Overall
- Walla Walla
- 98.5
- Punta Gorda
- 100.5
Diff +2.0 RPP
Walla Walla vs Punta Gorda
Cost of living comparison based on BEA Regional Price Parities. Punta Gorda is 2% more expensive than Walla Walla.
2% more expensive
Punta Gorda, FL is 2% more expensive than Walla Walla, WA on BEA Regional Price Parities (overall RPP 100.5 vs 98.5). A $100,000 salary in Walla Walla buys about the same as $102,036 in Punta Gorda; the largest component gap is rents.
- Overall RPP 98.5 (Walla Walla) vs 100.5 (Punta Gorda)
- $100k in Walla Walla ≈ $102,036 purchasing power in Punta Gorda
- Rents drives the gap (+26.7 RPP points)
RPP parity plate
Pair WA:FL 98.5→100.5
TIER-NEAR · CROSS-STATE · SPLIT-BUDGET · BENCH-CROSS · PP-PAR
- TIER-NEAR Near tier
- CROSS-STATE WA × FL
- SPLIT-BUDGET Split budget
- BENCH-CROSS Benchmark cross
- 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.
Category Breakdown
Goods
- Walla Walla
- 105.0
- Punta Gorda
- 96.2
Diff -8.8 RPP
Services
- Walla Walla
- 94.3
- Punta Gorda
- 87.3
Diff -7.0 RPP
Rents
- Walla Walla
- 86.6
- Punta Gorda
- 113.3
Diff +26.7 RPP
| Category | Walla Walla | Punta Gorda | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Overall | 98.5 | 100.5 | +2.0 |
| Goods | 105.0 | 96.2 | -8.8 |
| Services | 94.3 | 87.3 | -7.0 |
| Rents | 86.6 | 113.3 | +26.7 |
Visual Comparison
Overall
Walla Walla 98.5
Punta Gorda 100.5
Goods
Walla Walla 105.0
Punta Gorda 96.2
Services
Walla Walla 94.3
Punta Gorda 87.3
Rents
Walla Walla 86.6
Punta Gorda 113.3
Vertical line = national average (100)
What This Comparison Actually Tells You
Rents creates the largest separation: Punta Gorda is 26.7 points higher. But goods and services move against the overall direction, so this is a split budget rather than a clean across-the-board winner.
Punta Gorda, FL is 2% more expensive than Walla Walla, WA, a meaningful but not extreme shift. The move decision turns on which budget category creates the 2.0-point overall gap.
This route crosses the national benchmark: Punta Gorda is above 100 while Walla Walla is below it. That makes the move a change of price regime, not merely a rank swap.
Comparable population context is incomplete for this pair, so no market-scale explanation is inferred from the price indexes.
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 Walla Walla corresponds to $102,036 in Punta Gorda.
Walla Walla
98.5
Cost Index
Punta Gorda
100.5
Cost Index
Salary Equivalents
What a salary in Walla Walla would need to be in Punta Gorda for the same purchasing power:
| In Walla Walla | In Punta Gorda | Difference |
|---|---|---|
| $50,000 | $51,018 | +$1,018 |
| $75,000 | $76,527 | +$1,527 |
| $100,000 | $102,036 | +$2,036 |
| $150,000 | $153,054 | +$3,054 |
$ in Walla Walla = in Punta Gorda
Same BEA Regional Price Parity ratio as the table above (98.5 → 100.5), computed live from your number, nothing is sent anywhere.
How the Price Gap Changed
Walla Walla and Punta Gorda share 17 published annual releases from 2008 through 2024. Their overall gap held broadly steady, moving from 1.9 to 2.0 RPP points. Punta Gorda remained the higher-index metro in the latest release.
Services changed the most within this pair: its gap moved 33.4 points between the first and latest shared releases (26.5 to 7.0 points). This describes a relative price-index history, not a forecast or a household budget.
| Release Year | Walla Walla RPP | Punta Gorda RPP | Relative Gap |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2008 | 95.6 | 97.5 | 1.9 points Punta Gorda higher |
| 2012 | 95.1 | 97.9 | 2.7 points Punta Gorda higher |
| 2016 | 96.3 | 98.7 | 2.4 points Punta Gorda higher |
| 2020 | 95.2 | 98.9 | 3.7 points Punta Gorda higher |
| 2024 | 98.5 | 100.5 | 2.0 points Punta Gorda 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.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Punta Gorda more expensive than Walla Walla?
Punta Gorda is 2% more expensive than Walla Walla. The overall cost index is 100.5 vs 98.5 (national average = 100).
What salary in Punta Gorda equals $100K in Walla Walla?
A $100,000 salary in Walla Walla has the same purchasing power as $102,036 in Punta Gorda. This is based on the BEA Regional Price Parity indexes.
How do rents compare between Walla Walla and Punta Gorda?
Rents in Walla Walla are indexed at 86.6 while Punta Gorda is at 113.3 (national average = 100). Punta Gorda 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.