Cost of Living Index map
Cost of living index map
The data
The 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 bullets are quoted from documentation for the data provided by this organization.
Cost of living index map
- The data in the map is only for metropolitan areas; non-metropolitan data exists but is not included.
- “The Cost of Living Index measures relative price levels for consumer goods and services in participating areas.”
- “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 (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.
Patterns on the 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 map 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 10 least expensive metropolitan areas.
The 10 most expensive metropolitan areas
Shopping basket and weights used to estimate the cost of living index
Example use map data
This example is 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
