Overall
- Boise City
- 98.4
Diff -17.2 RPP
San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont vs Boise City
Cost of living comparison based on BEA Regional Price Parities. Boise City is 14.9% less expensive than San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont.
14.9% less expensive
Boise City, ID is 14.9% less expensive than San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont, CA on BEA Regional Price Parities (overall RPP 98.4 vs 115.6). A $100,000 salary in San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont buys about the same as $85,104 in Boise City; the largest component gap is services.
- Overall RPP 115.6 (San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont) vs 98.4 (Boise City)
- $100k in San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont ≈ $85,104 purchasing power in Boise City
- Services drives the gap (-101.9 RPP points)
RPP parity plate
Pair CA:ID 115.6→98.4
TIER-GAP · CROSS-STATE · SERVICES-LED · BENCH-CROSS · PP-SHIFT
- TIER-GAP Clear tier gap
- CROSS-STATE CA × ID
- 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
San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont, CA and Boise City, ID sit in clearly different price tiers, separated by 17.2 RPP points. At this distance, treating the same nominal salary as equivalent would materially change purchasing power.
This route crosses the national benchmark: San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont is above 100 while Boise City is below it. That makes the move a change of price regime, not merely a rank swap.
Services leads the difference, with Boise City 101.9 points lower than San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont. 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 San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont to $85,104 in Boise City, but it is not a personal spending weight.
Category Breakdown
Goods
- Boise City
- 96.2
Diff -12.3 RPP
Services
- Boise City
- 70.7
Diff -101.9 RPP
Rents
- Boise City
- 105.6
Diff -89.1 RPP
| Category | San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont | Boise City | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Overall | 115.6 | 98.4 | -17.2 |
| Goods | 108.5 | 96.2 | -12.3 |
| Services | 172.6 | 70.7 | -101.9 |
| Rents | 194.7 | 105.6 | -89.1 |
Visual Comparison
Overall
San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont 115.6
Boise City 98.4
Goods
San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont 108.5
Boise City 96.2
Services
San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont 172.6
Boise City 70.7
Rents
San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont 194.7
Boise City 105.6
Vertical line = national average (100)
Salary Equivalents
What a salary in San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont would need to be in Boise City for the same purchasing power:
| In San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont | In Boise City | Difference |
|---|---|---|
| $50,000 | $42,552 | $-7,448 |
| $75,000 | $63,828 | $-11,172 |
| $100,000 | $85,104 | $-14,896 |
| $150,000 | $127,656 | $-22,344 |
$ in San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont = in Boise City
Same BEA Regional Price Parity ratio as the table above (115.6 → 98.4), computed live from your number, nothing is sent anywhere.
San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont
115.6
Cost Index
Boise City
98.4
Cost Index
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Boise City more expensive than San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont?
Boise City is 14.9% less expensive than San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont. The overall cost index is 98.4 vs 115.6 (national average = 100).
What salary in Boise City equals $100K in San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont?
A $100,000 salary in San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont has the same purchasing power as $85,104 in Boise City. This is based on the BEA Regional Price Parity indexes.
How do rents compare between San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont and Boise City?
Rents in San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont are indexed at 194.7 while Boise City is at 105.6 (national average = 100). San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont 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.