Overall
110.5
Expensive
Metro cost profile · 2024 BEA RPP
Oxnard-Thousand Oaks-Ventura, CA
Cost-of-living indicators for Oxnard-Thousand Oaks-Ventura, CA, from Bureau of Economic Analysis Regional Price Parities, overall, goods, services, and rents vs the U.S. average of 100.
- 110.5
- Overall RPP
- #9
- of 387 metros
- 171.1
- Rents RPP
- $90K
- $100K national buys
Oxnard ranks #9 of 387 U.S. metros by cost, and its overall price index has held steady since 2008.
- stable since 2008
- similar cost to San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara
The verdict
Oxnard is more expensive than 98% of U.S. metros, an overall cost index of 110.5, 10.5% above the national average, led by rents at 171.1.
- top 2%
- by overall cost, nationwide
- 105.2
- goods RPP, tradable items
- 152.9
- services RPP, labor-priced
A $100,000 national salary carries the purchasing power of about $90,470 here; matching a $100K lifestyle takes roughly $110,534.
Latest BEA release change
What changed from 2023 to 2024
Oxnard's overall RPP fell -3.2 points, from 113.7 in 2023 to 110.5 in 2024. The largest category movement was services, changing from 135.5 to 152.9. This is a relative change against the national benchmark, not a household's dollar bill.
RPP History (2008-2024)
The cost of living has remained relatively stable, changing by only 1.0 points over this period. The largest single-year move was in 2018, when the index jumped 5.8 points from the year before, a bigger swing than the full 2008-2024 change.
Oxnard overall RPP, 2008-2024
Every year on record, national average = 100
| Year | Overall |
|---|---|
| 2008 | 109.5 |
| 2009 | 110.4 |
| 2010 | 109.4 |
| 2011 | 109.6 |
| 2012 | 110.4 |
| 2013 | 111.2 |
| 2014 | 113.1 |
| 2015 | 113.2 |
| 2016 | 111.2 |
| 2017 | 108.1 |
| 2018 | 114.0 |
| 2019 | 112.4 |
| 2020 | 111.3 |
| 2021 | 111.4 |
| 2022 | 114.4 |
| 2023 | 113.7 |
| 2024 | 110.5 |
Oxnard vs every U.S. metro
Where this metro sits in the national cost distribution
111 Top 2% higher than 98% of 387 US metros
Each bar is a band; taller bars hold more US metros. The dashed line + filled bar mark this entry. Hover or tap any bar for its full count, share, and where it sits relative to this entry.
Source U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis, Regional Price Parities · 2024
Oxnard cost breakdown
BEA RPP by category, 100 = national average
- Rents
Rents
171.1 RPP
- Services
Services
152.9 RPP
- Overall
Overall
110.5 RPP
- Goods
Goods
105.2 RPP
What this shows Oxnard's cost structure is housing-led: rents at 171.1 depart furthest from 100, while services sits at 152.9. This is a rent-sensitive profile, not a claim that every local expense moves together.
Goods vs. housing, where Oxnard's cost comes from
Metros near Oxnard's overall cost, plotted by their goods price (horizontal) and housing price (vertical). Same headline RPP, very different structures.
Read the chart as text
- Oxnard (Oxnard, this metro): goods RPP 105.2, rents RPP 171.1
- San Jose: goods RPP 105.2, rents RPP 211.9
- Urban Honolulu: goods RPP 111.6, rents RPP 135.5
- Seattle: goods RPP 104, rents RPP 151.3
- Santa Cruz: goods RPP 105.2, rents RPP 164.3
- Kiryas Joel: goods RPP 110.3, rents RPP 115.8
- Kahului: goods RPP 111.6, rents RPP 119.2
Price Index Summary
Goods
105.2
Above avg
Services
152.9
Expensive
Rents
171.1
Expensive
Housing-led cost profile
How Oxnard's cost structure works
Housing is the defining pressure in Oxnard: rents index at 171.1, the furthest component above the national benchmark. The overall index of 110.5 places Oxnard among the priciest quarter of U.S. metros; the rent line explains why a similar headline RPP can still require a different housing budget.
Across all reported metros, the closest component-profile matches are Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim, CA, Santa Cruz-Watsonville, CA, Santa Maria-Santa Barbara, CA. They resemble Oxnard across goods, services, and rents together, so they are stronger structure peers than a place selected only because its overall RPP happens to be nearby.
Across 2008-2024, Oxnard's overall index has stayed within 1.0 points. This is a relative price-level history, not a prediction or a personal affordability recommendation; pair it with current local wages and housing options before making a decision.
Salary Equivalent
A $100,000 salary at the national average cost of living equals:
$110,534
in Oxnard-Thousand Oaks-Ventura, CA purchasing power
$50,000 nationally
$55,267
$75,000 nationally
$82,901
$125,000 nationally
$138,168
$150,000 nationally
$165,801
$200,000 nationally
$221,068
Use the salary calculator for custom amounts.
Affordability score
F
1/100
How far the median local paycheck goes here, combining income and housing cost
Purchasing power
Not reported
Housing affordability F
1st percentile
A weighted composite (60% purchasing power, 40% housing affordability) percentile-ranked against every other tracked metro; a missing input redistributes its weight rather than deflating the score. Sources: Census ACS 5-Year 2023 (income) + BEA Regional Price Parities 2024 (cost). Vintages differ by design; see methodology.
CA-relative analysis
Goods prices places Oxnard-Thousand Oaks-Ventura, CA near the bottom of CA's metros
Among the 25 CA metros PlainCost tracks with reported goods prices data, Oxnard-Thousand Oaks-Ventura, CA ranks #4 - the 4th percentile within the state. This is a different, narrower cut than the nationwide rank above: it compares Oxnard-Thousand Oaks-Ventura, CA only against its own state's metros, not the full US field.
Goods prices
#4 of 25
4th percentile in CA
Services prices
#19 of 25
24th percentile in CA
Rent prices
#5 of 25
80th percentile in CA
Ranked by raw value (highest first); a higher rank is not automatically "more expensive is worse", see the national comparison above for direction context. This is a comparison within CA only, not a livability score.
Nationwide metros with similar overall cost or rent prices
Two BEA RPP-derived peer sets for Oxnard-Thousand Oaks-Ventura, CA: nearest metros by overall regional price parity and by rents RPP. These are cross-state neighborhoods, not the in-state metro list below.
Similar overall RPP
Nearest metros by overall regional price parity (110.5 here).
Similar rents RPP
Nearest metros by rents regional price parity (171.1 here).
Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim, CA Rents 170.4 San Diego-Chula Vista-Carlsbad, CA Rents 179.3 Boulder, CO Rents 157.0 Miami-Fort Lauderdale-West Palm Beach, FL Rents 155.6 Santa Maria-Santa Barbara, CA Rents 151.4 Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, DC-VA-MD-WV Rents 151.1 Bridgeport-Stamford-Danbury, CT Metropolitan Statistical Area Rents 150.5 New York-Newark-Jersey City, NY-NJ Rents 148.6
Other CA Metros
San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont, CA 115.6 Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim, CA 113.6 Napa, CA 112.6 San Diego-Chula Vista-Carlsbad, CA 111.9 San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, CA 110.4 Santa Cruz-Watsonville, CA 109.9
View all CA metros → Cheapest in CA → Most expensive in CA →
Decision peers
Metros with a similar cost mix
These metros are closest to Oxnard's combined goods, services, and rents profile. They may not have the same overall RPP, but their price pressures are shaped in a similar way.
Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim, CA
Goods 106.6 · Services 158.6 · Rents 170.4 Santa Cruz-Watsonville, CA
Goods 105.2 · Services 152.7 · Rents 164.3 Santa Maria-Santa Barbara, CA
Goods 105.2 · Services 149.8 · Rents 151.4 Bridgeport-Stamford-Danbury, CT Metropolitan Statistical Area
Goods 97.3 · Services 147.1 · Rents 150.5 San Diego-Chula Vista-Carlsbad, CA
Goods 108.0 · Services 174.2 · Rents 179.3 Boston-Cambridge-Newton, MA-NH
Goods 99.7 · Services 148.8 · Rents 148.4
Metros with Similar Cost of Living
These metros have an overall RPP closest to Oxnard-Thousand Oaks-Ventura, CA's index of 110.5.
Showing the 6 closest of 387 metro areas tracked nationally.
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Cost of living guides →, cheapest and most-expensive metro rankings, salary negotiation with RPP data, and step-by-step comparison walkthroughs.
Compare to Other Metros
What this means for Oxnard
How to read Oxnard's cost of living before a move, a job offer, or a budget.
- Budget to local prices, not headline pay, a $100K national salary spends like about $90,470 in Oxnard. Salary calculator
- Start with rents: it indexes at 171.1, the largest departure from the national benchmark in this metro's BEA cost mix. Compare it with the other components before treating the overall RPP as a complete household budget.
- Compare Oxnard head-to-head against a specific destination before you decide. Compare metros
RPP is BEA's annual price-level benchmark for the data year shown, not a live market quote. Pair it with current local wages and housing costs before deciding.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the cost of living in Oxnard-Thousand Oaks-Ventura, CA?
Oxnard-Thousand Oaks-Ventura, CA has a Regional Price Parity (RPP) index of 110.5, meaning it is 10.5% more expensive than the national average. Goods are indexed at 105.2, services at 152.9, and rents at 171.1. It ranks #9 out of 387 U.S. metro areas by overall cost.
What salary do I need in Oxnard-Thousand Oaks-Ventura, CA to match $100K nationally?
To maintain the same purchasing power as a $100,000 salary at the national average, you would need approximately $110,534 in Oxnard-Thousand Oaks-Ventura, CA. Conversely, $100K earned in Oxnard-Thousand Oaks-Ventura, CA has the purchasing power of $90,470 at the national average.
How expensive is rent in Oxnard-Thousand Oaks-Ventura, CA?
Rents in Oxnard-Thousand Oaks-Ventura, CA are indexed at 171.1, which is 71.1% above the national average. This is significantly higher than typical U.S. rents.
Is Oxnard-Thousand Oaks-Ventura, CA getting more expensive?
From 2008 to 2024, Oxnard-Thousand Oaks-Ventura, CA's overall cost index changed by +1.0 points (from 109.5 to 110.5). The cost of living has remained relatively stable.
What costs the most in Oxnard-Thousand Oaks-Ventura, CA?
The priciest category in Oxnard-Thousand Oaks-Ventura, CA is rents at 171.1, 71.1% above the national average. The most affordable category is goods at 105.2, 5.2% above average, still the lowest of the three categories.
What metros have a similar cost of living to Oxnard-Thousand Oaks-Ventura, CA?
Metros with the most similar overall cost index include San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, Urban Honolulu, Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue. These areas have RPP values within a few points of Oxnard-Thousand Oaks-Ventura, CA's 110.5.
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.