2025 Compare Cities Cost of Living:
Merced, CA vs Duarte, CA

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Highlights
Is it cheaper to live in Duarte or is it cheaper to live in Merced?
- Duarte is 48.2% more expensive than Merced.

Which city has more affordable housing, Duarte or Merced?
- Duarte housing costs are 102.0% more expensive than Merced housing costs.

Is Health Care more affordable in Merced or is Health Care more affordable in Duarte.
- Health related expenses are 28.5% less in Duarte.
 Merced, CADuarte, CAUnited States
 Overall  Unlock161.7100
 Food & Groceries99.5  Unlock100
 Health  Unlock86.7100
 Housing110.3  Unlock100
 Median Home Cost  Unlock$667,600$338,100
 Utilities110  Unlock100
 Transportation  Unlock157.6100
 Miscellaneous108.7  Unlock100
100 = National Average (Below 100 means cheaper than the US average. Above 100 means more expensive.)
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Reviews for Merced    44 Reviews

Merced is totally slept on - you want a little bit of everything CA has to offer, at a fraction of the price of other CA cities? Merced is the place to go. The town  More

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Over 5 years ago

Good place to live. More affordable than most of california. The city is growing and there is alot of business and growth here. Moved from the Bay area years ago and  More

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Great place to live. Lots of progress and changes coming to the city. Great place to raise a family. UC Merced is expanding and businesses are investing. Downtown is  More

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Reviews for Duarte    5 Reviews

For some reason Duarte gets a bad rap for being gang infested etc. I was born and raised here and I have always felt safe. There are bad apples in every city but Duarte  More

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Over 15 years ago

Been living here for over 40 years and gang members took over, many shootings and crime makes you not want to leave your home. City has 3 police patrol cars and they  More

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Over 18 years ago

We lived in Duarte for around 3 years in the late 90's. It was nice because of the jogging paths and trails for horses. It's a very quiet community, has a few nice  More

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