Overall
- Merced
- 98.3
Diff -3.6 RPP
Merced vs San Antonio-New Braunfels
Cost of living comparison based on BEA Regional Price Parities. San Antonio-New Braunfels is 3.6% less expensive than Merced.
3.6% less expensive
San Antonio-New Braunfels, TX is 3.6% less expensive than Merced, CA on BEA Regional Price Parities (overall RPP 94.7 vs 98.3). A $100,000 salary in Merced buys about the same as $96,379 in San Antonio-New Braunfels; the largest component gap is services.
- Overall RPP 98.3 (Merced) vs 94.7 (San Antonio-New Braunfels)
- $100k in Merced ≈ $96,379 purchasing power in San Antonio-New Braunfels
- Services drives the gap (-76.2 RPP points)
RPP parity plate
Pair CA:TX 98.3→94.7
TIER-NEAR · CROSS-STATE · SPLIT-BUDGET · BOTH-BELOW · PP-SHIFT
- TIER-NEAR Near tier
- CROSS-STATE CA × TX
- 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
Diff -11.4 RPP
Services
- Merced
- 158.3
Diff -76.2 RPP
Rents
- Merced
- 78.6
Diff +15.9 RPP
| Category | Merced | San Antonio-New Braunfels | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Overall | 98.3 | 94.7 | -3.6 |
| Goods | 105.2 | 93.8 | -11.4 |
| Services | 158.3 | 82.2 | -76.2 |
| Rents | 78.6 | 94.6 | +15.9 |
Visual Comparison
Overall
Merced 98.3
San Antonio-New Braunfels 94.7
Goods
Merced 105.2
San Antonio-New Braunfels 93.8
Services
Merced 158.3
San Antonio-New Braunfels 82.2
Rents
Merced 78.6
San Antonio-New Braunfels 94.6
Vertical line = national average (100)
What This Comparison Actually Tells You
Services creates the largest separation: San Antonio-New Braunfels is 76.2 points lower. But rents move against the overall direction, so this is a split budget rather than a clean across-the-board winner.
San Antonio-New Braunfels, TX is 3.6% less expensive than Merced, CA, a meaningful but not extreme shift. The move decision turns on which budget category creates the 3.6-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 $96,379 in San Antonio-New Braunfels, but it is not a personal spending weight.
Merced
98.3
Cost Index
San Antonio-New Braunfels
94.7
Cost Index
Salary Equivalents
What a salary in Merced would need to be in San Antonio-New Braunfels for the same purchasing power:
| In Merced | In San Antonio-New Braunfels | Difference |
|---|---|---|
| $50,000 | $48,189 | $-1,811 |
| $75,000 | $72,284 | $-2,716 |
| $100,000 | $96,379 | $-3,621 |
| $150,000 | $144,568 | $-5,432 |
$ in Merced = in San Antonio-New Braunfels
Same BEA Regional Price Parity ratio as the table above (98.3 → 94.7), computed live from your number, nothing is sent anywhere.
How the Price Gap Changed
Merced and San Antonio-New Braunfels share 17 published annual releases from 2008 through 2024. Their overall gap widened, moving from 1.9 to 3.6 RPP points. Merced remained the higher-index metro in the latest release.
Services changed the most within this pair: its gap moved 74.0 points between the first and latest shared releases (2.1 to 76.2 points). This describes a relative price-index history, not a forecast or a household budget.
| Release Year | Merced RPP | San Antonio-New Braunfels RPP | Relative Gap |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2008 | 94.3 | 96.1 | 1.9 points San Antonio-New Braunfels higher |
| 2012 | 98.6 | 97.4 | 1.2 points Merced higher |
| 2016 | 95.3 | 98.3 | 2.9 points San Antonio-New Braunfels higher |
| 2020 | 98.7 | 96.8 | 2.0 points Merced higher |
| 2024 | 98.3 | 94.7 | 3.6 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 San Antonio-New Braunfels more expensive than Merced?
San Antonio-New Braunfels is 3.6% less expensive than Merced. The overall cost index is 94.7 vs 98.3 (national average = 100).
What salary in San Antonio-New Braunfels equals $100K in Merced?
A $100,000 salary in Merced has the same purchasing power as $96,379 in San Antonio-New Braunfels. This is based on the BEA Regional Price Parity indexes.
How do rents compare between Merced and San Antonio-New Braunfels?
Rents in Merced are indexed at 78.6 while San Antonio-New Braunfels is at 94.6 (national average = 100). San Antonio-New Braunfels 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.