Twin Falls vs Appleton

Cost of living comparison based on BEA Regional Price Parities. Appleton is 0.3% more expensive than Twin Falls.

0.3% more expensive

Appleton, WI is 0.3% more expensive than Twin Falls, ID * on BEA Regional Price Parities (overall RPP 92.4 vs 92.1). A $100,000 salary in Twin Falls buys about the same as $100,338 in Appleton; the largest component gap is services.

  • Overall RPP 92.1 (Twin Falls) vs 92.4 (Appleton)
  • $100k in Twin Falls ≈ $100,338 purchasing power in Appleton
  • Services drives the gap (+20.6 RPP points)

RPP parity plate

Pair ID:WI 92.1→92.4

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

  • PHOTO-FINISH Photo finish
  • CROSS-STATE ID × WI
  • 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.

Twin Falls
92.1
Cost Index
Appleton
92.4
Cost Index

What This Comparison Actually Tells You

Twin Falls, ID * and Appleton, WI are a photo finish on overall price level, only 0.3 RPP points apart. A salary conversion is therefore a fine adjustment, not evidence of a fundamentally different cost regime.

Services creates the largest separation: Appleton is 20.6 points higher. But rents and goods 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 Twin Falls to $100,338 in Appleton, but it is not a personal spending weight.

Category Breakdown

Visual Comparison

Overall
Twin Falls
92.1
Appleton
92.4
Goods
Twin Falls
96.2
Appleton
93.8
Services
Twin Falls
70.0
Appleton
90.6
Rents
Twin Falls
73.8
Appleton
70.8

Vertical line = national average (100)

Salary Equivalents

What a salary in Twin Falls would need to be in Appleton for the same purchasing power:

In Twin Falls In Appleton Difference
$50,000 $50,169 +$169
$75,000 $75,253 +$253
$100,000 $100,338 +$338
$150,000 $150,506 +$506
$ in Twin Falls = in Appleton

Same BEA Regional Price Parity ratio as the table above (92.1 → 92.4), computed live from your number, nothing is sent anywhere.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is Appleton more expensive than Twin Falls?

Appleton is 0.3% more expensive than Twin Falls. The overall cost index is 92.4 vs 92.1 (national average = 100).

What salary in Appleton equals $100K in Twin Falls?

A $100,000 salary in Twin Falls has the same purchasing power as $100,338 in Appleton. This is based on the BEA Regional Price Parity indexes.

How do rents compare between Twin Falls and Appleton?

Rents in Twin Falls are indexed at 73.8 while Appleton is at 70.8 (national average = 100). Twin Falls 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.