Overall
- Merced
- 98.3
Diff -2.3 RPP
Merced vs Racine-Mount Pleasant
Cost of living comparison based on BEA Regional Price Parities. Racine-Mount Pleasant is 2.4% less expensive than Merced.
2.4% less expensive
Racine-Mount Pleasant, WI is 2.4% less expensive than Merced, CA on BEA Regional Price Parities (overall RPP 96.0 vs 98.3). A $100,000 salary in Merced buys about the same as $97,645 in Racine-Mount Pleasant; the largest component gap is services.
- Overall RPP 98.3 (Merced) vs 96.0 (Racine-Mount Pleasant)
- $100k in Merced ≈ $97,645 purchasing power in Racine-Mount Pleasant
- Services drives the gap (-68.3 RPP points)
RPP parity plate
Pair CA:WI 98.3→96.0
TIER-NEAR · CROSS-STATE · SPLIT-BUDGET · BOTH-BELOW · PP-PAR
- TIER-NEAR Near tier
- CROSS-STATE CA × WI
- SPLIT-BUDGET Split budget
- BOTH-BELOW Both below 100
- PP-PAR PP near-par
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 -11.4 RPP
Services
- Merced
- 158.3
Diff -68.3 RPP
Rents
- Merced
- 78.6
Diff +13.4 RPP
| Category | Merced | Racine-Mount Pleasant | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Overall | 98.3 | 96.0 | -2.3 |
| Goods | 105.2 | 93.8 | -11.4 |
| Services | 158.3 | 90.0 | -68.3 |
| Rents | 78.6 | 92.0 | +13.4 |
Visual Comparison
Overall
Merced 98.3
Racine-Mount Pleasant 96.0
Goods
Merced 105.2
Racine-Mount Pleasant 93.8
Services
Merced 158.3
Racine-Mount Pleasant 90.0
Rents
Merced 78.6
Racine-Mount Pleasant 92.0
Vertical line = national average (100)
What This Comparison Actually Tells You
Services creates the largest separation: Racine-Mount Pleasant is 68.3 points lower. But rents move against the overall direction, so this is a split budget rather than a clean across-the-board winner.
Racine-Mount Pleasant, WI is 2.4% less expensive than Merced, CA, a meaningful but not extreme shift. The move decision turns on which budget category creates the 2.3-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 $97,645 in Racine-Mount Pleasant, but it is not a personal spending weight.
Merced
98.3
Cost Index
Racine-Mount Pleasant
96.0
Cost Index
Salary Equivalents
What a salary in Merced would need to be in Racine-Mount Pleasant for the same purchasing power:
| In Merced | In Racine-Mount Pleasant | Difference |
|---|---|---|
| $50,000 | $48,823 | $-1,177 |
| $75,000 | $73,234 | $-1,766 |
| $100,000 | $97,645 | $-2,355 |
| $150,000 | $146,468 | $-3,532 |
$ in Merced = in Racine-Mount Pleasant
Same BEA Regional Price Parity ratio as the table above (98.3 → 96.0), computed live from your number, nothing is sent anywhere.
How the Price Gap Changed
Merced and Racine-Mount Pleasant share 17 published annual releases from 2008 through 2024. Their overall gap widened, moving from 2.1 to 2.3 RPP points. Merced remained the higher-index metro in the latest release.
Services changed the most within this pair: its gap moved 70.9 points between the first and latest shared releases (2.6 to 68.3 points). This describes a relative price-index history, not a forecast or a household budget.
| Release Year | Merced RPP | Racine-Mount Pleasant RPP | Relative Gap |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2008 | 94.3 | 96.3 | 2.1 points Racine-Mount Pleasant higher |
| 2012 | 98.6 | 94.4 | 4.1 points Merced higher |
| 2016 | 95.3 | 94.6 | 0.7 points Merced higher |
| 2020 | 98.7 | 93.9 | 4.9 points Merced higher |
| 2024 | 98.3 | 96.0 | 2.3 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 Racine-Mount Pleasant more expensive than Merced?
Racine-Mount Pleasant is 2.4% less expensive than Merced. The overall cost index is 96.0 vs 98.3 (national average = 100).
What salary in Racine-Mount Pleasant equals $100K in Merced?
A $100,000 salary in Merced has the same purchasing power as $97,645 in Racine-Mount Pleasant. This is based on the BEA Regional Price Parity indexes.
How do rents compare between Merced and Racine-Mount Pleasant?
Rents in Merced are indexed at 78.6 while Racine-Mount Pleasant is at 92.0 (national average = 100). Racine-Mount Pleasant 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.