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Cost of Living Comparison Calculator

Compare two US cities and see what salary keeps your buying power the same. Uses our local cost index, built on U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis price levels (2024) and each city's own rents; updated November 2026.

Start typing a city or state name. Local cost index (CostLiving estimate); US average = 100. State averages use BEA's official index.

A salary of $60,000 in Chicago, IL is equivalent to

$61,000 in Denver, CO

Prices in Denver are 1.7% higher than in Chicago.

Show the numbers
CategoryChicagoDenverDifference
All items 102.7 104.5 +1.7%
Housing (rents) 106.9 139.6 +30.6%
Goods 107.3 101.0 −5.9%
Utilities 83.6 87.9 +5.1%
Other services 100.5 99.4 −1.0%

Chicago cost of living · Denver cost of living

Cost of living across the US

BEA Regional Price Parities 2024, state averages (US = 100). Select a state to open its page.

Cost of living index by state, BEA 2024 Each state is one square in roughly its place; darker squares are more expensive. Highest California (110.7), lowest Arkansas (86.9). Alaska: 102.4 AK 102 Maine: 97.0 ME 97 Vermont: 98.0 VT 98 New Hampshire: 104.2 NH 104 Washington: 107.0 WA 107 Idaho: 95.5 ID 95 Montana: 94.6 MT 95 North Dakota: 89.0 ND 89 Minnesota: 98.6 MN 99 Illinois: 100.0 IL 100 Wisconsin: 94.1 WI 94 Michigan: 96.2 MI 96 New York: 107.9 NY 108 Rhode Island: 102.3 RI 102 Massachusetts: 105.8 MA 106 Oregon: 103.4 OR 103 Nevada: 100.0 NV 100 Wyoming: 92.7 WY 93 South Dakota: 88.6 SD 89 Iowa: 87.8 IA 88 Indiana: 93.3 IN 93 Ohio: 92.8 OH 93 Pennsylvania: 97.6 PA 98 New Jersey: 108.8 NJ 109 Connecticut: 103.6 CT 104 California: 110.7 CA 111 Utah: 98.9 UT 99 Colorado: 103.1 CO 103 Nebraska: 90.1 NE 90 Missouri: 90.8 MO 91 Kentucky: 90.2 KY 90 West Virginia: 89.5 WV 89 Virginia: 101.1 VA 101 Maryland: 105.0 MD 105 Delaware: 99.8 DE 100 Arizona: 100.7 AZ 101 New Mexico: 92.2 NM 92 Kansas: 90.1 KS 90 Arkansas: 86.9 AR 87 Tennessee: 91.9 TN 92 North Carolina: 94.3 NC 94 South Carolina: 93.7 SC 94 District of Columbia: 109.9 DC 110 Oklahoma: 87.8 OK 88 Louisiana: 88.2 LA 88 Mississippi: 87.0 MS 87 Alabama: 88.8 AL 89 Georgia: 96.3 GA 96 Hawaii: 110.0 HI 110 Texas: 97.1 TX 97 Florida: 103.4 FL 103
  1. 86.9–89.0
  2. 89.0–92.2
  3. 92.2–94.6
  4. 94.6–98.6
  5. 98.6–102.3
  6. 102.3–105.0
  7. 105.0–110.7
Lighter = cheaper, darker = more expensive (7 equal-count groups). Each square links to that state's page; positions are approximate.

Cheapest 10 cities

  1. Fort Payne, AL82.2
  2. Guntersville, AL83.9
  3. Rolla, MO84.0
  4. Ada, OK84.1
  5. Dothan, AL84.2
  6. McAlester, OK84.3
  7. Enid, OK84.3
  8. Shreveport, LA84.4
  9. Moulton, AL84.8
  10. Thibodaux, LA84.9

Most expensive 10 cities

  1. Malibu, CA133.8
  2. Newport Beach, CA131.1
  3. Hillsborough, CA128.7
  4. Foster City, CA128.7
  5. Weston, FL127.2
  6. Irvine, CA126.4
  7. Hoboken, NJ126.2
  8. Menlo Park, CA125.1
  9. Laguna Niguel, CA125.0
  10. McLean, VA124.9

Local cost index (CostLiving estimate), US average = 100, among the cities we cover.

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How the comparison works

Each city has a local cost index where the US average is 100. It starts from the Regional Price Parities published each year by the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis for the surrounding metro area (or the rural part of the state), and adjusts only the housing part for the city's own median rent compared with the area average. Goods, utilities and services prices stay exactly as BEA publishes them.

Equivalent salary = your salary × (index of the new city ÷ index of your current city). If you earn $60,000 where the index is 95 and move to a place at 114, you would need about $72,000 for the same standard of living.

Every city page goes further, with a modelled monthly budget for three household types, rents by bedroom count, home values, electricity and gasoline prices and regional inflation, all from official public sources.

Figures that come from a larger area (county, state or the non-metro part of a state) are always labelled. Read the methodology.

Cost of living by state

See all states ranked from most to least expensive →

Largest cities

Browse all cities by state →

Questions

How does the cost of living comparison calculator work?

It divides the price level of the city you are moving to by the price level of the city you live in. City price levels are our local cost index: the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis Regional Price Parities (2024) for the surrounding area, with housing adjusted to the city's own rents. Equivalent salary = your salary × (index of city B ÷ index of city A).

Does the calculator include taxes?

No. It compares price levels for goods, rents, utilities and other services. State and local income, sales and property taxes are not included.

Why do some places show a state nonmetro figure?

BEA publishes price parities for metropolitan areas, states, and the non-metropolitan part of each state. For cities outside a metro area (including micropolitan areas such as Elko, NV) our local index starts from the nonmetropolitan figure for their state.