Route comparison
Salt Lake City, UT vs Boise, ID: Cost of Living
Compare Salt Lake City, UT and Boise, ID using historical BEA 2024 price indexes and HUD FY2027 2-bedroom FMR benchmarks. Add your own salary, lease and moving quote to a budget summary.
Salt Lake City, UT
UT
- 2024 overall RPP (US=100)
- 100.868
- 2024 housing-rent RPP
- 123.311
- 2024 goods RPP
- 96.446
- HUD FY2027 2-BR FMR
- $1,615/mo
City name is shorthand for an area benchmark. This September 2026 review did not recheck this area's full BEA/HUD geographic mapping.
Income tax and payroll deductions are not calculated. Confirm take-home pay for your work and home addresses separately.
Boise, ID
ID
- 2024 overall RPP (US=100)
- 98.391
- 2024 housing-rent RPP
- 105.58
- 2024 goods RPP
- 96.179
- HUD FY2027 2-BR FMR
- $1,540/mo
City name is shorthand for an area benchmark. This September 2026 review did not recheck this area's full BEA/HUD geographic mapping.
Income tax and payroll deductions are not calculated. Confirm take-home pay for your work and home addresses separately.
Historical RPP salary illustration
In the BEA 2024 benchmark, Boise, ID has a lower overall price level than Salt Lake City, UT by about 2.5% (RPP 100.868 to 98.391).
$60,000 in Salt Lake City, UT
-> $58,527
in Boise, ID
$100,000 in Salt Lake City, UT
-> $97,544
in Boise, ID
$150,000 in Salt Lake City, UT
-> $146,316
in Boise, ID
Salary illustrations use BEA 2024 overall Regional Price Parities (RPP) only, before tax and household-specific adjustments. Overall RPP already includes housing. HUD FY2027 2-bedroom Fair Market Rent is a separate historical gross-rent benchmark, not a current lease or median rent. Do not add rent to the RPP salary figure. Your lease and moving quote belong in a separate budget. Not financial advice.
Step 2: what will the move itself cost?
Put your actual lease, deposit, overlap rent and mover quote beside the historical salary illustration. Leave amounts you do not yet know blank.
Migration signal: Salt Lake City, UT vs Boise, ID
IRS tax-return migration · 2022-2023Salt Lake City, UT
- Net people
- −7,244
- Net rank
- #54 of 65
- Top origin share
- 23%
- Top destination share
- 27%
Largest source: Utah County, UT. Largest destination: Utah County, UT.
Boise, ID
- Net people
- +9,000
- Net rank
- #12 of 65
- Top origin share
- 5%
- Top destination share
- 5%
Largest source: Orange County, CA. Largest destination: Maricopa County, AZ.
Rent delta: Boise, ID is $75/mo lower for HUD FY2027 2-BR FMR than Salt Lake City, UT. Housing RPP moves from 123.311 to 105.58.
Migration figures are derived from IRS SOI county-to-county migration data for 2022-2023, mapped to metros via Census CBSA delineation. Small county-to-county flows are IRS-suppressed, so per-metro totals are lower bounds. Source: IRS SOI migration data.
Frequently asked questions
- Is Boise, ID cheaper or more expensive than Salt Lake City, UT?
- In the BEA 2024 benchmark, Boise, ID (RPP 98.391) has an overall price level about 2.5% lower than Salt Lake City, UT (RPP 100.868). This does not measure your current household costs.
- What salary do I need in Boise, ID if I earn $100,000 in Salt Lake City, UT?
- The historical RPP illustration is approximately $97,544 in Boise, ID, using $100,000 x (98.391 / 100.868). It uses BEA 2024 overall price indexes before tax and household adjustments; HUD rent is not added to this figure.
- Which metro had stronger net migration, Salt Lake City, UT or Boise, ID?
- For 2022-2023, Salt Lake City, UT had a net loss of 7,244 people, while Boise, ID had a net gain of 9,000 people. IRS small-flow suppression means these are lower-bound research signals, not complete population-change totals.