Overall
Diff +0.8 RPP
Yakima vs Kankakee
Cost of living comparison based on BEA Regional Price Parities. Kankakee is 0.9% more expensive than Yakima.
0.9% more expensive
Kankakee, IL is 0.9% more expensive than Yakima, WA on BEA Regional Price Parities (overall RPP 96.4 vs 95.5). A $100,000 salary in Yakima buys about the same as $100,889 in Kankakee; the largest component gap is rents.
- Overall RPP 95.5 (Yakima) vs 96.4 (Kankakee)
- $100k in Yakima ≈ $100,889 purchasing power in Kankakee
- Rents drives the gap (+20.2 RPP points)
RPP parity plate
Pair WA:IL 95.5→96.4
PHOTO-FINISH · CROSS-STATE · SPLIT-BUDGET · BOTH-BELOW · PP-PAR
- PHOTO-FINISH Photo finish
- CROSS-STATE WA × IL
- 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.
Yakima
95.5
Cost Index
Kankakee
96.4
Cost Index
What This Comparison Actually Tells You
Yakima, WA and Kankakee, IL are a photo finish on overall price level, only 0.8 RPP points apart. A salary conversion is therefore a fine adjustment, not evidence of a fundamentally different cost regime.
Rents creates the largest separation: Kankakee is 20.2 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.
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 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 Yakima corresponds to $100,889 in Kankakee.
Category Breakdown
Goods
Diff -11.4 RPP
Services
Diff -2.5 RPP
Rents
Diff +20.2 RPP
| Category | Yakima | Kankakee | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Overall | 95.5 | 96.4 | +0.8 |
| Goods | 105.0 | 93.6 | -11.4 |
| Services | 91.9 | 89.4 | -2.5 |
| Rents | 72.6 | 92.9 | +20.2 |
Visual Comparison
Overall
Yakima 95.5
Kankakee 96.4
Goods
Yakima 105.0
Kankakee 93.6
Services
Yakima 91.9
Kankakee 89.4
Rents
Yakima 72.6
Kankakee 92.9
Vertical line = national average (100)
How the Price Gap Changed
Yakima and Kankakee share 17 published annual releases from 2008 through 2024. Their overall gap narrowed, moving from 6.5 to 0.8 RPP points. Kankakee remained the higher-index metro in the latest release.
Services changed the most within this pair: its gap moved 27.6 points between the first and latest shared releases (25.1 to 2.5 points). This describes a relative price-index history, not a forecast or a household budget.
| Release Year | Yakima RPP | Kankakee RPP | Relative Gap |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2008 | 93.0 | 99.5 | 6.5 points Kankakee higher |
| 2012 | 97.1 | 99.2 | 2.1 points Kankakee higher |
| 2016 | 94.4 | 97.6 | 3.3 points Kankakee higher |
| 2020 | 96.2 | 90.6 | 5.6 points Yakima higher |
| 2024 | 95.5 | 96.4 | 0.8 points Kankakee 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 Yakima would need to be in Kankakee for the same purchasing power:
| In Yakima | In Kankakee | Difference |
|---|---|---|
| $50,000 | $50,444 | +$444 |
| $75,000 | $75,666 | +$666 |
| $100,000 | $100,889 | +$889 |
| $150,000 | $151,333 | +$1,333 |
$ in Yakima = in Kankakee
Same BEA Regional Price Parity ratio as the table above (95.5 → 96.4), computed live from your number, nothing is sent anywhere.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Kankakee more expensive than Yakima?
Kankakee is 0.9% more expensive than Yakima. The overall cost index is 96.4 vs 95.5 (national average = 100).
What salary in Kankakee equals $100K in Yakima?
A $100,000 salary in Yakima has the same purchasing power as $100,889 in Kankakee. This is based on the BEA Regional Price Parity indexes.
How do rents compare between Yakima and Kankakee?
Rents in Yakima are indexed at 72.6 while Kankakee is at 92.9 (national average = 100). Kankakee 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.