Go to any large, high-density city like New York or San Francisco, and you’ll notice a difference in costs immediately.
The price you pay for groceries, dinner at the restaurant, filling up your tank, or even your daily coffee goes up substantially. With high-paying jobs, booming economies, limited space, and soaring levels of density, cities can be expensive.
Dollar Disparity
While this effect on costs is most evident in cities, it’s actually present throughout the country.
What you can buy for your paycheck varies wildly depending on where you are, greatly impacting purchasing power and the cost of living. Sometimes even a short one-hour drive can make a difference in some cases.
Today’s two maps come from TaxFoundation.org, and they look at regional differences in purchasing power, based on information from the Bureau of Economic Analysis.
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Bang for Buck, by State
The following map shows the buying power of $100 by state.
If the number is below, such as $90, it means money buys less than the federal average. If a state’s number is higher, such as $110, that means each dollar goes further, giving residents more purchasing power.
Generally speaking, dollars go furthest in states in the Southeast and Midwest parts of the country. Go to places like Arkansas or South Dakota, and you’ll see higher purchasing power.
Here are the five states that have the most buying power:
| Rank | State or District | Relative Value of $100 |
|---|---|---|
| #1 | Mississippi | $116.01 |
| #2 | Alabama | $115.21 |
| #3 | Arkansas | $114.42 |
| #4 | South Dakota | $113.38 |
| #5 | Kentucky | $112.87 |
And here are the five with the least buying power:
| Rank | State or District | Relative Value of $100 |
|---|---|---|
| #47 | New Jersey | $88.18 |
| #47 | California | $88.18 |
| #49 | New York | $86.73 |
| #50 | District of Columbia | $85.47 |
| #51 | Hawaii | $84.18 |
Bang for Buck, by County
The state map does not tell the whole story, however.
The reality is that density makes a big difference for buying power, and large metropolitan areas tend to be more expensive. The following chart breaks it down based on county, creating a much more interesting contrast.
The above rendition makes it clear that the Bay Area, New York City, and Washington D.C. are the places where the relative value of a dollar is lowest.
Meanwhile, it also shows that metropolitan areas in some parts of the country are not too bad for the cost of living. Cities like Atlanta ($104.10), Nashville ($106.50), Phoenix ($102.90), Milwaukee ($104.50), Kansas City ($106.70), Jacksonville ($104.40), and New Orleans ($104.60) buck the trend, being cheaper than the American average.
Here’s another look – this time with an interactive map that allows you to hover over individual metro areas:
Some things don’t vary too much by region. Like a gallon of milk. So if you live in Oakland, CA, you should live in the smallest, cheapest place you can find, and just fucking drink milk like a madman.
Prices as a relative percentage of after tax income instead of relative dollar amounts would show a better picture of comparative economic conditions.
The three red zones on that map are the banksters who steal from the rest of us, the silicon valley cyber-authoritarians who want to control what we think and then the politicians who enable the other two groups to get their way in exchange for a little bit of the wealth crumbs.
Those red zones represent the axis of evil 2.0.
The rotten thing about this regional variation is that people who live in the most expensive regions will receive higher social security benefits based on their incomes than people who live in poorer regions. They can then take their higher social security income ( in fact most will have to) and move to a low cost region.
No consideration is taken of some of the other costs of living in a rural area.
Poor and limited health care.
Time spent in a car ( a lot of time ) I considered moving to Madison SD. A town of 14,000 with a 4,000 student state college. One grocery store, like a good 1980s store. I asked, where do you go for a Walmart. 45 miles to Souix Falls or, 40 miles to Brookings. The same answer for all the big box stores. An hour in the car each way.
Higher utilities. Water, sewer, garbage etc. were all more than I pay . Less commercial and industry to help cover the fixed costs.
Sorry Bureau of Economic Analysis, your cost of living calculation must have been done to keep some Federal government payment low. I lived in “literally frozen six feet deep in the Winter” North Dakota for 5.5 years and the cost to heat a house, drive a car in the Winter, have everything but wheat and sugar beets hauled two thousand miles inland, and water have to be pumped from somewhere way south was quite higher than average, not $5-10 less.
Always maximize the bang for your buck when shopping for hookers.
-DRUD