Overall
- Sierra Vista-Douglas
- 89.2
- Rapid City
- 89.2
Diff -0.1 RPP
Sierra Vista-Douglas vs Rapid City
Cost of living comparison based on BEA Regional Price Parities. Rapid City is 0.1% less expensive than Sierra Vista-Douglas.
0.1% less expensive
Rapid City, SD is 0.1% less expensive than Sierra Vista-Douglas, AZ on BEA Regional Price Parities (overall RPP 89.2 vs 89.2). A $100,000 salary in Sierra Vista-Douglas buys about the same as $99,907 in Rapid City; the largest component gap is services.
- Overall RPP 89.2 (Sierra Vista-Douglas) vs 89.2 (Rapid City)
- $100k in Sierra Vista-Douglas ≈ $99,907 purchasing power in Rapid City
- Services drives the gap (-12.9 RPP points)
RPP parity plate
Pair AZ:SD 89.2→89.2
PHOTO-FINISH · CROSS-STATE · SPLIT-BUDGET · BOTH-BELOW · PP-PAR
- PHOTO-FINISH Photo finish
- CROSS-STATE AZ × SD
- SPLIT-BUDGET Split budget
- BOTH-BELOW Both below 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.
Sierra Vista-Douglas
89.2
Cost Index
Rapid City
89.2
Cost Index
What This Comparison Actually Tells You
Sierra Vista-Douglas, AZ and Rapid City, SD are a photo finish on overall price level, only 0.1 RPP points apart. A salary conversion is therefore a fine adjustment, not evidence of a fundamentally different cost regime.
Services creates the largest separation: Rapid City is 12.9 points lower. But rents move against the overall direction, so this is a split budget rather than a clean across-the-board winner.
Comparable population context is incomplete for this pair, so no market-scale explanation is inferred from the price indexes.
Both metros remain below the U.S. benchmark of 100. This comparison chooses between two below-average price levels; “more expensive” here does not mean nationally expensive.
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 Sierra Vista-Douglas to $99,907 in Rapid City, but it is not a personal spending weight.
Category Breakdown
Goods
- Sierra Vista-Douglas
- 96.2
- Rapid City
- 95.5
Diff -0.8 RPP
Services
- Sierra Vista-Douglas
- 91.9
- Rapid City
- 79.1
Diff -12.9 RPP
Rents
- Sierra Vista-Douglas
- 61.9
- Rapid City
- 72.6
Diff +10.6 RPP
| Category | Sierra Vista-Douglas | Rapid City | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Overall | 89.2 | 89.2 | -0.1 |
| Goods | 96.2 | 95.5 | -0.8 |
| Services | 91.9 | 79.1 | -12.9 |
| Rents | 61.9 | 72.6 | +10.6 |
Visual Comparison
Overall
Sierra Vista-Douglas 89.2
Rapid City 89.2
Goods
Sierra Vista-Douglas 96.2
Rapid City 95.5
Services
Sierra Vista-Douglas 91.9
Rapid City 79.1
Rents
Sierra Vista-Douglas 61.9
Rapid City 72.6
Vertical line = national average (100)
How the Price Gap Changed
Sierra Vista-Douglas and Rapid City share 17 published annual releases from 2008 through 2024. Their overall gap narrowed, moving from 3.5 to 0.1 RPP points. Sierra Vista-Douglas remained the higher-index metro in the latest release.
Rents changed the most within this pair: its gap moved 12.7 points between the first and latest shared releases (2.0 to 10.6 points). This describes a relative price-index history, not a forecast or a household budget.
| Release Year | Sierra Vista-Douglas RPP | Rapid City RPP | Relative Gap |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2008 | 93.8 | 90.3 | 3.5 points Sierra Vista-Douglas higher |
| 2012 | 93.5 | 94.5 | 1.0 points Rapid City higher |
| 2016 | 93.0 | 89.8 | 3.2 points Sierra Vista-Douglas higher |
| 2020 | 88.5 | 94.2 | 5.7 points Rapid City higher |
| 2024 | 89.2 | 89.2 | 0.1 points Sierra Vista-Douglas 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.
Salary Equivalents
What a salary in Sierra Vista-Douglas would need to be in Rapid City for the same purchasing power:
| In Sierra Vista-Douglas | In Rapid City | Difference |
|---|---|---|
| $50,000 | $49,953 | $-47 |
| $75,000 | $74,930 | $-70 |
| $100,000 | $99,907 | $-93 |
| $150,000 | $149,860 | $-140 |
$ in Sierra Vista-Douglas = in Rapid City
Same BEA Regional Price Parity ratio as the table above (89.2 → 89.2), computed live from your number, nothing is sent anywhere.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Rapid City more expensive than Sierra Vista-Douglas?
Rapid City is 0.1% less expensive than Sierra Vista-Douglas. The overall cost index is 89.2 vs 89.2 (national average = 100).
What salary in Rapid City equals $100K in Sierra Vista-Douglas?
A $100,000 salary in Sierra Vista-Douglas has the same purchasing power as $99,907 in Rapid City. This is based on the BEA Regional Price Parity indexes.
How do rents compare between Sierra Vista-Douglas and Rapid City?
Rents in Sierra Vista-Douglas are indexed at 61.9 while Rapid City is at 72.6 (national average = 100). Rapid City 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.