Overall
- Yakima
- 95.5
- Olympia-Lacey-Tumwater
- 103.7
Diff +8.1 RPP
Yakima vs Olympia-Lacey-Tumwater
Cost of living comparison based on BEA Regional Price Parities. Olympia-Lacey-Tumwater is 8.5% more expensive than Yakima.
8.5% more expensive
Olympia-Lacey-Tumwater, WA is 8.5% more expensive than Yakima, WA on BEA Regional Price Parities (overall RPP 103.7 vs 95.5). A $100,000 salary in Yakima buys about the same as $108,504 in Olympia-Lacey-Tumwater; the largest component gap is rents.
- Overall RPP 95.5 (Yakima) vs 103.7 (Olympia-Lacey-Tumwater)
- $100k in Yakima ≈ $108,504 purchasing power in Olympia-Lacey-Tumwater
- Rents drives the gap (+44.0 RPP points)
RPP parity plate
Pair WA:WA 95.5→103.7
TIER-GAP · SAME-STATE · SPLIT-BUDGET · BENCH-CROSS · PP-SHIFT
- TIER-GAP Clear tier gap
- 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
- Olympia-Lacey-Tumwater
- 105.0
Diff 0.0 RPP
Services
- Yakima
- 91.9
Diff -0.2 RPP
Rents
- Yakima
- 72.6
- Olympia-Lacey-Tumwater
- 116.7
Diff +44.0 RPP
| Category | Yakima | Olympia-Lacey-Tumwater | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Overall | 95.5 | 103.7 | +8.1 |
| Goods | 105.0 | 105.0 | 0.0 |
| Services | 91.9 | 91.7 | -0.2 |
| Rents | 72.6 | 116.7 | +44.0 |
Visual Comparison
Overall
Yakima 95.5
Olympia-Lacey-Tumwater 103.7
Goods
Yakima 105.0
Olympia-Lacey-Tumwater 105.0
Services
Yakima 91.9
Olympia-Lacey-Tumwater 91.7
Rents
Yakima 72.6
Olympia-Lacey-Tumwater 116.7
Vertical line = national average (100)
What This Comparison Actually Tells You
Rents creates the largest separation: Olympia-Lacey-Tumwater is 44.0 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.
Yakima, WA and Olympia-Lacey-Tumwater, WA sit in clearly different price tiers, separated by 8.1 RPP points. At this distance, treating the same nominal salary as equivalent would materially change purchasing power.
This route crosses the national benchmark: Olympia-Lacey-Tumwater 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 $108,504 in Olympia-Lacey-Tumwater.
Yakima
95.5
Cost Index
Olympia-Lacey-Tumwater
103.7
Cost Index
Salary Equivalents
What a salary in Yakima would need to be in Olympia-Lacey-Tumwater for the same purchasing power:
| In Yakima | In Olympia-Lacey-Tumwater | Difference |
|---|---|---|
| $50,000 | $54,252 | +$4,252 |
| $75,000 | $81,378 | +$6,378 |
| $100,000 | $108,504 | +$8,504 |
| $150,000 | $162,756 | +$12,756 |
$ in Yakima = in Olympia-Lacey-Tumwater
Same BEA Regional Price Parity ratio as the table above (95.5 → 103.7), computed live from your number, nothing is sent anywhere.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Olympia-Lacey-Tumwater more expensive than Yakima?
Olympia-Lacey-Tumwater is 8.5% more expensive than Yakima. The overall cost index is 103.7 vs 95.5 (national average = 100).
What salary in Olympia-Lacey-Tumwater equals $100K in Yakima?
A $100,000 salary in Yakima has the same purchasing power as $108,504 in Olympia-Lacey-Tumwater. This is based on the BEA Regional Price Parity indexes.
How do rents compare between Yakima and Olympia-Lacey-Tumwater?
Rents in Yakima are indexed at 72.6 while Olympia-Lacey-Tumwater is at 116.7 (national average = 100). Olympia-Lacey-Tumwater 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.