Overall
- Salem
- 103.6
- Grants Pass
- 97.8
Diff -5.9 RPP
Salem vs Grants Pass
Cost of living comparison based on BEA Regional Price Parities. Grants Pass is 5.7% less expensive than Salem.
5.7% less expensive
Grants Pass, OR is 5.7% less expensive than Salem, OR on BEA Regional Price Parities (overall RPP 97.8 vs 103.6). A $100,000 salary in Salem buys about the same as $94,318 in Grants Pass; the largest component gap is rents.
- Overall RPP 103.6 (Salem) vs 97.8 (Grants Pass)
- $100k in Salem ≈ $94,318 purchasing power in Grants Pass
- Rents drives the gap (-30.4 RPP points)
RPP parity plate
Pair OR:OR 103.6→97.8
TIER-NEAR · SAME-STATE · SPLIT-BUDGET · BENCH-CROSS · PP-SHIFT
- TIER-NEAR Near tier
- SAME-STATE Same state · OR
- 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
- Salem
- 105.3
- Grants Pass
- 105.3
Diff 0.0 RPP
Services
- Salem
- 104.7
- Grants Pass
- 103.6
Diff -1.1 RPP
Rents
- Salem
- 110.3
- Grants Pass
- 79.9
Diff -30.4 RPP
| Category | Salem | Grants Pass | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Overall | 103.6 | 97.8 | -5.9 |
| Goods | 105.3 | 105.3 | 0.0 |
| Services | 104.7 | 103.6 | -1.1 |
| Rents | 110.3 | 79.9 | -30.4 |
Visual Comparison
Overall
Salem 103.6
Grants Pass 97.8
Goods
Salem 105.3
Grants Pass 105.3
Services
Salem 104.7
Grants Pass 103.6
Rents
Salem 110.3
Grants Pass 79.9
Vertical line = national average (100)
What This Comparison Actually Tells You
Rents creates the largest separation: Grants Pass is 30.4 points lower. But goods move against the overall direction, so this is a split budget rather than a clean across-the-board winner.
Grants Pass, OR is 5.7% less expensive than Salem, OR, a meaningful but not extreme shift. The move decision turns on which budget category creates the 5.9-point overall gap.
This route crosses the national benchmark: Salem is above 100 while Grants Pass 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 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 Salem corresponds to $94,318 in Grants Pass.
Salem
103.6
Cost Index
Grants Pass
97.8
Cost Index
Salary Equivalents
What a salary in Salem would need to be in Grants Pass for the same purchasing power:
| In Salem | In Grants Pass | Difference |
|---|---|---|
| $50,000 | $47,159 | $-2,841 |
| $75,000 | $70,739 | $-4,261 |
| $100,000 | $94,318 | $-5,682 |
| $150,000 | $141,477 | $-8,523 |
$ in Salem = in Grants Pass
Same BEA Regional Price Parity ratio as the table above (103.6 → 97.8), computed live from your number, nothing is sent anywhere.
How the Price Gap Changed
Salem and Grants Pass share 17 published annual releases from 2008 through 2024. Their overall gap widened, moving from 2.0 to 5.9 RPP points. Salem remained the higher-index metro in the latest release.
Rents changed the most within this pair: its gap moved 27.5 points between the first and latest shared releases (2.9 to 30.4 points). This describes a relative price-index history, not a forecast or a household budget.
| Release Year | Salem RPP | Grants Pass RPP | Relative Gap |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2008 | 94.1 | 96.2 | 2.0 points Grants Pass higher |
| 2012 | 101.1 | 96.1 | 5.0 points Salem higher |
| 2016 | 97.1 | 96.2 | 0.9 points Salem higher |
| 2020 | 100.9 | 95.0 | 5.9 points Salem higher |
| 2024 | 103.6 | 97.8 | 5.9 points Salem 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 Grants Pass more expensive than Salem?
Grants Pass is 5.7% less expensive than Salem. The overall cost index is 97.8 vs 103.6 (national average = 100).
What salary in Grants Pass equals $100K in Salem?
A $100,000 salary in Salem has the same purchasing power as $94,318 in Grants Pass. This is based on the BEA Regional Price Parity indexes.
How do rents compare between Salem and Grants Pass?
Rents in Salem are indexed at 110.3 while Grants Pass is at 79.9 (national average = 100). Salem 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.