Posted on 08/20/2014 11:58:08 AM PDT by Slings and Arrows
How far does $100 go? Today's map, which comes from the Tax Foundation and uses data from the Bureau of Economic Analysis, answers that question state by state. In Mississippi, your $100 could buy $115.74 worth of stuff relative to the national average. On the other end of the spectrum is Hawaii, where you'd only get $85.32 worth. Washington, D.C. is even lower, at $84.60.
The Tax Foundation offers a little perspective on how to read the map:
Tennessee is a low-price state, where $100 will buy what would cost $110.25 in another state that is closer to the national average. You can think of this as meaning that Tennesseans are about ten percent richer than their nominal incomes suggest.
The Afternoon Map is a semi-regular feature in which we post maps and infographics. In the afternoon. Semi-regularly. Thanks to Niraj Chokshi of The Washington Post for featuring this one.
Yup. I moved from Seattle to KY three years ago. Took a $50k a year hit and still live far better than I did in Seattle.
Congrats on your emancipation.
And you aren’t even calculating the value of better neighbors, are you?
I was a little surprised that Vermont is more affordable (however slightly) than New Hampshire. I don’t know much about New England, though.
Increase in compensation combined with 7% decrease in state taxes, lower property tax rate and -0.75 $/gallon on gas all helped to confirm the correctness of the decision.
Shocking that Illinois is almost average. Notice how Colorado is Californicating itself.
Probably Downstate offsetting Crook County and the suburbs.
Save for later
If you eliminated the northeast corner of Illinois, would the cost of living be closer to Indiana? What about New York minus its southeast corner or Colorado minus the Front Range cities? Some living costs are tax related and regulation related, but tend to be focused on the metro areas.
Now in WA I pay 0 income tax, 400 homeowners, 1000 car ins, and 3000 property tax. I saved almost 10000/year just by moving. My first day in WA I saw a sign at the 7-11 advertising two (TWO!) gallons of milk for $5. But this graphic says I live in a higher cost state, now. It sure doesn't feel like it.
If you’re near Oregon you can shop there and pay no sales tax
I bet if you took out Atlanta/Fulton County, Georgia would be even better off than it is.
It probably depends where in the state you live. For instance, my state, Pennsylvania, comes out about average on this graphic. However, I live in western PA, near Pittsburgh. I know that the cost of living here is much lower than it is in the eastern part of the state nearer to Philly.
Probably it’s much the same in other states. NY is probably much cheaper if you’d ignore the NYC area. Similarly, with WA, probably it’s the Seattle area that drags the numbers down.
Reasonable hypothesis.
notice that the last three digits In the New York Numbers are 6. dollars and 66...Cents
While NYC is expensive, it can also be affordable given the access to mass transit and variety of venues to buy your stuff from.
Outside of NYC, NY State truly sucks from Niagara to East Hampton. The property taxes are insane, there are numerous State and local taxes and the business climate is unfriendly to say the least. Every State and local agency has its hand out and will make your life miserable to justify their existence. Gas is expensive and winters get brutal as you go further inland.
Manufacturing has abandoned the state and upstate looks like Appalachia outside of the small towns surrounding the state universities.
We are losing people faster than any other state for all the above.
That might depend on which trailer park your dragging it through.
Exactly. This means that a national minimum wage is stupid. It also means that liberal states suck up all your money and give you nothing.
Somewhat unrelated: Mom gave me a $20.00 to spend one night at the WI State Fair in 1969. Today it would probably have to be about $100.00 to get the equivalent in House of Mirrors, Fat Lady, carney creeps, etc.
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