comparing costs of living in different cities

Is there a good, relatively concise source of information on the Web where one can compare the cost of living from one city to the next? Ideally it would include such factors as state income and sales taxes, property taxes, housing costs, and the like. In the event that I get an opportunity to relocate for another job, I'd like to be able to estimate what a minimum salary would have to be at a new location just to match whatever buying power my paychecks have here, and then work up from there.

Here's this. https://ded.mo.gov/researchandplanning/indicators/cost_of_living/index.stm

You may notice that the Blue states have higher costs of living.

Interesting data. But "blue states"? The closest I saw to blue were sort of a sea-foam green.

I did notice that Florida and Virginia rank 34 and 33 respectively. Some day I'll explain why I asked.

Originally posted by TWRackers
Is there a good, relatively concise source of information on the Web where one can compare the cost of living from one city to the next?

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TWRackers having been through the same type of search last year here's the site, and warning, that our family used. It was recommended to us by the Department of Defense Transition Assistance Program:

https://move.realtor.com/Move/Tools/SalaryCalc.asp?gate=realtor&poe=realtor


Warning: While this was a good wag, I'd give a strong warning about using these sites. At the very best, it's a rough approximation. We still had sticker shock when we settled from Anchorage to St. Peters MO. These sites told us we could take a 20% cut in pay and still maintain the same lifestyle - which I had to use in salary negotiations. It was wrong and we're still realing from that. Should take us nearly six years to get back at the same salary level. Believe it or not, many things are far more expensive here than Alaska; excluding milk (beer's cheaper than milk in Alaska - go figure).

Also what these sites do not account for
is the property insurance, and like here in coastal
Floriduhh the monthly premiums rival the mortgage
payments thanks to the insurance racket...

Only gone up 300+% in the past two years....

wow I will have to show my dad this. He has the moving bug Lived in the same house for 10 years. I think we might be moving not sure if its out of state though.

thanx, Ben

interesting data. new hampshire doesn't seem to be on the list of states, although DC is.

Originally posted by akpilot
(beer's cheaper than milk in Alaska - go figure).

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OK akpilot you've convinced me - Alaska here I come!

Nevada is still cheap, as is wyoming, NM, Idaho, etc.

I'm in agreement that those stats are only a small part of the story--if you want to be around big rockets, florida, virginia make sense. If you want edgy culture, SF, NY, Seattle, etc make sense. If its golf, than AZ, Florida, or the carolinas. If its skiing....

The cost is a small amt of the eqn, and even in ridiculously expensive area like the SF bay area, one can do it, if they are willing to make certain compromises--like a small flat vs a single family home.
JS

Originally posted by cas2047
OK akpilot you've convinced me - Alaska here I come!

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It's a good thing we don't drink, because with milk being around $4.00 a gallon, I would've switch the family over to Bud on their Coco Crispies.

Originally posted by akpilot
It's a good thing we don't drink, because with milk being around $4.00 a gallon, I would've switch the family over to Bud on their Coco Crispies.

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Milk? Heck its 2.50 for swill, 4 for good stuff here in Denver. The price of beer might be more of a determinant.
JS

Cities within a state are important as well.

Take Ohio

I moved to Cleveland from Toledo in 1991 and found my 10K raise left me 10K worse off

I came back to Toledo as soon as I found a job near what I had had before.

This decade I had employees in a branch office in Cinci. I visited for meetings quite often. I found their rate of pay had to be more then employees in Toledo, but they paid considerably more for many simple things.

Cleveland, Columbus and Cinci are considerably more expensive to live in suburban areas that are also near work then Dayton, Toledo, Canton etc..

I find Toledo has nice green areas, a low cost of living, and more places to eat then any of the others in the same state.

Just my 2 cents.

I had found 4 years ago a web site that compared cites. For example at the time it said Tampa was .94 of Toledo etc..

I did a search again for it and can't seem to find it.

Originally posted by artu
Cities within a state are important as well.

Take Ohio

I moved to Cleveland from Toledo in 1991 and found my 10K raise left me 10K worse off

I came back to Toledo as soon as I found a job near what I had had before.

This decade I had employees in a branch office in Cinci. I visited for meetings quite often. I found their rate of pay had to be more then employees in Toledo, but they paid considerably more for many simple things.

Cleveland, Columbus and Cinci are considerably more expensive to live in suburban areas that are also near work then Dayton, Toledo, Canton etc..

I find Toledo has nice green areas, a low cost of living, and more places to eat then any of the others in the same state.

Just my 2 cents.

I had found 4 years ago a web site that compared cites. For example at the time it said Tampa was .94 of Toledo etc..

I did a search again for it and can't seem to find it.

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Toledo has better eats than Cleveland? That's saying something. Doesn't take much to beat Cincy and Columbus. (Although we kick butt in the chili department.)

Originally posted by Fishhead
Toledo has better eats than Cleveland? That's saying something. Doesn't take much to beat Cincy and Columbus. (Although we kick butt in the chili department.)

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Hi Fishhead,

Skyline Chili is good. The Redfish restaurant in downtown Cinci was good cajun and gumbo.

I had my Boss from our Park Ave office in the week before Christmas. I took him to Mancy's blue water grill. It's a Manhatten like place from the owners of Mancy's Steak House.

We had steaks and king crab legs. The legs were as long as my arms

He said the food was better then he had in NY

The real issue in Toledo is that we have more restaurants per capita then most places in the US. Always a place to eat on just about every corner.

Art

https://cgi.money.cnn.com/tools/costofliving/costofliving.html

Remember that part of this equation does depend on what you buy. The BLS (Bureau of Labor Statistics) and other government agencies that generate these cost of living figures do it by sending buyers out into various localities and collecting prices for a fixed basket of goods and services, and seeing how the total price for that fixed basket vary. If your basket of goods and services differs from the one used by the agencies, you might be in for some surprises.

I think this approach can really make for some big differences for folks moving around. From Bunny's informal survey, this methodology has potential flaws for an individual. You guys apparently buy a lot more beer than I do, but I'm willing to wager "an adult beverage" of your choosing that I buy more wine. . .

Originally posted by artu
He said the food was better then he had in NY.

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Given my personal experience, then he needs to eat in some different resturants in NYC. . . .

I haven't checked them out recently, but I'd bet that the big job websites like Career Builder and Monster probably have some pretty decent Cost of Living calculators buried in them somewhere. After all, someone's gotta explain that a $50,000/year salary in San Diego ain't quite the same as what it is in other cities.

WW

Originally posted by artu
Hi Fishhead,

Skyline Chili is good. The Redfish restaurant in downtown Cinci was good cajun and gumbo.

Art

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Skyline runs through my veins, which causes endless fun when I have blood tests.
Redfish recently closed. We went there fairly often for a while, but on our last trip things had changed for the worse. It had been more than a year since our last visit when they shut down. Downtown Cincinnati, with the exception of a few small pockets of activity, is becoming a ghost town after dark.

Originally posted by wwattles
I haven't checked them out recently, but I'd bet that the big job websites like Career Builder and Monster probably have some pretty decent Cost of Living calculators buried in them somewhere. After all, someone's gotta explain that a $50,000/year salary in San Diego ain't quite the same as what it is in other cities.

WW

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Good guess. I found one on CareerBuilder.com, but haven't yet located anything similar on Monster.com.

Originally posted by narprez
Given my personal experience, then he needs to eat in some different resturants in NYC. . . .

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I'm going to Park Ave next week, I will compare and let you know.

I've been to the high priced restrauants in the university area before, the portions are small, and the prices are high.

I can't compare the fine resrauants in your neck of the woods too well, the last fine one I visited was Cafe' La Cave in '85 after the CES show. Man that CES show was great back then

EDIT: Thanks Bunny for the Cost of Living Calc Link, I will experiment with it today.