Overall
- Salt Lake City-Murray
- 100.9
- Boise City
- 98.4
Diff -2.5 RPP
Salt Lake City-Murray vs Boise City
Cost of living comparison based on BEA Regional Price Parities. Boise City is 2.5% less expensive than Salt Lake City-Murray.
2.5% less expensive
Boise City, ID is 2.5% less expensive than Salt Lake City-Murray, UT on BEA Regional Price Parities (overall RPP 98.4 vs 100.9). A $100,000 salary in Salt Lake City-Murray buys about the same as $97,544 in Boise City; the largest component gap is rents.
- Overall RPP 100.9 (Salt Lake City-Murray) vs 98.4 (Boise City)
- $100k in Salt Lake City-Murray ≈ $97,544 purchasing power in Boise City
- Rents drives the gap (-17.7 RPP points)
RPP parity plate
Pair UT:ID 100.9→98.4
TIER-NEAR · CROSS-STATE · RENT-LED · BENCH-CROSS · PP-PAR
- TIER-NEAR Near tier
- CROSS-STATE UT × ID
- RENT-LED Rent-led gap
- 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.
Salary Equivalents
What a salary in Salt Lake City-Murray would need to be in Boise City for the same purchasing power:
| In Salt Lake City-Murray | In Boise City | Difference |
|---|---|---|
| $50,000 | $48,772 | $-1,228 |
| $75,000 | $73,158 | $-1,842 |
| $100,000 | $97,544 | $-2,456 |
| $150,000 | $146,316 | $-3,684 |
$ in Salt Lake City-Murray = in Boise City
Same BEA Regional Price Parity ratio as the table above (100.9 → 98.4), computed live from your number, nothing is sent anywhere.
What This Comparison Actually Tells You
Boise City, ID is 2.5% less expensive than Salt Lake City-Murray, UT, a meaningful but not extreme shift. The move decision turns on which budget category creates the 2.5-point overall gap.
This route crosses the national benchmark: Salt Lake City-Murray is above 100 while Boise City is below it. That makes the move a change of price regime, not merely a rank swap.
Rents leads the difference, with Boise City 17.7 points lower than Salt Lake City-Murray. 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 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 Salt Lake City-Murray corresponds to $97,544 in Boise City.
Category Breakdown
Goods
- Boise City
- 96.2
Diff -0.3 RPP
Services
- Boise City
- 70.7
Diff -8.3 RPP
Rents
- Salt Lake City-Murray
- 123.3
- Boise City
- 105.6
Diff -17.7 RPP
| Category | Salt Lake City-Murray | Boise City | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Overall | 100.9 | 98.4 | -2.5 |
| Goods | 96.4 | 96.2 | -0.3 |
| Services | 79.0 | 70.7 | -8.3 |
| Rents | 123.3 | 105.6 | -17.7 |
Visual Comparison
Overall
Salt Lake City-Murray 100.9
Boise City 98.4
Goods
Salt Lake City-Murray 96.4
Boise City 96.2
Services
Salt Lake City-Murray 79.0
Boise City 70.7
Rents
Salt Lake City-Murray 123.3
Boise City 105.6
Vertical line = national average (100)
Salt Lake City-Murray
100.9
Cost Index
Boise City
98.4
Cost Index
How the Price Gap Changed
Salt Lake City-Murray and Boise City share 17 published annual releases from 2008 through 2024. Their overall gap held broadly steady, moving from 3.2 to 2.5 RPP points. Salt Lake City-Murray remained the higher-index metro in the latest release.
Services changed the most within this pair: its gap moved 7.3 points between the first and latest shared releases (1.0 to 8.3 points). This describes a relative price-index history, not a forecast or a household budget.
| Release Year | Salt Lake City-Murray RPP | Boise City RPP | Relative Gap |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2008 | 98.5 | 95.3 | 3.2 points Salt Lake City-Murray higher |
| 2012 | 102.2 | 96.7 | 5.5 points Salt Lake City-Murray higher |
| 2016 | 98.3 | 93.2 | 5.1 points Salt Lake City-Murray higher |
| 2020 | 97.3 | 93.6 | 3.6 points Salt Lake City-Murray higher |
| 2024 | 100.9 | 98.4 | 2.5 points Salt Lake City-Murray 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 Boise City more expensive than Salt Lake City-Murray?
Boise City is 2.5% less expensive than Salt Lake City-Murray. The overall cost index is 98.4 vs 100.9 (national average = 100).
What salary in Boise City equals $100K in Salt Lake City-Murray?
A $100,000 salary in Salt Lake City-Murray has the same purchasing power as $97,544 in Boise City. This is based on the BEA Regional Price Parity indexes.
How do rents compare between Salt Lake City-Murray and Boise City?
Rents in Salt Lake City-Murray are indexed at 123.3 while Boise City is at 105.6 (national average = 100). Salt Lake City-Murray 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.