Overall
- Olympia-Lacey-Tumwater
- 103.7
- Grants Pass
- 97.8
Diff -5.9 RPP
Olympia-Lacey-Tumwater vs Grants Pass
Cost of living comparison based on BEA Regional Price Parities. Grants Pass is 5.7% less expensive than Olympia-Lacey-Tumwater.
5.7% less expensive
Grants Pass, OR is 5.7% less expensive than Olympia-Lacey-Tumwater, WA on BEA Regional Price Parities (overall RPP 97.8 vs 103.7). A $100,000 salary in Olympia-Lacey-Tumwater buys about the same as $94,299 in Grants Pass; the largest component gap is rents.
- Overall RPP 103.7 (Olympia-Lacey-Tumwater) vs 97.8 (Grants Pass)
- $100k in Olympia-Lacey-Tumwater ≈ $94,299 purchasing power in Grants Pass
- Rents drives the gap (-36.8 RPP points)
RPP parity plate
Pair WA:OR 103.7→97.8
TIER-NEAR · CROSS-STATE · SPLIT-BUDGET · BENCH-CROSS · PP-SHIFT
- TIER-NEAR Near tier
- CROSS-STATE WA × OR
- 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
- Olympia-Lacey-Tumwater
- 105.0
- Grants Pass
- 105.3
Diff +0.2 RPP
Services
- Grants Pass
- 103.6
Diff +11.9 RPP
Rents
- Olympia-Lacey-Tumwater
- 116.7
- Grants Pass
- 79.9
Diff -36.8 RPP
| Category | Olympia-Lacey-Tumwater | Grants Pass | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Overall | 103.7 | 97.8 | -5.9 |
| Goods | 105.0 | 105.3 | +0.2 |
| Services | 91.7 | 103.6 | +11.9 |
| Rents | 116.7 | 79.9 | -36.8 |
Visual Comparison
Overall
Olympia-Lacey-Tumwater 103.7
Grants Pass 97.8
Goods
Olympia-Lacey-Tumwater 105.0
Grants Pass 105.3
Services
Olympia-Lacey-Tumwater 91.7
Grants Pass 103.6
Rents
Olympia-Lacey-Tumwater 116.7
Grants Pass 79.9
Vertical line = national average (100)
What This Comparison Actually Tells You
Rents creates the largest separation: Grants Pass is 36.8 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.
Grants Pass, OR is 5.7% less expensive than Olympia-Lacey-Tumwater, WA, a meaningful but not extreme shift. The move decision turns on which budget category creates the 5.9-point overall gap.
This route crosses the national benchmark: Olympia-Lacey-Tumwater is above 100 while Grants Pass 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 Olympia-Lacey-Tumwater corresponds to $94,299 in Grants Pass.
Olympia-Lacey-Tumwater
103.7
Cost Index
Grants Pass
97.8
Cost Index
Salary Equivalents
What a salary in Olympia-Lacey-Tumwater would need to be in Grants Pass for the same purchasing power:
| In Olympia-Lacey-Tumwater | In Grants Pass | Difference |
|---|---|---|
| $50,000 | $47,150 | $-2,850 |
| $75,000 | $70,724 | $-4,276 |
| $100,000 | $94,299 | $-5,701 |
| $150,000 | $141,449 | $-8,551 |
$ in Olympia-Lacey-Tumwater = in Grants Pass
Same BEA Regional Price Parity ratio as the table above (103.7 → 97.8), computed live from your number, nothing is sent anywhere.
How the Price Gap Changed
Olympia-Lacey-Tumwater and Grants Pass share 17 published annual releases from 2008 through 2024. Their overall gap narrowed, moving from 9.2 to 5.9 RPP points. Olympia-Lacey-Tumwater remained the higher-index metro in the latest release.
Services changed the most within this pair: its gap moved 20.6 points between the first and latest shared releases (8.7 to 11.9 points). This describes a relative price-index history, not a forecast or a household budget.
| Release Year | Olympia-Lacey-Tumwater RPP | Grants Pass RPP | Relative Gap |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2008 | 105.4 | 96.2 | 9.2 points Olympia-Lacey-Tumwater higher |
| 2012 | 101.3 | 96.1 | 5.3 points Olympia-Lacey-Tumwater higher |
| 2016 | 106.0 | 96.2 | 9.8 points Olympia-Lacey-Tumwater higher |
| 2020 | 101.9 | 95.0 | 6.9 points Olympia-Lacey-Tumwater higher |
| 2024 | 103.7 | 97.8 | 5.9 points Olympia-Lacey-Tumwater 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 Grants Pass more expensive than Olympia-Lacey-Tumwater?
Grants Pass is 5.7% less expensive than Olympia-Lacey-Tumwater. The overall cost index is 97.8 vs 103.7 (national average = 100).
What salary in Grants Pass equals $100K in Olympia-Lacey-Tumwater?
A $100,000 salary in Olympia-Lacey-Tumwater has the same purchasing power as $94,299 in Grants Pass. This is based on the BEA Regional Price Parity indexes.
How do rents compare between Olympia-Lacey-Tumwater and Grants Pass?
Rents in Olympia-Lacey-Tumwater are indexed at 116.7 while Grants Pass is at 79.9 (national average = 100). Olympia-Lacey-Tumwater 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.