Overall
- Olympia-Lacey-Tumwater
- 103.7
- Salt Lake City-Murray
- 100.9
Diff -2.8 RPP
Olympia-Lacey-Tumwater vs Salt Lake City-Murray
Cost of living comparison based on BEA Regional Price Parities. Salt Lake City-Murray is 2.7% less expensive than Olympia-Lacey-Tumwater.
2.7% less expensive
Salt Lake City-Murray, UT is 2.7% less expensive than Olympia-Lacey-Tumwater, WA on BEA Regional Price Parities (overall RPP 100.9 vs 103.7). A $100,000 salary in Olympia-Lacey-Tumwater buys about the same as $97,297 in Salt Lake City-Murray; the largest component gap is services.
- Overall RPP 103.7 (Olympia-Lacey-Tumwater) vs 100.9 (Salt Lake City-Murray)
- $100k in Olympia-Lacey-Tumwater ≈ $97,297 purchasing power in Salt Lake City-Murray
- Services drives the gap (-12.7 RPP points)
RPP parity plate
Pair WA:UT 103.7→100.9
TIER-NEAR · CROSS-STATE · SPLIT-BUDGET · BOTH-ABOVE · PP-SHIFT
- TIER-NEAR Near tier
- CROSS-STATE WA × UT
- 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
Goods
- Olympia-Lacey-Tumwater
- 105.0
Diff -8.6 RPP
Services
Diff -12.7 RPP
Rents
- Olympia-Lacey-Tumwater
- 116.7
- Salt Lake City-Murray
- 123.3
Diff +6.6 RPP
| Category | Olympia-Lacey-Tumwater | Salt Lake City-Murray | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Overall | 103.7 | 100.9 | -2.8 |
| Goods | 105.0 | 96.4 | -8.6 |
| Services | 91.7 | 79.0 | -12.7 |
| Rents | 116.7 | 123.3 | +6.6 |
Visual Comparison
Overall
Olympia-Lacey-Tumwater 103.7
Salt Lake City-Murray 100.9
Goods
Olympia-Lacey-Tumwater 105.0
Salt Lake City-Murray 96.4
Services
Olympia-Lacey-Tumwater 91.7
Salt Lake City-Murray 79.0
Rents
Olympia-Lacey-Tumwater 116.7
Salt Lake City-Murray 123.3
Vertical line = national average (100)
What This Comparison Actually Tells You
Services creates the largest separation: Salt Lake City-Murray is 12.7 points lower. But rents move against the overall direction, so this is a split budget rather than a clean across-the-board winner.
Salt Lake City-Murray, UT is 2.7% less expensive than Olympia-Lacey-Tumwater, WA, a meaningful but not extreme shift. The move decision turns on which budget category creates the 2.8-point overall gap.
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 service-heavy household, test childcare, health, and other locally supplied costs before relying on rent alone. The BEA ratio converts $100,000 in Olympia-Lacey-Tumwater to $97,297 in Salt Lake City-Murray, but it is not a personal spending weight.
Olympia-Lacey-Tumwater
103.7
Cost Index
Salt Lake City-Murray
100.9
Cost Index
Salary Equivalents
What a salary in Olympia-Lacey-Tumwater would need to be in Salt Lake City-Murray for the same purchasing power:
| In Olympia-Lacey-Tumwater | In Salt Lake City-Murray | Difference |
|---|---|---|
| $50,000 | $48,649 | $-1,351 |
| $75,000 | $72,973 | $-2,027 |
| $100,000 | $97,297 | $-2,703 |
| $150,000 | $145,946 | $-4,054 |
$ in Olympia-Lacey-Tumwater = in Salt Lake City-Murray
Same BEA Regional Price Parity ratio as the table above (103.7 → 100.9), computed live from your number, nothing is sent anywhere.
How the Price Gap Changed
Olympia-Lacey-Tumwater and Salt Lake City-Murray share 17 published annual releases from 2008 through 2024. Their overall gap narrowed, moving from 6.9 to 2.8 RPP points. Olympia-Lacey-Tumwater remained the higher-index metro in the latest release.
Rents changed the most within this pair: its gap moved 5.0 points between the first and latest shared releases (1.6 to 6.6 points). This describes a relative price-index history, not a forecast or a household budget.
| Release Year | Olympia-Lacey-Tumwater RPP | Salt Lake City-Murray RPP | Relative Gap |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2008 | 105.4 | 98.5 | 6.9 points Olympia-Lacey-Tumwater higher |
| 2012 | 101.3 | 102.2 | 0.8 points Salt Lake City-Murray higher |
| 2016 | 106.0 | 98.3 | 7.7 points Olympia-Lacey-Tumwater higher |
| 2020 | 101.9 | 97.3 | 4.6 points Olympia-Lacey-Tumwater higher |
| 2024 | 103.7 | 100.9 | 2.8 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 Salt Lake City-Murray more expensive than Olympia-Lacey-Tumwater?
Salt Lake City-Murray is 2.7% less expensive than Olympia-Lacey-Tumwater. The overall cost index is 100.9 vs 103.7 (national average = 100).
What salary in Salt Lake City-Murray equals $100K in Olympia-Lacey-Tumwater?
A $100,000 salary in Olympia-Lacey-Tumwater has the same purchasing power as $97,297 in Salt Lake City-Murray. This is based on the BEA Regional Price Parity indexes.
How do rents compare between Olympia-Lacey-Tumwater and Salt Lake City-Murray?
Rents in Olympia-Lacey-Tumwater are indexed at 116.7 while Salt Lake City-Murray is at 123.3 (national average = 100). Salt Lake City-Murray 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.