Overall
- Yakima
- 95.5
- Kennewick-Richland
- 100.1
Diff +4.5 RPP
Yakima vs Kennewick-Richland
Cost of living comparison based on BEA Regional Price Parities. Kennewick-Richland is 4.7% more expensive than Yakima.
4.7% more expensive
Kennewick-Richland, WA is 4.7% more expensive than Yakima, WA on BEA Regional Price Parities (overall RPP 100.1 vs 95.5). A $100,000 salary in Yakima buys about the same as $104,745 in Kennewick-Richland; the largest component gap is rents.
- Overall RPP 95.5 (Yakima) vs 100.1 (Kennewick-Richland)
- $100k in Yakima ≈ $104,745 purchasing power in Kennewick-Richland
- Rents drives the gap (+22.2 RPP points)
RPP parity plate
Pair WA:WA 95.5→100.1
TIER-NEAR · SAME-STATE · SPLIT-BUDGET · BENCH-CROSS · PP-SHIFT
- TIER-NEAR Near tier
- SAME-STATE Same state · WA
- SPLIT-BUDGET Split budget
- BENCH-CROSS Benchmark cross
- 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
- Yakima
- 105.0
- Kennewick-Richland
- 105.0
Diff 0.0 RPP
Services
- Yakima
- 91.9
- Kennewick-Richland
- 93.6
Diff +1.7 RPP
Rents
- Yakima
- 72.6
- Kennewick-Richland
- 94.8
Diff +22.2 RPP
| Category | Yakima | Kennewick-Richland | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Overall | 95.5 | 100.1 | +4.5 |
| Goods | 105.0 | 105.0 | 0.0 |
| Services | 91.9 | 93.6 | +1.7 |
| Rents | 72.6 | 94.8 | +22.2 |
Visual Comparison
Overall
Yakima 95.5
Kennewick-Richland 100.1
Goods
Yakima 105.0
Kennewick-Richland 105.0
Services
Yakima 91.9
Kennewick-Richland 93.6
Rents
Yakima 72.6
Kennewick-Richland 94.8
Vertical line = national average (100)
What This Comparison Actually Tells You
Rents creates the largest separation: Kennewick-Richland is 22.2 points higher. But goods move against the overall direction, so this is a split budget rather than a clean across-the-board winner.
Kennewick-Richland, WA is 4.7% more expensive than Yakima, WA, a meaningful but not extreme shift. The move decision turns on which budget category creates the 4.5-point overall gap.
This route crosses the national benchmark: Kennewick-Richland is above 100 while Yakima 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 Yakima corresponds to $104,745 in Kennewick-Richland.
Yakima
95.5
Cost Index
Kennewick-Richland
100.1
Cost Index
Salary Equivalents
What a salary in Yakima would need to be in Kennewick-Richland for the same purchasing power:
| In Yakima | In Kennewick-Richland | Difference |
|---|---|---|
| $50,000 | $52,373 | +$2,373 |
| $75,000 | $78,559 | +$3,559 |
| $100,000 | $104,745 | +$4,745 |
| $150,000 | $157,118 | +$7,118 |
$ in Yakima = in Kennewick-Richland
Same BEA Regional Price Parity ratio as the table above (95.5 → 100.1), computed live from your number, nothing is sent anywhere.
How the Price Gap Changed
Yakima and Kennewick-Richland share 17 published annual releases from 2008 through 2024. Their overall gap widened, moving from 1.2 to 4.5 RPP points. Kennewick-Richland remained the higher-index metro in the latest release.
Rents changed the most within this pair: its gap moved 15.9 points between the first and latest shared releases (6.3 to 22.2 points). This describes a relative price-index history, not a forecast or a household budget.
| Release Year | Yakima RPP | Kennewick-Richland RPP | Relative Gap |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2008 | 93.0 | 94.2 | 1.2 points Kennewick-Richland higher |
| 2012 | 97.1 | 99.3 | 2.2 points Kennewick-Richland higher |
| 2016 | 94.4 | 97.4 | 3.0 points Kennewick-Richland higher |
| 2020 | 96.2 | 99.8 | 3.6 points Kennewick-Richland higher |
| 2024 | 95.5 | 100.1 | 4.5 points Kennewick-Richland 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 Kennewick-Richland more expensive than Yakima?
Kennewick-Richland is 4.7% more expensive than Yakima. The overall cost index is 100.1 vs 95.5 (national average = 100).
What salary in Kennewick-Richland equals $100K in Yakima?
A $100,000 salary in Yakima has the same purchasing power as $104,745 in Kennewick-Richland. This is based on the BEA Regional Price Parity indexes.
How do rents compare between Yakima and Kennewick-Richland?
Rents in Yakima are indexed at 72.6 while Kennewick-Richland is at 94.8 (national average = 100). Kennewick-Richland 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.