What would it cost to live there?

Compare any two of 387 US metro areas: the salary that keeps your standard of living, the difference in rent, and what drives the gap. Built on the Bureau of Economic Analysis's official price data, not crowdsourced prices.

Compare the cost of living in two cities

The extremes, 2024

Overall price level, where the US average is 100.

Most expensive metro area 115.6 San Francisco, CA officialBEA, 2024
Least expensive metro area 83.6 Monroe, LA officialBEA, 2024
Most expensive state 110.7 California officialBEA, 2024
Least expensive state 86.9 Arkansas officialBEA, 2024

Prices by state

Select a state to see its metro areas, what drives its prices and how they have changed since 2008.

Gas prices this week

Average retail price of regular gasoline, week of October 19, 2026.

US average, regular $4.28 National average officialEIA, weekly
Highest of the areas EIA tracks $6.03 California officialEIA, weekly
Lowest of the areas EIA tracks $3.70 Texas officialEIA, weekly

Gas prices by state and city · Gas cost calculator

Largest metro areas

All 387 metro areas and 51 states

Popular comparisons

Rankings

Where the numbers come from

Price levels are the Bureau of Economic Analysis's Regional Price Parities for 2008–2024, published February 19, 2026. Typical rents ($1,932 a month nationally) and home values come from Zillow's research data through September 2026. Every number on the site is tagged official, derived or estimated so you can see whether it is published as is or calculated by us.

How we calculate · Data sources and download dates