US States · Price level (US = 100)
Cost of Living by State (Price Index, US = 100) (2024)
How much more (or less) does the same lifestyle cost from one state to the next? The Bureau of Economic Analysis answers that with Regional Price Parities (RPPs): a price index in which the national average equals 100. A state at 110 is 10% more expensive than the US as a whole; a state at 90 is 10% cheaper.
In 2024, California was the most expensive place to live with a price level of 110.7, and Arkansas was the least expensive at 86.9. Half of all states sit below 97.0. Housing explains most of the gap: rents vary far more between states than the prices of goods do, as the separate columns in the table show.
Key facts
Highest
- 1California110.7
- 2Hawaii110.0
- 3District of Columbia109.9
Lowest
- 51Arkansas86.9
- 50Mississippi87.0
- 49Iowa87.8
Price level (US = 100) by state
Shaded by quintile; darker = higher. Hover a state for its value and rank.
- 86.9–90.1
- 90.2–94.3
- 94.6–98.9
- 99.8–103.4
- 103.6–110.7
Highest and lowest states
Price level (US = 100); dashed line marks the US figure.
United States: 100.0
Full ranking
| 1 | California | 110.7 | 106.1 | 154.3 | 158.9 | 102.6 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2 | Hawaii | 110.0 | 111.6 | 125.3 | 190.2 | 102.9 |
| 3 | District of Columbia | 109.9 | 106.5 | 155.0 | 112.8 | 103.0 |
| 4 | New Jersey | 108.8 | 107.1 | 134.3 | 114.2 | 103.5 |
| 5 | New York | 107.9 | 107.3 | 122.2 | 134.4 | 104.1 |
| 6 | Washington | 107.0 | 104.4 | 126.0 | 92.9 | 103.9 |
| 7 | Massachusetts | 105.8 | 98.8 | 128.1 | 152.1 | 102.9 |
| 8 | Maryland | 105.0 | 102.5 | 121.1 | 110.9 | 101.6 |
| 9 | New Hampshire | 104.2 | 98.6 | 114.9 | 133.7 | 103.9 |
| 10 | Connecticut | 103.6 | 97.3 | 117.0 | 146.5 | 102.7 |
| 11 | Florida | 103.4 | 98.1 | 122.1 | 90.1 | 101.3 |
| 12 | Oregon | 103.4 | 105.3 | 108.6 | 107.0 | 100.3 |
| 13 | Colorado | 103.1 | 98.7 | 127.4 | 85.0 | 99.6 |
| 14 | Alaska | 102.4 | 106.3 | 93.8 | 119.0 | 102.2 |
| 15 | Rhode Island | 102.3 | 97.2 | 105.6 | 146.7 | 102.8 |
| 16 | Virginia | 101.1 | 100.4 | 106.8 | 92.2 | 100.2 |
| 17 | Arizona | 100.7 | 95.4 | 106.8 | 92.3 | 102.8 |
| 18 | Nevada | 100.0 | 96.3 | 114.1 | 90.5 | 98.7 |
| 19 | Illinois | 100.0 | 103.8 | 93.9 | 85.0 | 100.2 |
| 20 | Delaware | 99.8 | 96.2 | 102.0 | 103.8 | 101.2 |
| 21 | Utah | 98.9 | 96.4 | 107.8 | 78.7 | 99.0 |
| 22 | Minnesota | 98.6 | 100.5 | 91.3 | 90.8 | 100.2 |
| 23 | Vermont | 98.0 | 97.3 | 86.5 | 125.8 | 101.6 |
| 24 | Pennsylvania | 97.6 | 99.4 | 85.1 | 109.3 | 99.8 |
| 25 | Texas | 97.1 | 98.1 | 96.5 | 87.5 | 97.1 |
| 26 | Maine | 97.0 | 97.2 | 78.9 | 135.2 | 103.2 |
| 27 | Georgia | 96.3 | 98.9 | 88.7 | 92.8 | 97.3 |
| 28 | Michigan | 96.2 | 96.0 | 82.3 | 100.2 | 100.9 |
| 29 | Idaho | 95.5 | 96.3 | 90.0 | 70.4 | 99.0 |
| 30 | Montana | 94.6 | 96.0 | 84.6 | 72.3 | 98.7 |
| 31 | North Carolina | 94.3 | 96.6 | 81.4 | 88.6 | 98.2 |
| 32 | Wisconsin | 94.1 | 94.3 | 79.3 | 89.9 | 99.5 |
| 33 | South Carolina | 93.7 | 96.3 | 80.5 | 88.3 | 98.3 |
| 34 | Indiana | 93.3 | 95.5 | 73.9 | 85.5 | 99.1 |
| 35 | Ohio | 92.8 | 93.7 | 73.0 | 95.8 | 98.9 |
| 36 | Wyoming | 92.7 | 95.4 | 71.1 | 78.4 | 100.4 |
| 37 | New Mexico | 92.2 | 96.1 | 73.6 | 77.9 | 98.5 |
| 38 | Tennessee | 91.9 | 96.2 | 79.1 | 72.1 | 95.1 |
| 39 | Missouri | 90.8 | 96.3 | 69.9 | 79.4 | 95.2 |
| 40 | Kentucky | 90.2 | 96.0 | 64.3 | 75.3 | 97.3 |
| 41 | Nebraska | 90.1 | 94.1 | 75.2 | 75.6 | 93.0 |
| 42 | Kansas | 90.1 | 94.0 | 71.2 | 88.4 | 93.8 |
| 43 | West Virginia | 89.5 | 96.5 | 54.2 | 92.2 | 99.9 |
| 44 | North Dakota | 89.0 | 95.7 | 71.4 | 73.7 | 91.2 |
| 45 | Alabama | 88.8 | 96.4 | 61.8 | 84.6 | 96.7 |
| 46 | South Dakota | 88.6 | 95.5 | 67.6 | 79.7 | 91.9 |
| 47 | Louisiana | 88.2 | 93.7 | 63.1 | 71.5 | 95.7 |
| 48 | Oklahoma | 87.8 | 93.8 | 62.8 | 73.9 | 95.5 |
| 49 | Iowa | 87.8 | 93.7 | 65.3 | 83.3 | 92.9 |
| 50 | Mississippi | 87.0 | 96.2 | 56.5 | 78.4 | 96.1 |
| 51 | Arkansas | 86.9 | 93.6 | 58.2 | 74.7 | 95.3 |
Methodology
Regional Price Parities by state, BEA table SARPP, line 1 (all items), with lines 2–5 for goods, housing, utilities and other services. RPPs are built from Consumer Price Index price quotes collected by the Bureau of Labor Statistics and, for housing, from rents reported in the Census Bureau's American Community Survey, weighted by consumer spending patterns. Each value compares the average price level in a state with the national average in the same year (US = 100); RPPs compare places within one year and are not a measure of inflation over time. The housing component is based on rents, which BEA also uses to represent the cost of owner-occupied housing; it does not reflect home purchase prices.
Puerto Rico and other US territories are not included. Rankings use competition ranking: tied values share a rank.
Frequently asked questions
What is the most expensive state to live in?
California, with a price level of 110.7 in 2024, meaning prices there are about 110.7 percent of the national average.
What is the cheapest state to live in?
Arkansas, with a price level of 86.9 (US = 100).
How should I use this index to compare salaries?
Divide a salary by the state's index and multiply by 100 to express it in national-average dollars. For example, $70,000 in a state at 110 buys about as much as $63,600 in a state at 100. BEA does exactly this for total income in its real personal income statistics; see our real per capita income ranking.
Does this include taxes?
No. Regional Price Parities measure prices of consumer goods and services. State and local income, sales and property taxes are not part of the index; see our property tax ranking for one of them.
How often is it updated?
BEA publishes state RPPs once a year, with a lag of a little over a year. This page shows 2024, the latest year available.
Sources
- U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis, Regional Price Parities by State (SARPP), 2024 (released February 19, 2026)
- BEA regional data bulk download, SARPP (raw data used)
Data retrieved October 29, 2026. Values are shown as published, rounded for display; derived percentages are computed by us from published counts as described above. Download the CSV. Spotted an error? Tell us.
Cite this page: SortedLists, “Cost of Living by State (Price Index, US = 100)”, https://sortedlists.com/states-by-cost-of-living/ (accessed October 29, 2026). Data: U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis, Regional Price Parities by State (SARPP), 2024 (released February 19, 2026).