Overall
- Bellingham
- 103.3
Diff +3.3 RPP
Palm Bay-Melbourne-Titusville vs Bellingham
Cost of living comparison based on BEA Regional Price Parities. Bellingham is 3.3% more expensive than Palm Bay-Melbourne-Titusville.
3.3% more expensive
Bellingham, WA is 3.3% more expensive than Palm Bay-Melbourne-Titusville, FL on BEA Regional Price Parities (overall RPP 103.3 vs 100.0). A $100,000 salary in Palm Bay-Melbourne-Titusville buys about the same as $103,329 in Bellingham; the largest component gap is services.
- Overall RPP 100.0 (Palm Bay-Melbourne-Titusville) vs 103.3 (Bellingham)
- $100k in Palm Bay-Melbourne-Titusville ≈ $103,329 purchasing power in Bellingham
- Services drives the gap (+11.8 RPP points)
RPP parity plate
Pair FL:WA 100.0→103.3
TIER-NEAR · CROSS-STATE · SERVICES-LED · BOTH-ABOVE · PP-SHIFT
- TIER-NEAR Near tier
- CROSS-STATE FL × WA
- SERVICES-LED Services-led gap
- 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.
What This Comparison Actually Tells You
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.
Bellingham, WA is 3.3% more expensive than Palm Bay-Melbourne-Titusville, FL, a meaningful but not extreme shift. The move decision turns on which budget category creates the 3.3-point overall gap.
Services leads the difference, with Bellingham 11.8 points higher than Palm Bay-Melbourne-Titusville. Goods, services, and rents all point in the same broad direction, making the headline comparison more transferable across household types.
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 Palm Bay-Melbourne-Titusville to $103,329 in Bellingham, but it is not a personal spending weight.
How the Price Gap Changed
Palm Bay-Melbourne-Titusville and Bellingham share 17 published annual releases from 2008 through 2024. Their overall gap narrowed, moving from 3.7 to 3.3 RPP points. Bellingham remained the higher-index metro in the latest release.
Services changed the most within this pair: its gap moved 32.1 points between the first and latest shared releases (20.3 to 11.8 points). This describes a relative price-index history, not a forecast or a household budget.
| Release Year | Palm Bay-Melbourne-Titusville RPP | Bellingham RPP | Relative Gap |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2008 | 99.9 | 96.2 | 3.7 points Palm Bay-Melbourne-Titusville higher |
| 2012 | 98.0 | 102.0 | 4.0 points Bellingham higher |
| 2016 | 98.8 | 98.7 | 0.1 points Palm Bay-Melbourne-Titusville higher |
| 2020 | 96.8 | 103.5 | 6.7 points Bellingham higher |
| 2024 | 100.0 | 103.3 | 3.3 points Bellingham 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.
Category Breakdown
Goods
- Bellingham
- 105.0
Diff +8.8 RPP
Services
- Bellingham
- 99.9
Diff +11.8 RPP
Rents
- Bellingham
- 112.9
Diff +1.2 RPP
| Category | Palm Bay-Melbourne-Titusville | Bellingham | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Overall | 100.0 | 103.3 | +3.3 |
| Goods | 96.2 | 105.0 | +8.8 |
| Services | 88.1 | 99.9 | +11.8 |
| Rents | 111.7 | 112.9 | +1.2 |
Visual Comparison
Overall
Palm Bay-Melbourne-Titusville 100.0
Bellingham 103.3
Goods
Palm Bay-Melbourne-Titusville 96.2
Bellingham 105.0
Services
Palm Bay-Melbourne-Titusville 88.1
Bellingham 99.9
Rents
Palm Bay-Melbourne-Titusville 111.7
Bellingham 112.9
Vertical line = national average (100)
Salary Equivalents
What a salary in Palm Bay-Melbourne-Titusville would need to be in Bellingham for the same purchasing power:
| In Palm Bay-Melbourne-Titusville | In Bellingham | Difference |
|---|---|---|
| $50,000 | $51,664 | +$1,664 |
| $75,000 | $77,497 | +$2,497 |
| $100,000 | $103,329 | +$3,329 |
| $150,000 | $154,993 | +$4,993 |
$ in Palm Bay-Melbourne-Titusville = in Bellingham
Same BEA Regional Price Parity ratio as the table above (100.0 → 103.3), computed live from your number, nothing is sent anywhere.
Palm Bay-Melbourne-Titusville
100.0
Cost Index
Bellingham
103.3
Cost Index
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Bellingham more expensive than Palm Bay-Melbourne-Titusville?
Bellingham is 3.3% more expensive than Palm Bay-Melbourne-Titusville. The overall cost index is 103.3 vs 100.0 (national average = 100).
What salary in Bellingham equals $100K in Palm Bay-Melbourne-Titusville?
A $100,000 salary in Palm Bay-Melbourne-Titusville has the same purchasing power as $103,329 in Bellingham. This is based on the BEA Regional Price Parity indexes.
How do rents compare between Palm Bay-Melbourne-Titusville and Bellingham?
Rents in Palm Bay-Melbourne-Titusville are indexed at 111.7 while Bellingham is at 112.9 (national average = 100). Bellingham 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.