Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater vs Spokane-Spokane Valley

Cost of living comparison based on BEA Regional Price Parities. Spokane-Spokane Valley is 0.5% less expensive than Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater.

0.5% less expensive

Spokane-Spokane Valley, WA is 0.5% less expensive than Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater, FL on BEA Regional Price Parities (overall RPP 100.3 vs 100.9). A $100,000 salary in Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater buys about the same as $99,461 in Spokane-Spokane Valley; the largest component gap is rents.

  • Overall RPP 100.9 (Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater) vs 100.3 (Spokane-Spokane Valley)
  • $100k in Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater ≈ $99,461 purchasing power in Spokane-Spokane Valley
  • Rents drives the gap (-28.8 RPP points)

RPP parity plate

Pair FL:WA 100.9→100.3

PHOTO-FINISH · CROSS-STATE · SPLIT-BUDGET · BOTH-ABOVE · PP-PAR

  • PHOTO-FINISH Photo finish
  • CROSS-STATE FL × WA
  • 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.

Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater
100.9
Cost Index
Spokane-Spokane Valley
100.3
Cost Index

What This Comparison Actually Tells You

Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater, FL and Spokane-Spokane Valley, WA are a photo finish on overall price level, only 0.5 RPP points apart. A salary conversion is therefore a fine adjustment, not evidence of a fundamentally different cost regime.

Rents creates the largest separation: Spokane-Spokane Valley is 28.8 points lower. But goods and services 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 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.

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 Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater corresponds to $99,461 in Spokane-Spokane Valley.

Category Breakdown

Visual Comparison

Overall
Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater
100.9
Spokane-Spokane Valley
100.3
Goods
Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater
95.5
Spokane-Spokane Valley
105.0
Services
Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater
88.5
Spokane-Spokane Valley
91.2
Rents
Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater
125.8
Spokane-Spokane Valley
97.1

Vertical line = national average (100)

Salary Equivalents

What a salary in Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater would need to be in Spokane-Spokane Valley for the same purchasing power:

In Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater In Spokane-Spokane Valley Difference
$50,000 $49,730 $-270
$75,000 $74,596 $-404
$100,000 $99,461 $-539
$150,000 $149,191 $-809
$ in Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater = in Spokane-Spokane Valley

Same BEA Regional Price Parity ratio as the table above (100.9 → 100.3), computed live from your number, nothing is sent anywhere.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is Spokane-Spokane Valley more expensive than Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater?

Spokane-Spokane Valley is 0.5% less expensive than Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater. The overall cost index is 100.3 vs 100.9 (national average = 100).

What salary in Spokane-Spokane Valley equals $100K in Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater?

A $100,000 salary in Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater has the same purchasing power as $99,461 in Spokane-Spokane Valley. This is based on the BEA Regional Price Parity indexes.

How do rents compare between Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater and Spokane-Spokane Valley?

Rents in Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater are indexed at 125.8 while Spokane-Spokane Valley is at 97.1 (national average = 100). Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater has higher rents.

Data sourced from official public datasets, Regional Price Parities (2024), index where national average = 100. Retrieved and formatted by PlainCost. See our methodology for details.

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.