Overall
- Pocatello
- 88.9
- Sierra Vista-Douglas
- 89.2
Diff +0.3 RPP
Pocatello vs Sierra Vista-Douglas
Cost of living comparison based on BEA Regional Price Parities. Sierra Vista-Douglas is 0.4% more expensive than Pocatello.
0.4% more expensive
Sierra Vista-Douglas, AZ is 0.4% more expensive than Pocatello, ID on BEA Regional Price Parities (overall RPP 89.2 vs 88.9). A $100,000 salary in Pocatello buys about the same as $100,379 in Sierra Vista-Douglas; the largest component gap is services.
- Overall RPP 88.9 (Pocatello) vs 89.2 (Sierra Vista-Douglas)
- $100k in Pocatello ≈ $100,379 purchasing power in Sierra Vista-Douglas
- Services drives the gap (+22.2 RPP points)
RPP parity plate
Pair ID:AZ 88.9→89.2
PHOTO-FINISH · CROSS-STATE · SPLIT-BUDGET · BOTH-BELOW · PP-PAR
- PHOTO-FINISH Photo finish
- CROSS-STATE ID × AZ
- SPLIT-BUDGET Split budget
- BOTH-BELOW Both below 100
- PP-PAR PP near-par
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.
Pocatello
88.9
Cost Index
Sierra Vista-Douglas
89.2
Cost Index
What This Comparison Actually Tells You
Pocatello, ID and Sierra Vista-Douglas, AZ are a photo finish on overall price level, only 0.3 RPP points apart. A salary conversion is therefore a fine adjustment, not evidence of a fundamentally different cost regime.
Services creates the largest separation: Sierra Vista-Douglas is 22.2 points higher. But rents move against the overall direction, so this is a split budget rather than a clean across-the-board winner.
Comparable population context is incomplete for this pair, so no market-scale explanation is inferred from the price indexes.
Both metros remain below the U.S. benchmark of 100. This comparison chooses between two below-average price levels; “more expensive” here does not mean nationally expensive.
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 Pocatello to $100,379 in Sierra Vista-Douglas, but it is not a personal spending weight.
Category Breakdown
Goods
- Pocatello
- 96.2
- Sierra Vista-Douglas
- 96.2
Diff +0.1 RPP
Services
- Pocatello
- 69.8
- Sierra Vista-Douglas
- 91.9
Diff +22.2 RPP
Rents
- Pocatello
- 66.4
- Sierra Vista-Douglas
- 61.9
Diff -4.5 RPP
| Category | Pocatello | Sierra Vista-Douglas | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Overall | 88.9 | 89.2 | +0.3 |
| Goods | 96.2 | 96.2 | +0.1 |
| Services | 69.8 | 91.9 | +22.2 |
| Rents | 66.4 | 61.9 | -4.5 |
Visual Comparison
Overall
Pocatello 88.9
Sierra Vista-Douglas 89.2
Goods
Pocatello 96.2
Sierra Vista-Douglas 96.2
Services
Pocatello 69.8
Sierra Vista-Douglas 91.9
Rents
Pocatello 66.4
Sierra Vista-Douglas 61.9
Vertical line = national average (100)
How the Price Gap Changed
Pocatello and Sierra Vista-Douglas share 17 published annual releases from 2008 through 2024. Their overall gap held broadly steady, moving from 0.3 to 0.3 RPP points. Sierra Vista-Douglas remained the higher-index metro in the latest release.
Services changed the most within this pair: its gap moved 1.3 points between the first and latest shared releases (20.8 to 22.2 points). This describes a relative price-index history, not a forecast or a household budget.
| Release Year | Pocatello RPP | Sierra Vista-Douglas RPP | Relative Gap |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2008 | 94.1 | 93.8 | 0.3 points Pocatello higher |
| 2012 | 91.0 | 93.5 | 2.5 points Sierra Vista-Douglas higher |
| 2016 | 89.0 | 93.0 | 4.0 points Sierra Vista-Douglas higher |
| 2020 | 89.0 | 88.5 | 0.5 points Pocatello higher |
| 2024 | 88.9 | 89.2 | 0.3 points Sierra Vista-Douglas 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.
Salary Equivalents
What a salary in Pocatello would need to be in Sierra Vista-Douglas for the same purchasing power:
| In Pocatello | In Sierra Vista-Douglas | Difference |
|---|---|---|
| $50,000 | $50,190 | +$190 |
| $75,000 | $75,284 | +$284 |
| $100,000 | $100,379 | +$379 |
| $150,000 | $150,569 | +$569 |
$ in Pocatello = in Sierra Vista-Douglas
Same BEA Regional Price Parity ratio as the table above (88.9 → 89.2), computed live from your number, nothing is sent anywhere.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Sierra Vista-Douglas more expensive than Pocatello?
Sierra Vista-Douglas is 0.4% more expensive than Pocatello. The overall cost index is 89.2 vs 88.9 (national average = 100).
What salary in Sierra Vista-Douglas equals $100K in Pocatello?
A $100,000 salary in Pocatello has the same purchasing power as $100,379 in Sierra Vista-Douglas. This is based on the BEA Regional Price Parity indexes.
How do rents compare between Pocatello and Sierra Vista-Douglas?
Rents in Pocatello are indexed at 66.4 while Sierra Vista-Douglas is at 61.9 (national average = 100). Pocatello 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.