Overall
- St. George
- 97.3
- Salem
- 103.6
Diff +6.3 RPP
St. George vs Salem
Cost of living comparison based on BEA Regional Price Parities. Salem is 6.5% more expensive than St. George.
6.5% more expensive
Salem, OR is 6.5% more expensive than St. George, UT on BEA Regional Price Parities (overall RPP 103.6 vs 97.3). A $100,000 salary in St. George buys about the same as $106,502 in Salem; the largest component gap is services.
- Overall RPP 97.3 (St. George) vs 103.6 (Salem)
- $100k in St. George ≈ $106,502 purchasing power in Salem
- Services drives the gap (+27.0 RPP points)
RPP parity plate
Pair UT:OR 97.3→103.6
TIER-NEAR · CROSS-STATE · SERVICES-LED · BENCH-CROSS · PP-SHIFT
- TIER-NEAR Near tier
- CROSS-STATE UT × OR
- 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
Salem, OR is 6.5% more expensive than St. George, UT, a meaningful but not extreme shift. The move decision turns on which budget category creates the 6.3-point overall gap.
This route crosses the national benchmark: Salem is above 100 while St. George is below it. That makes the move a change of price regime, not merely a rank swap.
Services leads the difference, with Salem 27.0 points higher than St. George. 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 St. George to $106,502 in Salem, but it is not a personal spending weight.
How the Price Gap Changed
St. George and Salem share 17 published annual releases from 2008 through 2024. Their overall gap widened, moving from 4.4 to 6.3 RPP points. Salem remained the higher-index metro in the latest release.
Rents changed the most within this pair: its gap moved 21.5 points between the first and latest shared releases (9.3 to 12.2 points). This describes a relative price-index history, not a forecast or a household budget.
| Release Year | St. George RPP | Salem RPP | Relative Gap |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2008 | 98.5 | 94.1 | 4.4 points St. George higher |
| 2012 | 96.4 | 101.1 | 4.7 points Salem higher |
| 2016 | 99.2 | 97.1 | 2.1 points St. George higher |
| 2020 | 95.9 | 100.9 | 5.1 points Salem higher |
| 2024 | 97.3 | 103.6 | 6.3 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.
Category Breakdown
Goods
- St. George
- 96.4
- Salem
- 105.3
Diff +8.8 RPP
Services
- St. George
- 77.7
- Salem
- 104.7
Diff +27.0 RPP
Rents
- St. George
- 98.1
- Salem
- 110.3
Diff +12.2 RPP
| Category | St. George | Salem | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Overall | 97.3 | 103.6 | +6.3 |
| Goods | 96.4 | 105.3 | +8.8 |
| Services | 77.7 | 104.7 | +27.0 |
| Rents | 98.1 | 110.3 | +12.2 |
Visual Comparison
Overall
St. George 97.3
Salem 103.6
Goods
St. George 96.4
Salem 105.3
Services
St. George 77.7
Salem 104.7
Rents
St. George 98.1
Salem 110.3
Vertical line = national average (100)
Salary Equivalents
What a salary in St. George would need to be in Salem for the same purchasing power:
| In St. George | In Salem | Difference |
|---|---|---|
| $50,000 | $53,251 | +$3,251 |
| $75,000 | $79,877 | +$4,877 |
| $100,000 | $106,502 | +$6,502 |
| $150,000 | $159,753 | +$9,753 |
$ in St. George = in Salem
Same BEA Regional Price Parity ratio as the table above (97.3 → 103.6), computed live from your number, nothing is sent anywhere.
St. George
97.3
Cost Index
Salem
103.6
Cost Index
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Salem more expensive than St. George?
Salem is 6.5% more expensive than St. George. The overall cost index is 103.6 vs 97.3 (national average = 100).
What salary in Salem equals $100K in St. George?
A $100,000 salary in St. George has the same purchasing power as $106,502 in Salem. This is based on the BEA Regional Price Parity indexes.
How do rents compare between St. George and Salem?
Rents in St. George are indexed at 98.1 while Salem is at 110.3 (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.