In a recent post, we explored the Cost of Living Index (COLI) published by the Council for Community and Economic Research. This index features a base of 100, corresponding to a national average cost of living. While you can reference more of the findings in the earlier post, we wanted to drill down on one aspect of the findings in particular. The map below, taken from the full slide deck (which can be downloaded here), shows a familiar pattern: high costs of living found primarily on the West Coast and New England. Further inland and south, goods and services are just cheaper.
While housing costs certainly drive much of the high cost of living found in Manhattan and San Francisco, it turns out these aren’t the only culprits. The COLI also gives us a fairly granular look at specific goods and services, and we’ve highlighted a few here. These food-related items are shown for the 3 metros with the highest overall COLI (Manhattan, San Francisco, and Washington, D.C.) and the 3 metros with the lowest overall COLI (Houston, San Antonio, and St. Louis). Atlanta is highlighted with a black bar, sandwiched between these 6 metros:
The above table is color-coded to show high values as red, low values as green (relative to a given column). With a few exceptions, the grocery items shown are predictably more expensive in the 3 coastal cities and cheaper in the inland cities, with Atlanta generally falling somewhere in between. And for staples like eggs and milk, Atlanta is even shown to have lower costs than any of the 6 metros shown.
While this may be good news for your wallet, caveat emptor! Note that your level of alcohol consumption might offset these savings on your next trip to Kroger this fall: Atlanta’s wine and beer costs are more on par with those of San Francisco and Washington, D.C. So the next time you’re traveling in Texas, stock up on alcohol but wait until you get back home to buy your milk and eggs!