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About the cost of living index data
Cost of living index data was generously provided by the Council for Community and Economic Research. It’s copyrighted data and used with permission here. Parts of the following text are quoted from documentation provided by this organization.
The data is for quarter 1, 2015 and covers participating areas. Included here are only metropolitan areas. Data for non-metropolitan areas is excluded.
“The Cost of Living Index measures relative price levels for consumer goods and services in participating areas.” See the bar chart at the end of this section for the goods and services included in the shopping basket of the index and corresponding weights used to calculate the index.
“The average for all participating places, both metropolitan and nonmetropolitan, equals 100, and each participant’s index is read as a percentage of the average for all places.”
“The Index reflects cost differentials for professional and executive households in the top income quintile. Operationally, this standard of living is set by the weighting structure. Homeownership costs, for example, are more heavily weighted than they would be if the Index reflected a clerical worker standard of living or average costs for all urban consumers.”
The index does not include state or local taxes.
The state-level data plotted on the map was obtained as an unweighted average of index data from metropolitan areas within states.
About patterns on this map
States that have approximately average cost of living index (95 to 105) have white color fill. Those below average are increasing darker green the less the index. Those above average go from yellow to orange to red for increasing index values. See the LEGEND for details.
There are remarkably cheaper and more expensive places to live in the U.S. The index range by state is from 84 (Mississippi) to 143 (D.C.) and by metropolitan area from the available sample from 77 to 190.
The next table has the 10 cheapest metropolitan areas to live.
Metro Index
McAllen, TX 77
Brownsville, TX 80
Youngstown, OH-PA 82
Idaho Falls, ID 82
Pueblo, CO 82
Richmond, IN 83
Oklahoma City, OK 83
Ashland, OH 83
Tupelo, MS 83
Ardmore, OK 84
The next table has the 10 most expensive metropolitan areas.
Metro Index
New York City 224
Honolulu 190
San Francisco 173
Truckee-Grass Valley, CA 158
Hilo, HI 151
Anaheim, CA 147
Bridgeport, CT 145
Washington DC 143
Oakland CA 143
San Diego 142
Example use of the index (quoted from documentation provided by the Council for Community and Economic Research)
“Assume that City A has a composite index of 98.3 and City B has a composite index of 128.5. If you live in City A and are contemplating a job offer in City B, how much of an increase in your after-taxes income is needed to maintain your present lifestyle?
100*[(City B – City A)/City A] = 100*[(128.5-98.3)/98.3] = 30.72%, or about a 31% increase
Conversely, if you are considering a move from City B to City A, how much of a cut in after-taxes income can you sustain without reducing your present lifestyle?
100*[(City A – City B)/City b] = 100*[(98.3 – 128.5)/128.5] = -23.5%, or about a 24% reduction”
Below is the shopping basket and weights used to estimate the cost of living index.
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