Cost of Living Index Quarterly Update

(FINDLAY, Ohio, November 20, 2018) –  Among the 268 urban areas that participated in the third quarter 2018 Cost of Living Index, the after-tax cost for a professional/managerial standard of living ranged from more than twice the national average in New York (Manhattan) NY to almost 25 percent below the national average in Harlingen, TX.   The Cost of Living Index is published quarterly by C2ER – The Council for Community and Economic Research. Quarter 3, 2018 marks the 50th Anniversary year of the publication.

The Cost of Living Index measures regional differences in the cost of consumer goods and services, excluding taxes and non-consumer expenditures, for professional and managerial households in the top income quintile. It is based on more than 90,000 prices covering 60 different items for which prices are collected quarterly by chambers of commerce, economic development organizations, and university applied economic centers in each participating urban area. Small differences should not be interpreted as showing a measurable difference.

The composite index is based on six component categories – housing, utilities, grocery items, transportation, health care, and miscellaneous goods and services.

The City of Findlay’s third quarter 2018 Cost of Living Index was 98.3, 1.7 percent below that of the national average. The City of Findlay’s composite index reflects the following six different categories of consumer expenditures.

Compared to other Ohio cities, Findlay’s data showed that it ranked least expensive in the Utilities category, and third most affordable in the Grocery category, above Lima and Cincinnati.

What Do Groceries Cost?

Each quarter, C2ER collects more than 90,000 prices from communities across the US for the Cost of Living Index. With food prices a big part of the national media attention, C2ER decided to once again feature those communities with the most and least expensive food costs as measured by the grocery item index number.  C2ER collects data on twenty-six items from a variety of surrogate categories to represent the grocery item component of the index.

The Most Expensive Cities to Practice Yoga

To mark the 50th anniversary of the publication, and the better reflect recreational activities available, C2ER updated the Index to now include the price for a one-hour drop-in yoga class. With this new data, we thought users would be interested to compare the top five more and five least expensive cities to practice yoga.

For more information on the C2ER Cost of Living Index, contact the Chamber at 419-422-3313 or e-mail info@FindlayHancockChamber.com.