Cost of living by state (2024 official data)
Every figure on this page is published by the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis for 2024. Nothing is estimated or modelled, and none of it is a substitute for your own numbers, which is what the second half of this guide is about.
How to read these numbers
BEA publishes Regional Price Parities (RPPs): a measure of how much a fixed basket of goods and services costs in one state compared with the national average. The U.S. average is set to 100 by definition. A price level of 110 means prices run about 10% above the national average; 90 means about 10% below.
The housing column is the same measure limited to housing services, and it is where states diverge most, housing, not groceries, is what makes an expensive state expensive.
Income per person is BEA per capita personal income: total personal income in the state divided by its population. It is not a salary, and it is not a median , a small number of very high incomes pulls it upward. Treat it as a state-level economic indicator, not as "what people like me earn". The U.S. figure for 2024 was $73,227.
The last column is the only calculated one: income ÷ price level × 100. It restates the same income in U.S.-average prices, so you can compare states on what the money actually buys.
What the 2024 data shows
- Lowest price levels: Arkansas (86.9), Mississippi (87), Iowa (87.8).
- Highest price levels: California (110.7), Hawaii (110), District of Columbia (109.9).
- Highest income once prices are accounted for: District of Columbia ($102,769), Wyoming ($93,438), Connecticut ($91,770).
Note how the ranking changes between the raw income column and the adjusted one. A state can pay well and still leave less room in a monthly budget, and the reverse is just as common. That gap is the entire practical point of this dataset.
All 50 states and DC, 2024
| California | 110.7 | 154.3 | $86,378 | $78,015 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hawaii | 110.0 | 125.3 | $71,573 | $65,095 |
| District of Columbia | 109.9 | 155.0 | $112,944 | $102,769 |
| New Jersey | 108.8 | 134.3 | $84,844 | $77,978 |
| New York | 107.9 | 122.2 | $84,978 | $78,741 |
| Washington | 107.0 | 126.0 | $85,512 | $79,908 |
| Massachusetts | 105.8 | 128.1 | $93,575 | $88,481 |
| Maryland | 105.0 | 121.1 | $79,486 | $75,731 |
| New Hampshire | 104.2 | 114.9 | $83,222 | $79,894 |
| Connecticut | 103.6 | 117.0 | $95,083 | $91,770 |
| Florida | 103.4 | 122.1 | $73,340 | $70,919 |
| Oregon | 103.4 | 108.6 | $70,940 | $68,633 |
| Colorado | 103.1 | 127.4 | $82,625 | $80,178 |
| Alaska | 102.4 | 93.8 | $76,606 | $74,841 |
| Rhode Island | 102.3 | 105.6 | $70,743 | $69,166 |
| Virginia | 101.1 | 106.8 | $77,277 | $76,433 |
| Arizona | 100.7 | 106.8 | $66,024 | $65,580 |
| Illinois | 100.0 | 93.9 | $74,564 | $74,595 |
| Nevada | 100.0 | 114.1 | $70,104 | $70,119 |
| Delaware | 99.8 | 102.0 | $68,177 | $68,308 |
| Utah | 98.9 | 107.8 | $67,345 | $68,119 |
| Minnesota | 98.6 | 91.3 | $75,548 | $76,604 |
| Vermont | 98.0 | 86.5 | $71,505 | $72,996 |
| Pennsylvania | 97.6 | 85.1 | $70,856 | $72,619 |
| Texas | 97.1 | 96.5 | $69,762 | $71,877 |
| Maine | 97.0 | 78.9 | $68,764 | $70,854 |
| Georgia | 96.3 | 88.7 | $62,875 | $65,296 |
| Michigan | 96.2 | 82.3 | $63,945 | $66,459 |
| Idaho | 95.5 | 90.0 | $62,346 | $65,288 |
| Montana | 94.6 | 84.6 | $69,220 | $73,136 |
| North Carolina | 94.3 | 81.4 | $65,598 | $69,544 |
| Wisconsin | 94.1 | 79.3 | $67,799 | $72,054 |
| South Carolina | 93.7 | 80.5 | $60,649 | $64,693 |
| Indiana | 93.3 | 73.9 | $63,980 | $68,553 |
| Ohio | 92.8 | 73.0 | $64,587 | $69,618 |
| Wyoming | 92.7 | 71.1 | $86,609 | $93,438 |
| New Mexico | 92.2 | 73.6 | $58,345 | $63,273 |
| Tennessee | 91.9 | 79.1 | $66,288 | $72,154 |
| Missouri | 90.8 | 69.9 | $64,940 | $71,506 |
| Kentucky | 90.2 | 64.3 | $58,310 | $64,675 |
| Kansas | 90.1 | 71.2 | $65,975 | $73,250 |
| Nebraska | 90.1 | 75.2 | $72,696 | $80,681 |
| West Virginia | 89.5 | 54.2 | $55,432 | $61,937 |
| North Dakota | 89.0 | 71.4 | $72,037 | $80,978 |
| Alabama | 88.8 | 61.8 | $57,251 | $64,455 |
| South Dakota | 88.6 | 67.6 | $75,499 | $85,227 |
| Louisiana | 88.2 | 63.1 | $61,667 | $69,912 |
| Iowa | 87.8 | 65.3 | $65,448 | $74,574 |
| Oklahoma | 87.8 | 62.8 | $63,671 | $72,483 |
| Mississippi | 87.0 | 56.5 | $51,948 | $59,743 |
| Arkansas | 86.9 | 58.2 | $59,172 | $68,063 |
Source: U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis, Regional Price Parities by state (2024, table SARPP) and per capita personal income (2024, table SAINC1). Price levels are indexed to the U.S. average = 100.
What this data cannot tell you
- It is a state average. Within-state variation is often larger than between-state variation, a metro area and a rural county in the same state are not the same cost of living.
- It is not take-home pay. RPPs say nothing about state income tax, sales tax, or property tax, all of which change what lands in your account.
- It is not your basket. If you rent, housing weighs far more heavily for you than the all-items index implies; if you own outright, far less.
- It is a snapshot. BEA revises and republishes these series annually.
The six most-searched states in detail
A price index doesn't pay rent. These are the three figures that decide a real budget: what households actually earn, what a one-bedroom costs in the state's largest metro, and what the state takes in tax. Median household income is 2023 Census data (U.S. median: $77,719); rent is HUD's FY2024 Fair Market Rent; tax figures are for tax year 2024.
| State | Median household income (2023) | Largest metro | 1-bed FMR (FY2024) | State income tax (2024) | Avg. combined sales tax |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| California | $95,521 | Los Angeles-Long Beach-Glendale | $2,006/mo | 9 brackets, 1.00%–12.30% | 8.85% |
| Texas | $75,780 | Houston-The Woodlands-Sugar Land | $1,135/mo | No personal income tax | 8.20% |
| Florida | $73,311 | Miami-Miami Beach-Kendall | $1,884/mo | No personal income tax | 7.00% |
| New York | $82,095 | New York, NY HUD Metro FMR Area | $2,386/mo | 9 brackets, 4.00%–10.90% | 8.53% |
| Illinois | $80,306 | Chicago-Joliet-Naperville | $1,507/mo | Flat 4.95% | 8.86% |
| Pennsylvania | $73,824 | Philadelphia-Camden-Wilmington | $1,451/mo | Flat 3.07% | 6.34% |
Retirement income treatment
- California: Social Security exempt; pensions and 401(k)/IRA withdrawals taxed
- Texas: No state income tax, so retirement income is untaxed
- Florida: No state income tax, so retirement income is untaxed
- New York: Social Security exempt; government pensions exempt; $20,000 private pension/annuity exclusion
- Illinois: Social Security and most qualified retirement income not taxed
- Pennsylvania: Social Security not taxed; eligible retirement plan income untaxed after normal retirement age
Two things worth noting: California adds a 1% Mental Health Services Tax above $1,000,000 of taxable income, and HUD Metro FMR Areas can cross state lines, Philadelphia's area includes counties in NJ, DE and MD.
Turning a price level into a budget
National averages are useful for a decision like "should I look at this state at all", and useless for the question that actually matters, which is whether your income covers your committed costs in a specific place. That answer only comes from your own numbers.
- Start from take-home pay, not salary, the amount that lands in your account after tax and deductions.
- List the fixed costs of the place you're comparing: rent or mortgage, utilities, insurance, transport, childcare. Use real quoted figures, not indexes.
- Subtract fixed costs from take-home pay. What remains is the only money a budget can steer.
- Give savings and debt a line before flexible spending, so they are not funded by whatever happens to be left.
- Re-check after one full month of real spending, and adjust the plan, not the goal.
Split your take-home pay →Size an emergency fund →How to make a budget →
Sources
- BEA, Regional Price Parities by State and Metro Area (2024, table SARPP: all items and services: housing).
- BEA, Personal Income by State (2024, table SAINC1: per capita personal income).
- U.S. Census Bureau, Household Income in States and Metropolitan Areas: 2023 (ACSBR-023, published 2024): median household income.
- HUD, Fair Market Rents (FY2024 Final): 40th-percentile one-bedroom rent by HUD Metro FMR Area.
- State revenue departments (California FTB, Texas Comptroller, Florida DOR, NYS Dept. of Taxation and Finance, Illinois DOR, Pennsylvania DOR) for tax-year 2024 income tax and retirement-income treatment.
- Tax Foundation, State and Local Sales Tax Rates, 2024 (population-weighted average local rates as of January 1, 2024).
Tax rules change and this is general information, not tax advice, confirm your own situation with your state's revenue department or a tax professional.