Best Places to Live | Compare cost of living, crime, cities, schools and more.
In order to keep your same standard of living your salary can vary greatly. - whether you buy or rent, require child care, or want to include taxes. This is why we are now offering a Premium Salary & Cost of Living Calculator. Our Premium Calculator Includes:- Compare Cities cost of living across 9 different categories- Personal salary calculations can optionally include Home ownership or rental, Child care, and Taxes (with details on state and local sales, income, property and automobile taxes)- Includes the cost of Child Care for toddlers or infants, at a day care center or home care- Groceries prices, detailed for 29 staple items in six categories- Difference in cost of Utilities, including electric, gas and fuel oil- Health Care Premiums and hospital expenses for major surgeries- Taxes, Fees and Expenses you should know about, such as local car insurance rates, automobile taxes and registration, commuting costs.- and 100s of other items you should consider before you relocateUpgrade To Premium | See Example
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A cost of living index allows you to compare what it costs to live in one place against another, revealing how far your money will go in different areas. Scores are presented in relation to the national average of 100. If a place’s COL index is below 100, it’s cheaper than the national average. If it’s over 100, it’s more expensive than the national average.
For example, a cost of living index of 130 means it costs 30% more to live there as compared to the national average (130-100=30). If you perform the same calculation with a cost of index below the national average of 100, you’ll get a negative number showing how much money you’ll save. So, in a place with a COL of 85, that means it costs 15% less to live there than the national average (85-100=-15).
The BestPlaces cost of living index is the most accurate and complete available because we add many new categories to the current and historical systems. We start with ACCRA’s 100-as-national-average model adopted by the Council for Community and Economic Research (C2ER) in 1968, then update and expand it to include 21st-century consumer spending preferences and expenditure types.