Miami-Fort Lauderdale-West Palm Beach vs Medford

Cost of living comparison based on BEA Regional Price Parities. Medford is 11.1% less expensive than Miami-Fort Lauderdale-West Palm Beach.

11.1% less expensive

Medford, OR is 11.1% less expensive than Miami-Fort Lauderdale-West Palm Beach, FL on BEA Regional Price Parities (overall RPP 101.4 vs 114.2). A $100,000 salary in Miami-Fort Lauderdale-West Palm Beach buys about the same as $88,856 in Medford; the largest component gap is rents.

  • Overall RPP 114.2 (Miami-Fort Lauderdale-West Palm Beach) vs 101.4 (Medford)
  • $100k in Miami-Fort Lauderdale-West Palm Beach ≈ $88,856 purchasing power in Medford
  • Rents drives the gap (-57.9 RPP points)

RPP parity plate

Pair FL:OR 114.2→101.4

TIER-GAP · CROSS-STATE · SPLIT-BUDGET · BOTH-ABOVE · PP-SHIFT

  • TIER-GAP Clear tier gap
  • CROSS-STATE FL × OR
  • SPLIT-BUDGET Split budget
  • BOTH-ABOVE Both above 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

Visual Comparison

Overall
Miami-Fort Lauderdale-West Palm Beach
114.2
Medford
101.4
Goods
Miami-Fort Lauderdale-West Palm Beach
103.6
Medford
105.3
Services
Miami-Fort Lauderdale-West Palm Beach
97.2
Medford
102.3
Rents
Miami-Fort Lauderdale-West Palm Beach
155.6
Medford
97.7

Vertical line = national average (100)

What This Comparison Actually Tells You

Rents creates the largest separation: Medford is 57.9 points lower. But services and goods move against the overall direction, so this is a split budget rather than a clean across-the-board winner.

Miami-Fort Lauderdale-West Palm Beach, FL and Medford, OR sit in clearly different price tiers, separated by 12.7 RPP points. At this distance, treating the same nominal salary as equivalent would materially change purchasing power.

Both metros exceed the U.S. benchmark of 100. The choice is between two national premiums, so local wages need to clear the higher baseline in either market.

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 Miami-Fort Lauderdale-West Palm Beach corresponds to $88,856 in Medford.

Miami-Fort Lauderdale-West Palm Beach
114.2
Cost Index
Medford
101.4
Cost Index

Salary Equivalents

What a salary in Miami-Fort Lauderdale-West Palm Beach would need to be in Medford for the same purchasing power:

In Miami-Fort Lauderdale-West Palm Beach In Medford Difference
$50,000 $44,428 $-5,572
$75,000 $66,642 $-8,358
$100,000 $88,856 $-11,144
$150,000 $133,283 $-16,717
$ in Miami-Fort Lauderdale-West Palm Beach = in Medford

Same BEA Regional Price Parity ratio as the table above (114.2 → 101.4), computed live from your number, nothing is sent anywhere.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is Medford more expensive than Miami-Fort Lauderdale-West Palm Beach?

Medford is 11.1% less expensive than Miami-Fort Lauderdale-West Palm Beach. The overall cost index is 101.4 vs 114.2 (national average = 100).

What salary in Medford equals $100K in Miami-Fort Lauderdale-West Palm Beach?

A $100,000 salary in Miami-Fort Lauderdale-West Palm Beach has the same purchasing power as $88,856 in Medford. This is based on the BEA Regional Price Parity indexes.

How do rents compare between Miami-Fort Lauderdale-West Palm Beach and Medford?

Rents in Miami-Fort Lauderdale-West Palm Beach are indexed at 155.6 while Medford is at 97.7 (national average = 100). Miami-Fort Lauderdale-West Palm Beach has higher rents.

Data sourced from official public datasets, Regional Price Parities (2024), index where national average = 100. Retrieved and formatted by PlainCost. See our methodology for details.

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.