Written by Munir Afridi. Updated November 2026. Price levels are Bureau of Economic Analysis regional price parities for reference year 2024, released February 19, 2026, cross-checked against the figures named in the BEA release itself. Real income per person is BEA real per capita personal income for 2024 in chained 2017 dollars. State income tax status is from the Tax Foundation state individual income tax tables published February 17, 2026, with rates as of January 1, 2026. Every dollar figure on this page that is not taken directly from a source was computed here and is explained where it appears. Full source list at the foot of the page, and more about the method on our about page.
On the only federal measure that compares all 50 states, the Bureau of Economic Analysis regional price parity, Arkansas is the cheapest state at 86.9 and California is the most expensive at 110.7, against a national average of 100. That means $100 buys $115.03 worth of goods and services in Arkansas and $90.32 in California, a gap of $24.71 on every $100 spent. Thirty-four states are below the national price level. Housing is almost the whole story: housing parities run from 54.2 in West Virginia to 155.0 in the District of Columbia, a spread of 2.9 times, while goods prices across the twelve states compared below differ by less than a fifth.
Source: BEA Regional Price Parities by State, reference year 2024, released February 19, 2026. This is the newest official data; the 2025 parities are scheduled for December 10, 2026.
The first column is the all items price parity for 2024, where 100 is the national average. "What $100 buys" is what a hundred dollars of spending in that state is worth at national average prices, computed as 10,000 divided by the parity. The housing column is the BEA housing rents parity, the single component that does most of the work. Real income per person is personal income already adjusted for that state's price level.
| State | Price level (US = 100) | Vs US average | What $100 buys | Housing | Real income per person |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Alabama | 88.8 | -11.2% | $112.58 | 61.8 | $52,216 |
| Alaska | 102.4 | +2.4% | $97.70 | 93.8 | $60,272 |
| Arizona | 100.7 | +0.7% | $99.33 | 106.8 | $52,890 |
| Arkansas | 86.9 | -13.1% | $115.03 | 58.2 | $55,219 |
| California | 110.7 | +10.7% | $90.32 | 154.3 | $63,028 |
| Colorado | 103.1 | +3.1% | $97.04 | 127.4 | $65,223 |
| Connecticut | 103.6 | +3.6% | $96.52 | 117.0 | $74,254 |
| Delaware | 99.8 | -0.2% | $100.19 | 102.0 | $55,185 |
| District of Columbia | 109.9 | +9.9% | $90.99 | 155.0 | $81,872 |
| Florida | 103.4 | +3.4% | $96.70 | 122.1 | $57,131 |
| Georgia | 96.3 | -3.7% | $103.85 | 88.7 | $52,952 |
| Hawaii | 110.0 | +10.0% | $90.95 | 125.3 | $52,272 |
| Idaho | 95.5 | -4.5% | $104.72 | 90.0 | $52,816 |
| Illinois | 100.0 | 0.0% | $100.04 | 93.9 | $60,333 |
| Indiana | 93.3 | -6.7% | $107.15 | 73.9 | $55,562 |
| Iowa | 87.8 | -12.2% | $113.94 | 65.3 | $60,144 |
| Kansas | 90.1 | -9.9% | $111.03 | 71.2 | $59,172 |
| Kentucky | 90.2 | -9.8% | $110.92 | 64.3 | $52,290 |
| Louisiana | 88.2 | -11.8% | $113.37 | 63.1 | $56,789 |
| Maine | 97.0 | -3.0% | $103.04 | 78.9 | $57,480 |
| Maryland | 105.0 | +5.0% | $95.28 | 121.1 | $61,111 |
| Massachusetts | 105.8 | +5.8% | $94.56 | 128.1 | $71,629 |
| Michigan | 96.2 | -3.8% | $103.93 | 82.3 | $53,569 |
| Minnesota | 98.6 | -1.4% | $101.40 | 91.3 | $62,039 |
| Mississippi | 87.0 | -13.0% | $115.00 | 56.5 | $48,465 |
| Missouri | 90.8 | -9.2% | $110.11 | 69.9 | $57,850 |
| Montana | 94.6 | -5.4% | $105.66 | 84.6 | $59,203 |
| Nebraska | 90.1 | -9.9% | $110.98 | 75.2 | $65,297 |
| Nevada | 100.0 | 0.0% | $100.02 | 114.1 | $56,503 |
| New Hampshire | 104.2 | +4.2% | $96.00 | 114.9 | $64,632 |
| New Jersey | 108.8 | +8.8% | $91.91 | 134.3 | $63,142 |
| New Mexico | 92.2 | -7.8% | $108.45 | 73.6 | $51,121 |
| New York | 107.9 | +7.9% | $92.66 | 122.2 | $64,153 |
| North Carolina | 94.3 | -5.7% | $106.02 | 81.4 | $56,310 |
| North Dakota | 89.0 | -11.0% | $112.41 | 71.4 | $65,271 |
| Ohio | 92.8 | -7.2% | $107.79 | 73.0 | $56,232 |
| Oklahoma | 87.8 | -12.2% | $113.84 | 62.8 | $58,692 |
| Oregon | 103.4 | +3.4% | $96.75 | 108.6 | $55,451 |
| Pennsylvania | 97.6 | -2.4% | $102.49 | 85.1 | Not published |
| Rhode Island | 102.3 | +2.3% | $97.77 | 105.6 | $55,878 |
| South Carolina | 93.7 | -6.3% | $106.67 | 80.5 | $52,463 |
| South Dakota | 88.6 | -11.4% | $112.88 | 67.6 | $69,153 |
| Tennessee | 91.9 | -8.1% | $108.85 | 79.1 | $58,582 |
| Texas | 97.1 | -2.9% | $103.03 | 96.5 | $58,219 |
| Utah | 98.9 | -1.1% | $101.15 | 107.8 | $55,116 |
| Vermont | 98.0 | -2.0% | $102.08 | 86.5 | $58,893 |
| Virginia | 101.1 | +1.1% | $98.91 | 106.8 | $61,914 |
| Washington | 107.0 | +7.0% | $93.45 | 126.0 | $64,421 |
| West Virginia | 89.5 | -10.5% | $111.74 | 54.2 | $50,051 |
| Wisconsin | 94.1 | -5.9% | $106.28 | 79.3 | $58,273 |
| Wyoming | 92.7 | -7.3% | $107.89 | 71.1 | $75,501 |
Price levels and housing parities: BEA Regional Price Parities by State, Table SARPP, reference year 2024, released February 19, 2026. Real income per person: BEA real per capita personal income, 2024, chained 2017 dollars, same release. Pennsylvania has no published 2024 real per capita figure in the series as of November 2, 2026, so it is marked rather than estimated. Green in the "vs US average" column means prices below the national level. Parities are statewide averages and do not describe any one city: within California the Los Angeles and San Francisco metros are well above the state figure and the inland counties are well below it.
Each bar grows out from the national average of 100. Green is below the national price level, red is above. Built from the BEA 2024 regional price parities released February 19, 2026.
A regional price parity (RPP) is the Bureau of Economic Analysis measure of how expensive one place is compared with the United States as a whole. The national average is fixed at 100. A parity of 90.1 means prices in that state are 9.9 percent below the national level; 110.7 means 10.7 percent above. BEA publishes it for all items and for three components: goods, housing rents, and other services.
Most of the cost of living indexes you find online are produced by private firms from a basket of a few dozen prices collected by volunteers in selected cities. They are useful but they are not comparable across every state, their methods are not public in full, and they change when the firm changes its basket. The RPP is built from the price data that already feeds the Consumer Price Index, weighted by what households in each area actually spend their money on, and it is published for every state and metro area by a federal statistical agency. When you see a number here that disagrees with a private index, this is the one with a published method.
The tradeoff is timing. The RPP is an annual series and it lands about fourteen months after the year it describes. The 2024 parities came out on February 19, 2026, and the 2025 parities are scheduled for December 10, 2026. Relative price levels between states move slowly, so the ranking is reliable, but the absolute dollar amounts on this page describe 2024 prices. For scale, the Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers rose 3.7 percent in the twelve months to September 2026, and the shelter component rose 3.2 percent, per the Bureau of Labor Statistics release USDL-26-1574 of October 14, 2026.
This is the finding that changes how you read every cost of living comparison. Split the parity into its parts and goods barely move. A loaf of bread, a gallon of gas, a washing machine and a pair of shoes are sold in a national market, so their prices converge. Housing is not traded, cannot be shipped, and is limited by land and by local planning rules, so its price does whatever the local market says.
| State | All items | Goods | Housing |
|---|---|---|---|
| District of Columbia | 109.9 | 106.5 | 155.0 |
| California | 110.7 | 106.1 | 154.3 |
| Hawaii | 110.0 | 111.6 | 125.3 |
| New York | 107.9 | 107.3 | 122.2 |
| Idaho | 95.5 | 96.3 | 90.0 |
| Wyoming | 92.7 | 95.4 | 71.1 |
| Nebraska | 90.1 | 94.1 | 75.2 |
| North Dakota | 89.0 | 95.7 | 71.4 |
| Alabama | 88.8 | 96.4 | 61.8 |
| Iowa | 87.8 | 93.7 | 65.3 |
| Mississippi | 87.0 | 96.2 | 56.5 |
| West Virginia | 89.5 | 96.5 | 54.2 |
BEA Regional Price Parities by State, 2024 components, released February 19, 2026. Across these twelve jurisdictions the goods parity runs from 93.7 in Iowa to 111.6 in Hawaii, a spread of 1.19 times. Across all 51, the housing parity runs from 54.2 in West Virginia to 155.0 in the District of Columbia, a spread of 2.86 times. Put another way, the most expensive housing market in the country costs almost three times the cheapest, while the most expensive place to buy goods costs about a fifth more than the cheapest.
Divide the salary by the state price level and you get what the money is actually worth in national terms. The same $75,000 is worth $86,269 in Arkansas and $67,738 in California. That $18,531 difference is before a single dollar of state income tax is taken into account. The rent column takes a $2,000 a month rent at the national average price level and scales it by each state's housing parity, which is a fair way to compare the same quality of home in different places.
| State | Price level | $75,000 is worth | A $2,000 US-average rent costs |
|---|---|---|---|
| Arkansas | 86.9 | $86,269 | $1,164 |
| Mississippi | 87.0 | $86,253 | $1,129 |
| Iowa | 87.8 | $85,458 | $1,306 |
| Oklahoma | 87.8 | $85,380 | $1,255 |
| South Dakota | 88.6 | $84,663 | $1,353 |
| North Dakota | 89.0 | $84,309 | $1,428 |
| West Virginia | 89.5 | $83,802 | $1,085 |
| Kansas | 90.1 | $83,270 | $1,423 |
| Nebraska | 90.1 | $83,238 | $1,503 |
| Wyoming | 92.7 | $80,914 | $1,423 |
| Montana | 94.6 | $79,243 | $1,693 |
| Idaho | 95.5 | $78,539 | $1,801 |
| Texas | 97.1 | $77,274 | $1,930 |
| Minnesota | 98.6 | $76,049 | $1,826 |
| Colorado | 103.1 | $72,779 | $2,547 |
| Massachusetts | 105.8 | $70,917 | $2,561 |
| Washington | 107.0 | $70,085 | $2,520 |
| New York | 107.9 | $69,495 | $2,443 |
| New Jersey | 108.8 | $68,931 | $2,686 |
| District of Columbia | 109.9 | $68,243 | $3,100 |
| Hawaii | 110.0 | $68,212 | $2,506 |
| California | 110.7 | $67,738 | $3,087 |
Computed for this page: equivalent salary is 75,000 multiplied by 100 and divided by the all items parity; the rent figure is 2,000 multiplied by the housing parity and divided by 100. Both use the BEA 2024 parities released February 19, 2026. These are price adjustments only. They do not include state income tax, property tax, sales tax or insurance, all of which move the answer further. Run your own numbers in our cost of living calculator and paycheck calculator.
This is the question people mean when they ask about cost of living, and it is not answered by the price level alone. BEA publishes real personal income per person, which divides each state's income by its own price level. On that measure Wyoming is first among the 50 states at $75,501, ahead of Connecticut at $74,254 and Massachusetts at $71,629. The District of Columbia is higher still at $81,872 but is a single city rather than a state.
Four of the top seven are plains states: Wyoming, South Dakota, Nebraska and North Dakota. All four combine below average prices with incomes that are respectable in nominal terms, and three of them have no state income tax on wages. At the other end, Mississippi has the lowest adjusted income in the country at $48,465 despite having almost the cheapest prices, which shows that cheap on its own does not make you better off.
| Rank | State | Real income per person 2024 | Price level |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | District of Columbia | $81,872 | 109.9 |
| 2 | Wyoming | $75,501 | 92.7 |
| 3 | Connecticut | $74,254 | 103.6 |
| 4 | Massachusetts | $71,629 | 105.8 |
| 5 | South Dakota | $69,153 | 88.6 |
| 6 | Nebraska | $65,297 | 90.1 |
| 7 | North Dakota | $65,271 | 89.0 |
| 8 | Colorado | $65,223 | 103.1 |
| 9 | New Hampshire | $64,632 | 104.2 |
| 10 | Washington | $64,421 | 107.0 |
| 11 | New York | $64,153 | 107.9 |
| 13 | California | $63,028 | 110.7 |
| 19 | Iowa | $60,144 | 87.8 |
| 43 | Idaho | $52,816 | 95.5 |
| 46 | Hawaii | $52,272 | 110.0 |
| 50 | Mississippi | $48,465 | 87.0 |
BEA real per capita personal income, 2024, chained 2017 dollars, released February 19, 2026. Ranks are out of the 50 jurisdictions with a published 2024 value, which is 49 states plus the District of Columbia; Pennsylvania has no published 2024 value in the series as of November 2, 2026 and is excluded. Personal income includes wages, investment income and transfer receipts, so it is not the same as a median wage and is pulled up by high earners.
Idaho sits at 95.5, only 4.5 percent below the national price level, which makes it the 23rd cheapest state, squarely mid-table. Its housing parity of 90.0 is above Montana at 84.6, Wyoming at 71.1 and New Mexico at 73.6, and about 38 percent above Iowa at 65.3. A $100 of spending in Idaho buys $104.72, against $113.94 in Iowa.
The part that gets missed is income. Real personal income per person in Idaho was $52,816 in 2024, which ranks 43rd. Idaho now has prices near the national average and adjusted income near the bottom, which is the least favorable combination of the two. A household moving to Idaho for affordability is buying a 4.5 percent discount on prices, not the 12 or 13 percent available further east, and is moving into a labor market whose adjusted income ranks 43rd.
Idaho does keep a tax advantage over California, with a flat individual income tax rate of 5.30 percent as of January 1, 2026 against a top rate of 13.30 percent there. Washington has no wage income tax at all, so against Seattle the comparison runs the other way. If you are comparing Boise with Seattle or Portland, price the house first, because housing is where the difference actually is.
Nebraska is 9.9 percent below the national price level at 90.1, and its housing parity of 75.2 is 24.8 percent below. A $100 of spending buys $110.98. A home that rents for $2,000 at national average prices costs about $1,503 in Nebraska.
Against its neighbors, though, Nebraska is the expensive one. It is the 11th cheapest state, and every bordering state except Colorado is cheaper: Iowa 87.8, South Dakota 88.6, Kansas 90.068 (just ahead of Nebraska at 90.103), Missouri 90.8 and Wyoming 92.7. Only Colorado at 103.1 is dearer. On housing the gap is wider still: Iowa at 65.3 and South Dakota at 67.6 are well below Nebraska at 75.2, so the same home costs about 15 percent more in Nebraska than in Iowa.
What Nebraska has instead is income. Real personal income per person was $65,297 in 2024, sixth highest in the country and ahead of California at $63,028. The honest summary is that Nebraska is a good earnings state with moderately low prices rather than a bargain state, and that if housing cost is the only thing you are optimizing for, Iowa and South Dakota beat it.
Iowa is the third cheapest state at 87.8, behind only Arkansas and Mississippi, and $100 of spending there buys $113.94. The housing parity of 65.3 is 34.7 percent below the national level and the lowest of any state outside the Census South region. The $2,000 national-average home rents for about $1,306 in Iowa.
Unlike the cheapest southern states, Iowa pairs that with middling rather than low income: real personal income per person was $60,144 in 2024, 19th in the country, where Mississippi at $48,465 is last. Iowa has also been cutting income tax, with a top individual rate of 3.80 percent as of January 1, 2026. Iowa goods prices of 93.7 are the lowest in the twelve state sample above, so the saving is not purely a housing effect, but housing is by far the largest part of it.
Wyoming is the 16th cheapest state at 92.7, so 7.3 percent below the national price level, with a housing parity of 71.1 that is 28.9 percent below. On its own that is good but not remarkable. What is remarkable is the income side: real personal income per person in Wyoming was $75,501 in 2024, the highest of any state and behind only the District of Columbia at $81,872.
Three things stack up here. Wyoming has below average prices, it has no state individual income tax, and its personal income per head is lifted by mineral royalties and property income rather than by wages alone. That last point matters when you read the number: personal income includes investment income and transfer receipts, so a state with concentrated resource wealth looks better on this measure than the typical paycheck there would suggest. If you are moving for a salaried job, compare the offer with the salary to hourly calculator rather than assuming the statewide average applies to you.
North Dakota is the eighth cheapest state at 89.0, so 11 percent below the national level, and $100 of spending buys $112.41. Housing at 71.4 is 28.6 percent below national, almost exactly level with Wyoming and Kansas. Real personal income per person was $65,271 in 2024, seventh in the country and within $26 of Nebraska.
North Dakota also has one of the lowest top individual income tax rates in the country, 2.50 percent as of January 1, 2026. Pair that with prices 11 percent below national and the state is, on paper, one of the strongest places in the country for take-home purchasing power. The counterweights are a small and concentrated labor market and winter heating costs that the all items parity does capture but that still fall unevenly on households with older housing stock.
Nine states do not tax wage income: Alaska, Florida, Nevada, New Hampshire, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Washington and Wyoming. Washington taxes capital gains, but none of the nine takes a cut of wage income.
Their price levels are all over the place. South Dakota at 88.6, Tennessee at 91.9 and Wyoming at 92.7 are clearly cheap. Texas at 97.1 and Nevada at 99.98 are close to national. Alaska at 102.4, Florida at 103.4, New Hampshire at 104.2 and Washington at 107.0 are above it, and Washington is the fifth most expensive state in the country. Florida and Washington are also two of the twelve highest housing markets in the table, at 122.1 and 126.0.
So no, there is no rule. A no-income-tax state can be cheap or expensive, and the saving has to be weighed against the price level and against the property and sales taxes those states usually lean on instead. The honest way to do it is to compute take-home pay in both states and then divide each by the state price level.
Tax status from the Tax Foundation, State Individual Income Tax Rates and Brackets 2026, published February 17, 2026, rates as of January 1, 2026. That is a research organization rather than a primary government source; check your own state revenue department before relying on a rate for a filing decision.
Four steps, in this order, because getting the order wrong is how people talk themselves into a bad move.
If you are comparing hourly work rather than salaried, the state wage floor matters too, and that is a separate table: see minimum wage by state, which covers all 50 states and the January 2027 increases.
California's 110.7 is an average of San Francisco and Bakersfield. Texas at 97.1 is an average of Austin and the Rio Grande Valley. If the move is from one named metro to another, use the BEA metro area parities, not these.
A 20 percent raise into a state 12 percent more expensive with a 6 percent income tax is roughly a wash. Convert to take-home first, then adjust for prices.
Washington has no wage tax and the fifth highest price level in the country. Tennessee has no wage tax and sits 8.1 percent below national. They are not the same deal.
Several widely quoted indexes give a different ranking from the BEA parities because they use a narrow basket and a handful of volunteer-collected prices. Neither is wrong, but only one publishes a full method for all 50 states. Check which one a figure came from before you repeat it.
These are 2024 price levels published in February 2026. Relative positions move slowly, so the ranking is dependable, but a metro where rents jumped in 2025 and 2026 will be understated here. The next release, for 2025, is scheduled for December 10, 2026.
Every figure above is a statewide average. These tools let you put your own salary, rent and household into the comparison.
The most recent official measure is the Bureau of Economic Analysis regional price parity for 2024, released February 19, 2026. It sets the national price level at 100. Arkansas is the lowest at 86.9 and Mississippi is next at 87.0, which means 100 dollars of spending there buys about 115 dollars worth of the same goods and services at national average prices. California is the highest state at 110.7 and the District of Columbia is 109.9. Thirty-four states are below the national average and 17 jurisdictions are at or above it.
Arkansas, with an all items regional price parity of 86.937 for 2024. Mississippi is a fraction behind at 86.953, then Iowa at 87.762, Oklahoma at 87.843 and Louisiana at 88.207. The gap between Arkansas and California is 23.78 index points, which works out at 24.71 dollars of buying power on every 100 dollars spent, or 18,531 dollars a year on a 75,000 dollar salary.
California, at 110.7 for 2024, followed by Hawaii at 110.0, New Jersey at 108.8, New York at 107.9 and Washington at 107.0. The District of Columbia is 109.9 but is a district rather than a state. Housing is what separates them: the housing price parity is 154.3 in California and 155.0 in the District of Columbia, against a national average of 100.
Yes. Nebraska has an all items price parity of 90.103 for 2024, which is 9.9 percent below the national average, and a housing parity of 75.174, which is 24.8 percent below. But Nebraska is only the 11th cheapest state. Iowa at 87.762, South Dakota at 88.586, North Dakota at 88.959 and Kansas at 90.068 are all cheaper, and Iowa housing at 65.322 is far cheaper than Nebraska housing. Where Nebraska wins is income: real personal income per person was 65,297 dollars in 2024, the sixth highest in the country.
Less than its reputation suggests. Idaho is the 23rd cheapest state at 95.494 for 2024, only 4.5 percent below the national average, and its housing parity of 90.027 is just 10 percent below. Real personal income per person in Idaho was 52,816 dollars in 2024, which ranks 43rd of the 50 states. Prices near the national average combined with low adjusted income is the opposite of the picture Idaho had a decade ago.
A regional price parity is the Bureau of Economic Analysis measure of the price level in one state against the national average, which is set at 100. It is built from the same price data the Consumer Price Index uses, weighted by what households in each area actually buy, and published for all items, goods, housing rents and other services. It is the only price comparison across all 50 states produced by a federal statistical agency, which is why it is used here instead of a privately published cost of living index.
Wyoming. Real personal income per person in Wyoming was 75,501 dollars in 2024 in chained 2017 dollars, the highest of any state and second only to the District of Columbia at 81,872 dollars. Connecticut is next at 74,254 dollars, then Massachusetts at 71,629 dollars and South Dakota at 69,153 dollars. Wyoming combines prices 7.3 percent below the national average with no state income tax.
Not reliably. Of the nine states with no tax on wage income, Wyoming at 92.691, South Dakota at 88.586 and Tennessee at 91.870 are clearly below the national price level, Texas at 97.057 and Alaska at 102.359 are close to it, and Florida at 103.414, Nevada at 99.979, New Hampshire at 104.165 and Washington at 107.013 are at or above it. Washington is the fifth most expensive state in the country. The tax saving and the price level are separate questions and have to be added up together.
Everything computed on this page is stated where it appears: "what $100 buys" is 10,000 divided by the all items parity; the equivalent salary is the salary multiplied by 100 and divided by the parity; the rent comparison is $2,000 multiplied by the housing parity and divided by 100; percentage differences from the national average are the parity minus 100. All of it was calculated in decimal arithmetic and then re-derived from the finished table.
Reviewed November 2, 2026 against the BEA February 19, 2026 release and the BLS October 14, 2026 Consumer Price Index release.
This page is information, not advice. Cost of living comparisons are statewide averages built from 2024 price data and they will not match any individual household. Nothing here is personalized tax, financial, relocation or investment advice. Check current rates with your state revenue department and speak to a qualified professional before making a decision that depends on these numbers.