Overall
- Walla Walla
- 98.5
Diff -2.6 RPP
Walla Walla vs Racine-Mount Pleasant
Cost of living comparison based on BEA Regional Price Parities. Racine-Mount Pleasant is 2.6% less expensive than Walla Walla.
2.6% less expensive
Racine-Mount Pleasant, WI is 2.6% less expensive than Walla Walla, WA on BEA Regional Price Parities (overall RPP 96.0 vs 98.5). A $100,000 salary in Walla Walla buys about the same as $97,404 in Racine-Mount Pleasant; the largest component gap is goods.
- Overall RPP 98.5 (Walla Walla) vs 96.0 (Racine-Mount Pleasant)
- $100k in Walla Walla ≈ $97,404 purchasing power in Racine-Mount Pleasant
- Goods drives the gap (-11.2 RPP points)
RPP parity plate
Pair WA:WI 98.5→96.0
TIER-NEAR · CROSS-STATE · SPLIT-BUDGET · BOTH-BELOW · PP-SHIFT
- TIER-NEAR Near tier
- CROSS-STATE WA × WI
- SPLIT-BUDGET Split budget
- BOTH-BELOW Both below 100
- 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.
Category Breakdown
Goods
- Walla Walla
- 105.0
Diff -11.2 RPP
Services
- Walla Walla
- 94.3
Diff -4.3 RPP
Rents
- Walla Walla
- 86.6
Diff +5.5 RPP
| Category | Walla Walla | Racine-Mount Pleasant | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Overall | 98.5 | 96.0 | -2.6 |
| Goods | 105.0 | 93.8 | -11.2 |
| Services | 94.3 | 90.0 | -4.3 |
| Rents | 86.6 | 92.0 | +5.5 |
Visual Comparison
Overall
Walla Walla 98.5
Racine-Mount Pleasant 96.0
Goods
Walla Walla 105.0
Racine-Mount Pleasant 93.8
Services
Walla Walla 94.3
Racine-Mount Pleasant 90.0
Rents
Walla Walla 86.6
Racine-Mount Pleasant 92.0
Vertical line = national average (100)
What This Comparison Actually Tells You
Goods creates the largest separation: Racine-Mount Pleasant is 11.2 points lower. But rents move against the overall direction, so this is a split budget rather than a clean across-the-board winner.
Racine-Mount Pleasant, WI is 2.6% less expensive than Walla Walla, WA, a meaningful but not extreme shift. The move decision turns on which budget category creates the 2.6-point overall gap.
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.
Comparable population context is incomplete for this pair, so no market-scale explanation is inferred from the price indexes.
For a goods-led difference, remember that many tradable prices vary less by address than housing or labor-priced services. Use $97,404 in Racine-Mount Pleasant as the BEA equivalent of $100,000 in Walla Walla, then replace the national basket with your own.
Walla Walla
98.5
Cost Index
Racine-Mount Pleasant
96.0
Cost Index
Salary Equivalents
What a salary in Walla Walla would need to be in Racine-Mount Pleasant for the same purchasing power:
| In Walla Walla | In Racine-Mount Pleasant | Difference |
|---|---|---|
| $50,000 | $48,702 | $-1,298 |
| $75,000 | $73,053 | $-1,947 |
| $100,000 | $97,404 | $-2,596 |
| $150,000 | $146,105 | $-3,895 |
$ in Walla Walla = in Racine-Mount Pleasant
Same BEA Regional Price Parity ratio as the table above (98.5 → 96.0), computed live from your number, nothing is sent anywhere.
How the Price Gap Changed
Walla Walla and Racine-Mount Pleasant share 17 published annual releases from 2008 through 2024. Their overall gap widened, moving from 0.7 to 2.6 RPP points. Walla Walla remained the higher-index metro in the latest release.
Services changed the most within this pair: its gap moved 41.9 points between the first and latest shared releases (37.6 to 4.3 points). This describes a relative price-index history, not a forecast or a household budget.
| Release Year | Walla Walla RPP | Racine-Mount Pleasant RPP | Relative Gap |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2008 | 95.6 | 96.3 | 0.7 points Racine-Mount Pleasant higher |
| 2012 | 95.1 | 94.4 | 0.7 points Walla Walla higher |
| 2016 | 96.3 | 94.6 | 1.7 points Walla Walla higher |
| 2020 | 95.2 | 93.9 | 1.3 points Walla Walla higher |
| 2024 | 98.5 | 96.0 | 2.6 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.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Racine-Mount Pleasant more expensive than Walla Walla?
Racine-Mount Pleasant is 2.6% less expensive than Walla Walla. The overall cost index is 96.0 vs 98.5 (national average = 100).
What salary in Racine-Mount Pleasant equals $100K in Walla Walla?
A $100,000 salary in Walla Walla has the same purchasing power as $97,404 in Racine-Mount Pleasant. This is based on the BEA Regional Price Parity indexes.
How do rents compare between Walla Walla and Racine-Mount Pleasant?
Rents in Walla Walla are indexed at 86.6 while Racine-Mount Pleasant is at 92.0 (national average = 100). Racine-Mount Pleasant 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.