Overall
- Walla Walla
- 98.5
- Longview-Kelso
- 97.5
Diff -1.0 RPP
Walla Walla vs Longview-Kelso
Cost of living comparison based on BEA Regional Price Parities. Longview-Kelso is 1% less expensive than Walla Walla.
1% less expensive
Longview-Kelso, WA is 1% less expensive than Walla Walla, WA on BEA Regional Price Parities (overall RPP 97.5 vs 98.5). A $100,000 salary in Walla Walla buys about the same as $99,011 in Longview-Kelso; the largest component gap is services.
- Overall RPP 98.5 (Walla Walla) vs 97.5 (Longview-Kelso)
- $100k in Walla Walla ≈ $99,011 purchasing power in Longview-Kelso
- Services drives the gap (+4.1 RPP points)
RPP parity plate
Pair WA:WA 98.5→97.5
PHOTO-FINISH · SAME-STATE · SPLIT-BUDGET · BOTH-BELOW · PP-PAR
- PHOTO-FINISH Photo finish
- SAME-STATE Same state · WA
- 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.
Walla Walla
98.5
Cost Index
Longview-Kelso
97.5
Cost Index
What This Comparison Actually Tells You
Walla Walla, WA and Longview-Kelso, WA are a photo finish on overall price level, only 1.0 RPP points apart. A salary conversion is therefore a fine adjustment, not evidence of a fundamentally different cost regime.
Services creates the largest separation: Longview-Kelso is 4.1 points higher. But services 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 Walla Walla to $99,011 in Longview-Kelso, but it is not a personal spending weight.
Category Breakdown
Goods
- Walla Walla
- 105.0
- Longview-Kelso
- 105.0
Diff 0.0 RPP
Services
- Walla Walla
- 94.3
- Longview-Kelso
- 98.5
Diff +4.1 RPP
Rents
- Walla Walla
- 86.6
- Longview-Kelso
- 82.5
Diff -4.0 RPP
| Category | Walla Walla | Longview-Kelso | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Overall | 98.5 | 97.5 | -1.0 |
| Goods | 105.0 | 105.0 | 0.0 |
| Services | 94.3 | 98.5 | +4.1 |
| Rents | 86.6 | 82.5 | -4.0 |
Visual Comparison
Overall
Walla Walla 98.5
Longview-Kelso 97.5
Goods
Walla Walla 105.0
Longview-Kelso 105.0
Services
Walla Walla 94.3
Longview-Kelso 98.5
Rents
Walla Walla 86.6
Longview-Kelso 82.5
Vertical line = national average (100)
How the Price Gap Changed
Walla Walla and Longview-Kelso share 17 published annual releases from 2008 through 2024. Their overall gap narrowed, moving from 2.5 to 1.0 RPP points. Walla Walla remained the higher-index metro in the latest release.
Rents changed the most within this pair: its gap moved 16.8 points between the first and latest shared releases (12.8 to 4.0 points). This describes a relative price-index history, not a forecast or a household budget.
| Release Year | Walla Walla RPP | Longview-Kelso RPP | Relative Gap |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2008 | 95.6 | 98.1 | 2.5 points Longview-Kelso higher |
| 2012 | 95.1 | 92.5 | 2.7 points Walla Walla higher |
| 2016 | 96.3 | 96.8 | 0.5 points Longview-Kelso higher |
| 2020 | 95.2 | 100.0 | 4.8 points Longview-Kelso higher |
| 2024 | 98.5 | 97.5 | 1.0 points Walla Walla 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 Walla Walla would need to be in Longview-Kelso for the same purchasing power:
| In Walla Walla | In Longview-Kelso | Difference |
|---|---|---|
| $50,000 | $49,506 | $-494 |
| $75,000 | $74,259 | $-741 |
| $100,000 | $99,011 | $-989 |
| $150,000 | $148,517 | $-1,483 |
$ in Walla Walla = in Longview-Kelso
Same BEA Regional Price Parity ratio as the table above (98.5 → 97.5), computed live from your number, nothing is sent anywhere.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Longview-Kelso more expensive than Walla Walla?
Longview-Kelso is 1% less expensive than Walla Walla. The overall cost index is 97.5 vs 98.5 (national average = 100).
What salary in Longview-Kelso equals $100K in Walla Walla?
A $100,000 salary in Walla Walla has the same purchasing power as $99,011 in Longview-Kelso. This is based on the BEA Regional Price Parity indexes.
How do rents compare between Walla Walla and Longview-Kelso?
Rents in Walla Walla are indexed at 86.6 while Longview-Kelso is at 82.5 (national average = 100). Walla Walla 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.