Overall
- Merced
- 98.3
Diff -4.3 RPP
Philadelphia-Camden-Wilmington vs Merced
Cost of living comparison based on BEA Regional Price Parities. Merced is 4.2% less expensive than Philadelphia-Camden-Wilmington.
4.2% less expensive
Merced, CA is 4.2% less expensive than Philadelphia-Camden-Wilmington, PA-NJ-DE-MD on BEA Regional Price Parities (overall RPP 98.3 vs 102.6). A $100,000 salary in Philadelphia-Camden-Wilmington buys about the same as $95,828 in Merced; the largest component gap is services.
- Overall RPP 102.6 (Philadelphia-Camden-Wilmington) vs 98.3 (Merced)
- $100k in Philadelphia-Camden-Wilmington ≈ $95,828 purchasing power in Merced
- Services drives the gap (+43.9 RPP points)
RPP parity plate
Pair PA:CA 102.6→98.3
TIER-NEAR · CROSS-STATE · SPLIT-BUDGET · BENCH-CROSS · PP-SHIFT
- TIER-NEAR Near tier
- CROSS-STATE PA × CA
- 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
- Merced
- 105.2
Diff +8.3 RPP
Services
- Merced
- 158.3
Diff +43.9 RPP
Rents
- Merced
- 78.6
Diff -34.5 RPP
| Category | Philadelphia-Camden-Wilmington | Merced | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Overall | 102.6 | 98.3 | -4.3 |
| Goods | 96.8 | 105.2 | +8.3 |
| Services | 114.4 | 158.3 | +43.9 |
| Rents | 113.1 | 78.6 | -34.5 |
Visual Comparison
Overall
Philadelphia-Camden-Wilmington 102.6
Merced 98.3
Goods
Philadelphia-Camden-Wilmington 96.8
Merced 105.2
Services
Philadelphia-Camden-Wilmington 114.4
Merced 158.3
Rents
Philadelphia-Camden-Wilmington 113.1
Merced 78.6
Vertical line = national average (100)
What This Comparison Actually Tells You
Services creates the largest separation: Merced is 43.9 points higher. But services and goods move against the overall direction, so this is a split budget rather than a clean across-the-board winner.
Merced, CA is 4.2% less expensive than Philadelphia-Camden-Wilmington, PA-NJ-DE-MD, a meaningful but not extreme shift. The move decision turns on which budget category creates the 4.3-point overall gap.
This route crosses the national benchmark: Philadelphia-Camden-Wilmington is above 100 while Merced 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 service-heavy household, test childcare, health, and other locally supplied costs before relying on rent alone. The BEA ratio converts $100,000 in Philadelphia-Camden-Wilmington to $95,828 in Merced, but it is not a personal spending weight.
Philadelphia-Camden-Wilmington
102.6
Cost Index
Merced
98.3
Cost Index
Salary Equivalents
What a salary in Philadelphia-Camden-Wilmington would need to be in Merced for the same purchasing power:
| In Philadelphia-Camden-Wilmington | In Merced | Difference |
|---|---|---|
| $50,000 | $47,914 | $-2,086 |
| $75,000 | $71,871 | $-3,129 |
| $100,000 | $95,828 | $-4,172 |
| $150,000 | $143,741 | $-6,259 |
$ in Philadelphia-Camden-Wilmington = in Merced
Same BEA Regional Price Parity ratio as the table above (102.6 → 98.3), computed live from your number, nothing is sent anywhere.
How the Price Gap Changed
Philadelphia-Camden-Wilmington and Merced share 17 published annual releases from 2008 through 2024. Their overall gap narrowed, moving from 12.2 to 4.3 RPP points. Philadelphia-Camden-Wilmington remained the higher-index metro in the latest release.
Services changed the most within this pair: its gap moved 50.3 points between the first and latest shared releases (6.3 to 43.9 points). This describes a relative price-index history, not a forecast or a household budget.
| Release Year | Philadelphia-Camden-Wilmington RPP | Merced RPP | Relative Gap |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2008 | 106.4 | 94.3 | 12.2 points Philadelphia-Camden-Wilmington higher |
| 2012 | 103.9 | 98.6 | 5.3 points Philadelphia-Camden-Wilmington higher |
| 2016 | 102.5 | 95.3 | 7.2 points Philadelphia-Camden-Wilmington higher |
| 2020 | 102.3 | 98.7 | 3.6 points Philadelphia-Camden-Wilmington higher |
| 2024 | 102.6 | 98.3 | 4.3 points Philadelphia-Camden-Wilmington 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 Merced more expensive than Philadelphia-Camden-Wilmington?
Merced is 4.2% less expensive than Philadelphia-Camden-Wilmington. The overall cost index is 98.3 vs 102.6 (national average = 100).
What salary in Merced equals $100K in Philadelphia-Camden-Wilmington?
A $100,000 salary in Philadelphia-Camden-Wilmington has the same purchasing power as $95,828 in Merced. This is based on the BEA Regional Price Parity indexes.
How do rents compare between Philadelphia-Camden-Wilmington and Merced?
Rents in Philadelphia-Camden-Wilmington are indexed at 113.1 while Merced is at 78.6 (national average = 100). Philadelphia-Camden-Wilmington 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.