Walla Walla → Great Falls

Moving from Walla Walla to Great Falls shifts your BEA Regional Price Parity from 98.5 to 96.8 (100 = US average), so a Walla Walla salary needs to be multiplied by 0.98 to hold the same purchasing power in Great Falls. On rent, HUD Fair Market Rent for a 2-bedroom goes from $1,550/month in Walla Walla to $1,284/month in Great Falls - a lower monthly bill of $266, or $3,192/year. That rent delta alone is often the single biggest line item when relocating.

Wages tell the other half. BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics report a median salary of $71,001 in Walla Walla versus $60,566 in Great Falls - a raw gap of $10,435 lower. The Great Falls labor market has 31,100 tracked jobs against 19,680 in Walla Walla, shaping how easy it is to find a comparable role. Combine that with the cost-of-living shift above and you get the real purchasing-power delta, sometimes a "higher salary" is actually a pay cut once rent and RPP are applied.

Safety, schools, and childcare round out the move. FBI UCR violent crime rates near Walla Walla and Great Falls are 329 and 426 per 100,000 (state-level). NCES student-teacher ratios run 17.6:1 at origin versus 11.8:1 at destination. DOL center-based infant care costs $15,987/year in Walla Walla versus $11,466/year in Great Falls. Our composite verdict - Favorable - weighs all seven federal sources; the dimension table below lets you override that with your personal priorities.