Overall
- Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue
- 111.1
Diff -2.3 RPP
Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue vs Santa Maria-Santa Barbara
Cost of living comparison based on BEA Regional Price Parities. Santa Maria-Santa Barbara is 2.1% less expensive than Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue.
2.1% less expensive
Santa Maria-Santa Barbara, CA is 2.1% less expensive than Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue, WA on BEA Regional Price Parities (overall RPP 108.8 vs 111.1). A $100,000 salary in Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue buys about the same as $97,899 in Santa Maria-Santa Barbara; the largest component gap is services.
- Overall RPP 111.1 (Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue) vs 108.8 (Santa Maria-Santa Barbara)
- $100k in Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue ≈ $97,899 purchasing power in Santa Maria-Santa Barbara
- Services drives the gap (+57.0 RPP points)
RPP parity plate
Pair WA:CA 111.1→108.8
TIER-NEAR · CROSS-STATE · SPLIT-BUDGET · BOTH-ABOVE · PP-PAR
- TIER-NEAR Near tier
- CROSS-STATE WA × CA
- SPLIT-BUDGET Split budget
- BOTH-ABOVE Both above 100
- 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.
Category Breakdown
Goods
- Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue
- 104.0
Diff +1.2 RPP
Services
Diff +57.0 RPP
Rents
- Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue
- 151.3
Diff +0.1 RPP
| Category | Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue | Santa Maria-Santa Barbara | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Overall | 111.1 | 108.8 | -2.3 |
| Goods | 104.0 | 105.2 | +1.2 |
| Services | 92.8 | 149.8 | +57.0 |
| Rents | 151.3 | 151.4 | +0.1 |
Visual Comparison
Overall
Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue 111.1
Santa Maria-Santa Barbara 108.8
Goods
Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue 104.0
Santa Maria-Santa Barbara 105.2
Services
Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue 92.8
Santa Maria-Santa Barbara 149.8
Rents
Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue 151.3
Santa Maria-Santa Barbara 151.4
Vertical line = national average (100)
What This Comparison Actually Tells You
Services creates the largest separation: Santa Maria-Santa Barbara is 57.0 points higher. But services and goods and rents move against the overall direction, so this is a split budget rather than a clean across-the-board winner.
Santa Maria-Santa Barbara, CA is 2.1% less expensive than Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue, WA, a meaningful but not extreme shift. The move decision turns on which budget category creates the 2.3-point overall gap.
Both metros exceed the U.S. benchmark of 100. The choice is between two national premiums, so local wages need to clear the higher baseline in either market.
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 Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue to $97,899 in Santa Maria-Santa Barbara, but it is not a personal spending weight.
Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue
111.1
Cost Index
Santa Maria-Santa Barbara
108.8
Cost Index
Salary Equivalents
What a salary in Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue would need to be in Santa Maria-Santa Barbara for the same purchasing power:
| In Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue | In Santa Maria-Santa Barbara | Difference |
|---|---|---|
| $50,000 | $48,949 | $-1,051 |
| $75,000 | $73,424 | $-1,576 |
| $100,000 | $97,899 | $-2,101 |
| $150,000 | $146,848 | $-3,152 |
$ in Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue = in Santa Maria-Santa Barbara
Same BEA Regional Price Parity ratio as the table above (111.1 → 108.8), computed live from your number, nothing is sent anywhere.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Santa Maria-Santa Barbara more expensive than Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue?
Santa Maria-Santa Barbara is 2.1% less expensive than Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue. The overall cost index is 108.8 vs 111.1 (national average = 100).
What salary in Santa Maria-Santa Barbara equals $100K in Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue?
A $100,000 salary in Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue has the same purchasing power as $97,899 in Santa Maria-Santa Barbara. This is based on the BEA Regional Price Parity indexes.
How do rents compare between Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue and Santa Maria-Santa Barbara?
Rents in Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue are indexed at 151.3 while Santa Maria-Santa Barbara is at 151.4 (national average = 100). Santa Maria-Santa Barbara 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.