Overall
- Raleigh-Cary
- 98.2
- Bend
- 103.6
Diff +5.5 RPP
Raleigh-Cary vs Bend
Cost of living comparison based on BEA Regional Price Parities. Bend is 5.6% more expensive than Raleigh-Cary.
5.6% more expensive
Bend, OR is 5.6% more expensive than Raleigh-Cary, NC on BEA Regional Price Parities (overall RPP 103.6 vs 98.2). A $100,000 salary in Raleigh-Cary buys about the same as $105,552 in Bend; the largest component gap is services.
- Overall RPP 98.2 (Raleigh-Cary) vs 103.6 (Bend)
- $100k in Raleigh-Cary ≈ $105,552 purchasing power in Bend
- Services drives the gap (+16.0 RPP points)
RPP parity plate
Pair NC:OR 98.2→103.6
TIER-NEAR · CROSS-STATE · SERVICES-LED · BENCH-CROSS · PP-SHIFT
- TIER-NEAR Near tier
- CROSS-STATE NC × OR
- SERVICES-LED Services-led gap
- 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.
What This Comparison Actually Tells You
Bend, OR is 5.6% more expensive than Raleigh-Cary, NC, a meaningful but not extreme shift. The move decision turns on which budget category creates the 5.5-point overall gap.
This route crosses the national benchmark: Bend is above 100 while Raleigh-Cary is below it. That makes the move a change of price regime, not merely a rank swap.
Services leads the difference, with Bend 16.0 points higher than Raleigh-Cary. 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 Raleigh-Cary to $105,552 in Bend, but it is not a personal spending weight.
How the Price Gap Changed
Raleigh-Cary and Bend share 17 published annual releases from 2008 through 2024. Their overall gap widened, moving from 2.8 to 5.5 RPP points. Bend remained the higher-index metro in the latest release.
Services changed the most within this pair: its gap moved 29.9 points between the first and latest shared releases (13.9 to 16.0 points). This describes a relative price-index history, not a forecast or a household budget.
| Release Year | Raleigh-Cary RPP | Bend RPP | Relative Gap |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2008 | 97.0 | 99.8 | 2.8 points Bend higher |
| 2012 | 98.0 | 95.8 | 2.3 points Raleigh-Cary higher |
| 2016 | 99.3 | 99.0 | 0.3 points Raleigh-Cary higher |
| 2020 | 95.4 | 102.9 | 7.5 points Bend higher |
| 2024 | 98.2 | 103.6 | 5.5 points Bend 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
- Raleigh-Cary
- 96.6
- Bend
- 105.3
Diff +8.6 RPP
Services
- Raleigh-Cary
- 89.0
- Bend
- 105.0
Diff +16.0 RPP
Rents
- Raleigh-Cary
- 103.5
- Bend
- 110.0
Diff +6.5 RPP
| Category | Raleigh-Cary | Bend | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Overall | 98.2 | 103.6 | +5.5 |
| Goods | 96.6 | 105.3 | +8.6 |
| Services | 89.0 | 105.0 | +16.0 |
| Rents | 103.5 | 110.0 | +6.5 |
Visual Comparison
Overall
Raleigh-Cary 98.2
Bend 103.6
Goods
Raleigh-Cary 96.6
Bend 105.3
Services
Raleigh-Cary 89.0
Bend 105.0
Rents
Raleigh-Cary 103.5
Bend 110.0
Vertical line = national average (100)
Salary Equivalents
What a salary in Raleigh-Cary would need to be in Bend for the same purchasing power:
| In Raleigh-Cary | In Bend | Difference |
|---|---|---|
| $50,000 | $52,776 | +$2,776 |
| $75,000 | $79,164 | +$4,164 |
| $100,000 | $105,552 | +$5,552 |
| $150,000 | $158,328 | +$8,328 |
$ in Raleigh-Cary = in Bend
Same BEA Regional Price Parity ratio as the table above (98.2 → 103.6), computed live from your number, nothing is sent anywhere.
Raleigh-Cary
98.2
Cost Index
Bend
103.6
Cost Index
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Bend more expensive than Raleigh-Cary?
Bend is 5.6% more expensive than Raleigh-Cary. The overall cost index is 103.6 vs 98.2 (national average = 100).
What salary in Bend equals $100K in Raleigh-Cary?
A $100,000 salary in Raleigh-Cary has the same purchasing power as $105,552 in Bend. This is based on the BEA Regional Price Parity indexes.
How do rents compare between Raleigh-Cary and Bend?
Rents in Raleigh-Cary are indexed at 103.5 while Bend is at 110.0 (national average = 100). Bend 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.