8 years ago
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The Real Value of $100 in Each State
This week’s map shows the real value of $100 in each state. Prices for the same goods are often much cheaper in states like Missouri or Ohio than they are in states like New York or California. As a result, the same amount of cash can buy you comparatively more in a low-price state than in a high-price state.
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i live in Ohio,but I will have to print the article and show it to people to get them to believe it.
Just spent a month in South Carolina and came back to Ohio... i dont see how OH is cheaper than SC.
Really depends on the area, if you went to a larger city you're going to pay more, Greenville is one of the highest cost of living cities. Same goes for Tennessee, if you were to go to Nashville you'd probably think you was in Hawaii with the prices of things, but other rural cities such as Murfreesboro get cheaper. Thats why if your job ever involves moving you always look at cost of living for the area and compare it back to current living arrangements, you might find that 15K a year raise only translate into minimal gains and a large hassle of learning a new area and moving just for the sake of more money.
Then again with online buying becoming a huge thing now that skews things.
I imagine soon enough that too will become skewed based on location.
The figures for each state are probably an average. I can think of two cities, one in Texas, and another in Kentucky that are more in line with California...
I moved from Ohio to California a few years ago. BELIEVE IT!
Wow, Hawaii must be extremely expensive to live in. I suppose that's because everything needs to be imported?
It's a combination of several factors like taxes, housing, job market, etc. all of which are influenced directly or indirectly by the isolation. This article illustrates this fact even further:
http://www.kgw.com/story/money/careers/2015/0...-worst-states-to-make-a-living-2015/29626223/
I had a friend who lived in Hawaii and she sai the prices for things were absurd.
Go to Mississippi! You make about $15 every $100 you spend. The more you spend, the more you make. You can't afford to not live there!
Factor in income levels as similar jobs pay differently based on location (as mentioned in the article) and factor in taxes before deciding where to live!
Wait a minute. I briefly considered moving to Vermont because it much more closely matches the political atmosphere, geography, weather, etc. than my current state (Oklahoma.) I ended up discounting it solely based on the cost of living, which is astronomically higher than here in OK. Can someone explain to me the difference between the value of a dollar and the cost of living in a state?
I'll try to explain but someone please correct me if I'm wrong... Basically cost of living is tied to the value of the dollar. The way they figure the value of the dollar is to take into account ALL the expenses you may have in a certain state and compare it to another state. For example in California I pay a lot in rent and goods (everything else) meaning the value of my dollars is lower than someone in South Dakota. This could be because they pay less rent OR maybe they pay less rent and less for goods. Both are taken into account. Something that is important to remember though is that usually in the higher cost states jobs pay more to compensate for the difference. So in South Dakota I may get $10 an hour to work at a gas station where as California will pay $14 and hour. To use an anecdote; I have a friend who moved to Texas because rent was cheaper and they ended up taking a $3 an hour pay cut. They complain a lot because even though rent is cheaper they have almost the same lifestyle. Anyway, I would recommend looking into jobs in the state you would like to move to and deciding from there. If you can get a job that pays better then the higher rent may not matter so much. Plus, I hear Vermont is amazing :)
Thanks for the explanation! About halfway through reading it, I realized that I totally interpreted the dollar value backwards, and that a smaller dollar value indicates a more expensive state. Rothulfossil, you doofus...
Now, to see if an unfinished college degree (76 credit hours, so I technically could claim my Associate's Degree, but I'm still holding out hope that I'll find a way to finish) and four years of retail experience could land me a sustainable job in Vermont.
Still not worth living in the south! South Dakota is more appealing though...
There are a few places in the south that are really nice though. If you're into big cities, there is that, or if you want to be in a fast growing area, like where I live, it's pretty exciting! Lots of new stuff and this place is booming. It's definitely not like the rural areas of the south. That's where I wouldn't want to live.
The cities would be fine I'm sure, but I couldn't stand the heat! I'd much rather bundle up in the mountains/plains.
I'd like to see them break this down a little more by county, rather than state. For a place like New Hampshire I'm sure things stay in the same range across the state, but I have to imagine showing figures that combine LA with Northern California distorts both regions low and high, respectively.
I totally agree, and would like to see even more granularity down to urban/rural boundaries, or even census tract. Hell, the report hints at metropolitan area income effects, so surely the BEA data is somewhere out there. Otherwise, the rolled-up numbers are potentially going to be misconstrued, especially if such a study gets traction as a vehicle for public policy implications.
Want to note that in the city of D.C. apparently a dollar goes less far than in Hawaii, where everything would be imported. Step up your game D.C.
I live in the DC metro area and it is very expensive to live here. The cost of living is fine tuned to the crazy salaries people get from their jobs.
What is this based on because Mississippi is EXPENSIVE the only cheap thing here is gas.
I live in Arkansas. It definitely is very cheap here, but the area I live in Northwest Arkansas region, is growing so fast and I have seen prices start to get higher the last few years, like rent.
Right, right, sure, but in South Dakota your extra 14% goes to 1) driving the extra 100-mile round-trip to even go to a fucking Wal-Mart; 2) Chislic; 3) scotch, to stay warm on those long January nights; 4) kuchen. TBH, the chislic and kuchen kinda make everything else worth it.
This is a great article! Of course I've lived in only New York and California though...
The sales tax in Washington is insane, although that's partly because we don't have a state income tax. It's often said you need to live in Vancouver (Washington, not BC), so you don't pay income tax, then do all your shopping in Portland across the river to avoid paying sales tax.
I work remotely and I make a decent living. I don't have kids or a wife and I've often thought about moving someplace cheaper (aka not Washington :p) so I could live an even nicer life.