Rents drives the gap (+92.5 RPP points)
RPP parity plate
Pair CA:CA 98.3→110.5
TIER-GAP · SAME-STATE · SPLIT-BUDGET · BENCH-CROSS · PP-SHIFT
- TIER-GAP Clear tier gap
- SAME-STATE Same state · CA
- 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 0.0 RPP
Services
- Merced
- 158.3
Diff -5.4 RPP
Rents
- Merced
- 78.6
Diff +92.5 RPP
| Category | Merced | Oxnard-Thousand Oaks-Ventura | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Overall | 98.3 | 110.5 | +12.3 |
| Goods | 105.2 | 105.2 | 0.0 |
| Services | 158.3 | 152.9 | -5.4 |
| Rents | 78.6 | 171.1 | +92.5 |
Visual Comparison
Overall
Merced 98.3
Oxnard-Thousand Oaks-Ventura 110.5
Goods
Merced 105.2
Oxnard-Thousand Oaks-Ventura 105.2
Services
Merced 158.3
Oxnard-Thousand Oaks-Ventura 152.9
Rents
Merced 78.6
Oxnard-Thousand Oaks-Ventura 171.1
Vertical line = national average (100)
What This Comparison Actually Tells You
Rents creates the largest separation: Oxnard-Thousand Oaks-Ventura is 92.5 points higher. But services and goods move against the overall direction, so this is a split budget rather than a clean across-the-board winner.
Merced, CA and Oxnard-Thousand Oaks-Ventura, CA sit in clearly different price tiers, separated by 12.3 RPP points. At this distance, treating the same nominal salary as equivalent would materially change purchasing power.
This route crosses the national benchmark: Oxnard-Thousand Oaks-Ventura 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 $112,474 in Oxnard-Thousand Oaks-Ventura.
Merced
98.3
Cost Index
Oxnard-Thousand Oaks-Ventura
110.5
Cost Index
Salary Equivalents
What a salary in Merced would need to be in Oxnard-Thousand Oaks-Ventura for the same purchasing power:
| In Merced | In Oxnard-Thousand Oaks-Ventura | Difference |
|---|---|---|
| $50,000 | $56,237 | +$6,237 |
| $75,000 | $84,356 | +$9,356 |
| $100,000 | $112,474 | +$12,474 |
| $150,000 | $168,711 | +$18,711 |
$ in Merced = in Oxnard-Thousand Oaks-Ventura
Same BEA Regional Price Parity ratio as the table above (98.3 → 110.5), computed live from your number, nothing is sent anywhere.
How the Price Gap Changed
Merced and Oxnard-Thousand Oaks-Ventura share 17 published annual releases from 2008 through 2024. Their overall gap narrowed, moving from 15.3 to 12.3 RPP points. Oxnard-Thousand Oaks-Ventura remained the higher-index metro in the latest release.
Services changed the most within this pair: its gap moved 16.8 points between the first and latest shared releases (11.4 to 5.4 points). This describes a relative price-index history, not a forecast or a household budget.
| Release Year | Merced RPP | Oxnard-Thousand Oaks-Ventura RPP | Relative Gap |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2008 | 94.3 | 109.5 | 15.3 points Oxnard-Thousand Oaks-Ventura higher |
| 2012 | 98.6 | 110.4 | 11.8 points Oxnard-Thousand Oaks-Ventura higher |
| 2016 | 95.3 | 111.2 | 15.8 points Oxnard-Thousand Oaks-Ventura higher |
| 2020 | 98.7 | 111.3 | 12.6 points Oxnard-Thousand Oaks-Ventura higher |
| 2024 | 98.3 | 110.5 | 12.3 points Oxnard-Thousand Oaks-Ventura 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 Oxnard-Thousand Oaks-Ventura more expensive than Merced?
Oxnard-Thousand Oaks-Ventura is 12.5% more expensive than Merced. The overall cost index is 110.5 vs 98.3 (national average = 100).
What salary in Oxnard-Thousand Oaks-Ventura equals $100K in Merced?
A $100,000 salary in Merced has the same purchasing power as $112,474 in Oxnard-Thousand Oaks-Ventura. This is based on the BEA Regional Price Parity indexes.
How do rents compare between Merced and Oxnard-Thousand Oaks-Ventura?
Rents in Merced are indexed at 78.6 while Oxnard-Thousand Oaks-Ventura is at 171.1 (national average = 100). Oxnard-Thousand Oaks-Ventura 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.