Overall
- Port St. Lucie
- 100.2
- Olympia-Lacey-Tumwater
- 103.7
Diff +3.4 RPP
Port St. Lucie vs Olympia-Lacey-Tumwater
Cost of living comparison based on BEA Regional Price Parities. Olympia-Lacey-Tumwater is 3.4% more expensive than Port St. Lucie.
3.4% more expensive
Olympia-Lacey-Tumwater, WA is 3.4% more expensive than Port St. Lucie, FL on BEA Regional Price Parities (overall RPP 103.7 vs 100.2). A $100,000 salary in Port St. Lucie buys about the same as $103,434 in Olympia-Lacey-Tumwater; the largest component gap is goods.
- Overall RPP 100.2 (Port St. Lucie) vs 103.7 (Olympia-Lacey-Tumwater)
- $100k in Port St. Lucie ≈ $103,434 purchasing power in Olympia-Lacey-Tumwater
- Goods drives the gap (+8.8 RPP points)
RPP parity plate
Pair FL:WA 100.2→103.7
TIER-NEAR · CROSS-STATE · GOODS-LED · BOTH-ABOVE · PP-SHIFT
- TIER-NEAR Near tier
- CROSS-STATE FL × WA
- GOODS-LED Goods-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.
Olympia-Lacey-Tumwater, WA is 3.4% more expensive than Port St. Lucie, FL, a meaningful but not extreme shift. The move decision turns on which budget category creates the 3.4-point overall gap.
Goods leads the difference, with Olympia-Lacey-Tumwater 8.8 points higher than Port St. Lucie. 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 goods-led difference, remember that many tradable prices vary less by address than housing or labor-priced services. Use $103,434 in Olympia-Lacey-Tumwater as the BEA equivalent of $100,000 in Port St. Lucie, then replace the national basket with your own.
Port St. Lucie
100.2
Cost Index
Olympia-Lacey-Tumwater
103.7
Cost Index
How the Price Gap Changed
Port St. Lucie and Olympia-Lacey-Tumwater share 17 published annual releases from 2008 through 2024. Their overall gap held broadly steady, moving from 4.3 to 3.4 RPP points. Olympia-Lacey-Tumwater remained the higher-index metro in the latest release.
Services changed the most within this pair: its gap moved 19.4 points between the first and latest shared releases (14.7 to 4.7 points). This describes a relative price-index history, not a forecast or a household budget.
| Release Year | Port St. Lucie RPP | Olympia-Lacey-Tumwater RPP | Relative Gap |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2008 | 101.1 | 105.4 | 4.3 points Olympia-Lacey-Tumwater higher |
| 2012 | 99.2 | 101.3 | 2.1 points Olympia-Lacey-Tumwater higher |
| 2016 | 100.5 | 106.0 | 5.5 points Olympia-Lacey-Tumwater higher |
| 2020 | 98.6 | 101.9 | 3.3 points Olympia-Lacey-Tumwater higher |
| 2024 | 100.2 | 103.7 | 3.4 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.
Category Breakdown
Goods
- Port St. Lucie
- 96.2
- Olympia-Lacey-Tumwater
- 105.0
Diff +8.8 RPP
Services
- Port St. Lucie
- 87.0
Diff +4.7 RPP
Rents
- Port St. Lucie
- 113.6
- Olympia-Lacey-Tumwater
- 116.7
Diff +3.0 RPP
| Category | Port St. Lucie | Olympia-Lacey-Tumwater | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Overall | 100.2 | 103.7 | +3.4 |
| Goods | 96.2 | 105.0 | +8.8 |
| Services | 87.0 | 91.7 | +4.7 |
| Rents | 113.6 | 116.7 | +3.0 |
Visual Comparison
Overall
Port St. Lucie 100.2
Olympia-Lacey-Tumwater 103.7
Goods
Port St. Lucie 96.2
Olympia-Lacey-Tumwater 105.0
Services
Port St. Lucie 87.0
Olympia-Lacey-Tumwater 91.7
Rents
Port St. Lucie 113.6
Olympia-Lacey-Tumwater 116.7
Vertical line = national average (100)
Salary Equivalents
What a salary in Port St. Lucie would need to be in Olympia-Lacey-Tumwater for the same purchasing power:
| In Port St. Lucie | In Olympia-Lacey-Tumwater | Difference |
|---|---|---|
| $50,000 | $51,717 | +$1,717 |
| $75,000 | $77,576 | +$2,576 |
| $100,000 | $103,434 | +$3,434 |
| $150,000 | $155,151 | +$5,151 |
$ in Port St. Lucie = in Olympia-Lacey-Tumwater
Same BEA Regional Price Parity ratio as the table above (100.2 → 103.7), computed live from your number, nothing is sent anywhere.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Olympia-Lacey-Tumwater more expensive than Port St. Lucie?
Olympia-Lacey-Tumwater is 3.4% more expensive than Port St. Lucie. The overall cost index is 103.7 vs 100.2 (national average = 100).
What salary in Olympia-Lacey-Tumwater equals $100K in Port St. Lucie?
A $100,000 salary in Port St. Lucie has the same purchasing power as $103,434 in Olympia-Lacey-Tumwater. This is based on the BEA Regional Price Parity indexes.
How do rents compare between Port St. Lucie and Olympia-Lacey-Tumwater?
Rents in Port St. Lucie are indexed at 113.6 while Olympia-Lacey-Tumwater is at 116.7 (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.