Overall
- Port St. Lucie
- 100.2
- Walla Walla
- 98.5
Diff -1.7 RPP
Port St. Lucie vs Walla Walla
Cost of living comparison based on BEA Regional Price Parities. Walla Walla is 1.7% less expensive than Port St. Lucie.
1.7% less expensive
Walla Walla, WA is 1.7% less expensive than Port St. Lucie, FL on BEA Regional Price Parities (overall RPP 98.5 vs 100.2). A $100,000 salary in Port St. Lucie buys about the same as $98,295 in Walla Walla; the largest component gap is rents.
- Overall RPP 100.2 (Port St. Lucie) vs 98.5 (Walla Walla)
- $100k in Port St. Lucie ≈ $98,295 purchasing power in Walla Walla
- Rents drives the gap (-27.1 RPP points)
RPP parity plate
Pair FL:WA 100.2→98.5
PHOTO-FINISH · CROSS-STATE · SPLIT-BUDGET · BENCH-CROSS · PP-PAR
- PHOTO-FINISH Photo finish
- CROSS-STATE FL × WA
- SPLIT-BUDGET Split budget
- BENCH-CROSS Benchmark cross
- 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.
Port St. Lucie
100.2
Cost Index
Walla Walla
98.5
Cost Index
What This Comparison Actually Tells You
Port St. Lucie, FL and Walla Walla, WA are a photo finish on overall price level, only 1.7 RPP points apart. A salary conversion is therefore a fine adjustment, not evidence of a fundamentally different cost regime.
Rents creates the largest separation: Walla Walla is 27.1 points lower. But goods and services 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.
This route crosses the national benchmark: Port St. Lucie is above 100 while Walla Walla is below it. That makes the move a change of price regime, not merely a rank swap.
For a housing-sensitive move, validate the rent gap first: HUD Fair Market Rent and the actual unit size can overturn what the blended index implies. On the BEA ratio alone, $100,000 in Port St. Lucie corresponds to $98,295 in Walla Walla.
Category Breakdown
Goods
- Port St. Lucie
- 96.2
- Walla Walla
- 105.0
Diff +8.8 RPP
Services
- Port St. Lucie
- 87.0
- Walla Walla
- 94.3
Diff +7.3 RPP
Rents
- Port St. Lucie
- 113.6
- Walla Walla
- 86.6
Diff -27.1 RPP
| Category | Port St. Lucie | Walla Walla | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Overall | 100.2 | 98.5 | -1.7 |
| Goods | 96.2 | 105.0 | +8.8 |
| Services | 87.0 | 94.3 | +7.3 |
| Rents | 113.6 | 86.6 | -27.1 |
Visual Comparison
Overall
Port St. Lucie 100.2
Walla Walla 98.5
Goods
Port St. Lucie 96.2
Walla Walla 105.0
Services
Port St. Lucie 87.0
Walla Walla 94.3
Rents
Port St. Lucie 113.6
Walla Walla 86.6
Vertical line = national average (100)
How the Price Gap Changed
Port St. Lucie and Walla Walla share 17 published annual releases from 2008 through 2024. Their overall gap narrowed, moving from 5.5 to 1.7 RPP points. Port St. Lucie remained the higher-index metro in the latest release.
Services changed the most within this pair: its gap moved 35.7 points between the first and latest shared releases (28.4 to 7.3 points). This describes a relative price-index history, not a forecast or a household budget.
| Release Year | Port St. Lucie RPP | Walla Walla RPP | Relative Gap |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2008 | 101.1 | 95.6 | 5.5 points Port St. Lucie higher |
| 2012 | 99.2 | 95.1 | 4.0 points Port St. Lucie higher |
| 2016 | 100.5 | 96.3 | 4.2 points Port St. Lucie higher |
| 2020 | 98.6 | 95.2 | 3.4 points Port St. Lucie higher |
| 2024 | 100.2 | 98.5 | 1.7 points Port St. Lucie 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 Port St. Lucie would need to be in Walla Walla for the same purchasing power:
| In Port St. Lucie | In Walla Walla | Difference |
|---|---|---|
| $50,000 | $49,147 | $-853 |
| $75,000 | $73,721 | $-1,279 |
| $100,000 | $98,295 | $-1,705 |
| $150,000 | $147,442 | $-2,558 |
$ in Port St. Lucie = in Walla Walla
Same BEA Regional Price Parity ratio as the table above (100.2 → 98.5), computed live from your number, nothing is sent anywhere.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Walla Walla more expensive than Port St. Lucie?
Walla Walla is 1.7% less expensive than Port St. Lucie. The overall cost index is 98.5 vs 100.2 (national average = 100).
What salary in Walla Walla equals $100K in Port St. Lucie?
A $100,000 salary in Port St. Lucie has the same purchasing power as $98,295 in Walla Walla. This is based on the BEA Regional Price Parity indexes.
How do rents compare between Port St. Lucie and Walla Walla?
Rents in Port St. Lucie are indexed at 113.6 while Walla Walla is at 86.6 (national average = 100). Port St. Lucie 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.