West Virginia and Kansas had the lowest cost of living across all U.S. states, with composite costs being half of those found in Hawaii. This was according to a composite index that compares prices for various goods and services on a state-by-state basis. In West Virginia, the cost of living index amounted to 84.8 - well below the national benchmark of 100. Nevada - which had an index value of 100.1 - was only slightly above that benchmark. Expensive places to live included Hawaii, Massachusetts, and California Housing costs in the U.S. Housing is usually the highest expense in a household’s budget. In 2023, the average house sold for approximately 427,000 U.S. dollars, but house prices in the Northeast and West regions were significantly higher. Conversely, the South had some of the least expensive housing. In West Virginia, Mississippi, and Louisiana, the median price of the typical single-family home was less than 200,000 U.S. dollars. That makes living costs in these states significantly lower than in states such as Hawaii and California, where housing is much more expensive. What other expenses affect the cost of living? Utility costs such as electricity, natural gas, water, and internet also influence the cost of living. In Alaska, Hawaii, and Connecticut, the average monthly utility cost exceeded 500 U.S. dollars. That was because of the significantly higher prices for electricity and natural gas in these states.

There is more to housing affordability than the rent or mortgage you pay. Transportation costs are the second-biggest budget item for most families, but it can be difficult for people to fully factor transportation costs into decisions about where to live and work. The Location Affordability Index (LAI) is a user-friendly source of standardized data at the neighborhood (census tract) level on combined housing and transportation costs to help consumers, policymakers, and developers make more informed decisions about where to live, work, and invest. Compare eight household profiles (see table below) —which vary by household income, size, and number of commuters—and see the impact of the built environment on affordability in a given location while holding household demographics constant.*$11,880 for a single person household in 2016 according to US Dept. of Health and Human Services: https://aspe.hhs.gov/computations-2016-poverty-guidelinesThis layer is symbolized by the percentage of housing and transportation costs as a percentage of income for the Median-Income Family profile, but the costs as a percentage of income for all household profiles are listed in the pop-up:Also available is a gallery of 8 web maps (one for each household profile) all symbolized the same way for easy comparison: Median-Income Family, Very Low-Income Individual, Working Individual, Single Professional, Retired Couple, Single-Parent Family, Moderate-Income Family, and Dual-Professional Family.An accompanying story map provides side-by-side comparisons and additional context.--Variables used in HUD's calculations include 24 measures such as people per household, average number of rooms per housing unit, monthly housing costs (mortgage/rent as well as utility and maintenance expenses), average number of cars per household, median commute distance, vehicle miles traveled per year, percent of trips taken on transit, street connectivity and walkability (measured by block density), and many more.To learn more about the Location Affordability Index (v.3) visit: https://www.hudexchange.info/programs/location-affordability-index/. There you will find some background and an FAQ page, which includes the question:"Manhattan, San Francisco, and downtown Boston are some of the most expensive places to live in the country, yet the LAI shows them as affordable for the typical regional household. Why?" These areas have some of the lowest transportation costs in the country, which helps offset the high cost of housing. The area median income (AMI) in these regions is also high, so when costs are shown as a percent of income for the typical regional household these neighborhoods appear affordable; however, they are generally unaffordable to households earning less than the AMI.Date of Coverage: 2012-2016 Date Released: March 2019Date Downloaded from HUD Open Data: 4/18/19Further Documentation:LAI Version 3 Data and MethodologyLAI Version 3 Technical Documentation_**The documentation below is in reference to this items placement in the NM Supply Chain Data Hub. The documentation is of use to understanding the source of this item, and how to reproduce it for updates**

Title: Location Affordability Index - NMCDC Copy

Summary: This layer contains the Location Affordability Index from U.S. Dept. of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) - standardized household, housing, and transportation cost estimates by census tract for 8 household profiles.

Notes: This map is copied from source map: https://nmcdc.maps.arcgis.com/home/item.html?id=de341c1338c5447da400c4e8c51ae1f6, created by dianaclavery_uo, and identified in Living Atlas.

Prepared by: dianaclavery_uo, copied by EMcRae_NMCDC

Source: This map is copied from source map: https://nmcdc.maps.arcgis.com/home/item.html?id=de341c1338c5447da400c4e8c51ae1f6, created by dianaclavery_uo, and identified in Living Atlas. Check the source documentation or other details above for more information about data sources.

Feature Service: https://nmcdc.maps.arcgis.com/home/item.html?id=447a461f048845979f30a2478b9e65bb

UID: 73

Data Requested: Family income spent on basic need

Method of Acquisition: Search for Location Affordability Index in the Living Atlas. Make a copy of most recent map available. To update this map, copy the most recent map available. In a new tab, open the AGOL Assistant Portal tool and use the functions in the portal to copy the new maps JSON, and paste it over the old map (this map with item id

Date Acquired: Map copied on May 10, 2022

Priority rank as Identified in 2022 (scale of 1 being the highest priority, to 11 being the lowest priority): 6

Tags: PENDING

In 2023, the annual median cost for long-term care in the United States ranged from 24,700 to 116,800 U.S. dollars, depending on the type of service. Long-term health care can be provided in various environments such as nursing homes, community and assisted living facilities, or at-home care. Nursing homes, community, and assisted living facilities in the U.S. The most expensive long-term care services in the U.S. was nursing homes. In the U.S., the annual cost for a semi-private room in a nursing home stood at 104,025 U.S. dollars. With an annual cost of 54,200 U.S dollars, a single bedroom in an assisted living facility was cheaper than a nursing home. However, from one state to another, the cost of a room in a nursing home varied greatly. For instance, a semi-private room in an Alaskan nursing home nearly reached 224,500 U.S. dollars in 2023. Home care services Instead of moving into a nursing home or retirement residence, care at home is often the more preferred option. Home care services typically include either home health aide or homemaker services. In 2023, the annual cost of homemaker services reached an average of 68,640 U.S. dollars, whereas the cost for home health aide services was roughly 75,500 U.S. dollars. As with nursing homes, the cost for in-home care services such as homemaker services varied greatly depending on the State. In Washington, the annual cost for homemaker services reached 99,528 U.S. dollars in 2023.

This statistic shows the median household income in the United States from 1990 to 2023 in 2023 U.S. dollars. The median household income was 80,610 U.S. dollars in 2023, an increase from the previous year. Household incomeThe median household income depicts the income of households, including the income of the householder and all other individuals aged 15 years or over living in the household. Income includes wages and salaries, unemployment insurance, disability payments, child support payments received, regular rental receipts, as well as any personal business, investment, or other kinds of income received routinely. The median household income in the United States varies from state to state. In 2020, the median household income was 86,725 U.S. dollars in Massachusetts, while the median household income in Mississippi was approximately 44,966 U.S. dollars at that time. Household income is also used to determine the poverty line in the United States. In 2021, about 11.6 percent of the U.S. population was living in poverty. The child poverty rate, which represents people under the age of 18 living in poverty, has been growing steadily over the first decade since the turn of the century, from 16.2 percent of the children living below the poverty line in year 2000 to 22 percent in 2010. In 2021, it had lowered to 15.3 percent. The state with the widest gap between the rich and the poor was New York, with a Gini coefficient score of 0.51 in 2019. The Gini coefficient is calculated by looking at average income rates. A score of zero would reflect perfect income equality and a score of one indicates a society where one person would have all the money and all other people have nothing.

This table contains data on the percent of households paying more than 30% (or 50%) of monthly household income towards housing costs for California, its regions, counties, cities/towns, and census tracts. Data is from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), Consolidated Planning Comprehensive Housing Affordability Strategy (CHAS) and the U.S. Census Bureau, American Community Survey (ACS). The table is part of a series of indicators in the [Healthy Communities Data and Indicators Project of the Office of Health Equity] Affordable, quality housing is central to health, conferring protection from the environment and supporting family life. Housing costs—typically the largest, single expense in a family's budget—also impact decisions that affect health. As housing consumes larger proportions of household income, families have less income for nutrition, health care, transportation, education, etc. Severe cost burdens may induce poverty—which is associated with developmental and behavioral problems in children and accelerated cognitive and physical decline in adults. Low-income families and minority communities are disproportionately affected by the lack of affordable, quality housing. More information about the data table and a data dictionary can be found in the Attachments.

Abstract

The Consumer Expenditure Survey (CE) program provides a continuous and comprehensive flow of data on the buying habits of American consumers. These data are used widely in economic research and analysis, and in support of revisions of the Consumer Price Index. To meet the needs of users, the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) produces population estimates for consumer units (CUs) of average expenditures in news releases, reports, issues, and articles in the Monthly Labor Review. Tabulated CE data are also available on the Internet and by facsimile transmission (See Section XV. APPENDIX 4). The microdata are available online at http://www/bls.gov/cex/pumdhome.htm. These microdata files present detailed expenditure and income data for the Diary component of the CE for 2002. They include weekly expenditure (EXPD) and annual income (DTBD) files. The data in EXPD and DTBD files are categorized by a Universal Classification Code (UCC). The advantage of the EXPD and DTBD files is that with the data classified in a standardized format, the user may perform comparative expenditure (income) analysis with relative ease. The FMLD and MEMD files present data on the characteristics and demographics of CUs and CU members. The summary level expenditure and income information on the FMLD files permits the data user to link consumer spending, by general expenditure category, and household characteristics and demographics on one set of files. Estimates of average expenditures in 2002 from the Diary survey, integrated with data from the Interview survey, are published in Consumer Expenditures in 2002. A list of recent publications containing data from the CE appears at the end of this documentation. The microdata files are in the public domain and with appropriate credit, may be reproduced without permission. A suggested citation is: "U.S. Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics, Consumer Expenditure Survey, Diary Survey, 2002".

Analysis unit

Consumer Units

Kind of data

Sample survey data [ssd]

Sampling procedure

Samples for the CE are national probability samples of households designed to be representative of the total U. S. civilian population. Eligible population includes all civilian noninstitutional persons. The first step in sampling is the selection of primary sampling units (PSUs), which consist of counties (or parts thereof) or groups of counties. The set of sample PSUs used for the 2002 sample is composed of 105 areas. The design classifies the PSUs into four categories: • 31 "A" certainty PSUs are Metropolitan Statistical Areas (MSA's) with a population greater than 1.5 million. • 46 "B" PSUs, are medium-sized MSA's. • 10 "C" PSUs are nonmetropolitan areas that are included in the CPI. • 18 "D" PSUs are nonmetropolitan areas where only the urban population data will be included in the CPI.

The sampling frame (that is, the list from which housing units were chosen) for the 2002 survey is generated from the 1990 Population Census 100-percent-detail file. The sampling frame is augmented by new construction permits and by techniques used to eliminate recognized deficiencies in census coverage. All Enumeration Districts (ED's) from the Census that fail to meet the criterion for good addresses for new construction, and all ED's in nonpermit-issuing areas are grouped into the area segment frame. To the extent possible, an unclustered sample of units is selected within each PSU. This lack of clustering is desirable because the sample size of the Diary Survey is small relative to other surveys, while the intraclass correlations for expenditure characteristics are relatively large. This suggests that any clustering of the sample units could result in an unacceptable increase in the within-PSU variance and, as a result, the total variance. Each selected sample unit is requested to keep two 1-week diaries of expenditures over consecutive weeks. The earliest possible day for placing a diary with a household is predesignated with each day of the week having an equal chance to be the first of the reference week. The diaries are evenly spaced throughout the year. During the last 6 weeks of the year, however, the Diary Survey sample is supplemented to twice its normal size to increase the reporting of types of expenditures unique to the holidays.

STATE IDENTIFIER Since the CE is not designed to produce state-level estimates, summing the consumer unit weights by state will not yield state population totals. A CU's basic weight reflects its probability of selection among a group of primary sampling units of similar characteristics. For example, sample units in an urban nonmetropolitan area in California may represent similar areas in Wyoming and Nevada. Among other adjustments, CUs are post-stratified nationally by sex-age-race. For example, the weights of consumer units containing a black male, age 16-24 in Alabama, Colorado, or New York, are all adjusted equivalently. Therefore, weighted population state totals will not match population totals calculated from other surveys that are designed to represent state data. To summarize, the CE sample was not designed to produce precise estimates for individual states. Although state-level estimates that are unbiased in a repeated sampling sense can be calculated for various statistical measures, such as means and aggregates, their estimates will generally be subject to large variances. Additionally, a particular state-population estimate from the CE sample may be far from the true state-population estimate.

INTERPRETING THE DATA Several factors should be considered when interpreting the expenditure data. The average expenditure for an item may be considerably lower than the expenditure by those CUs that purchased the item. The less frequently an item is purchased, the greater the difference between the average for all consumer units and the average of those purchasing. (See Section V.B. for ESTIMATION OF TOTAL AND MEAN EXPENDITURES). Also, an individual CU may spend more or less than the average, depending on its particular characteristics. Factors such as income, age of family members, geographic location, taste and personal preference also influence expenditures. Furthermore, even within groups with similar characteristics, the distribution of expenditures varies substantially. Expenditures reported are the direct out-of-pocket expenditures. Indirect expenditures, which may be significant, may be reflected elsewhere. For example, rental contracts often include utilities. Renters with such contracts would record no direct expense for utilities, and therefore, appear to have no utility expenses. Employers or insurance companies frequently pay other costs. CUs with members whose employers pay for all or part of their health insurance or life insurance would have lower direct expenses for these items than those who pay the entire amount themselves. These points should be considered when relating reported averages to individual circumstances.

Mode of data collection

Computer Assisted Personal Interview [capi]

In the United States, Hawaii was the state with the most expensive housing, with the typical value of single-family homes in the 35th to 65th percentile range exceeding 981,000 U.S. dollars. Unsurprisingly, Hawaii also ranked top as the state with the highest cost of living. Meanwhile, a property was the least expensive in West Virginia, where it cost under 167,000 U.S. dollars to buy the typical single-family home. Single-family home prices increased across most states in the United States between December 2023 and December 2024, except in Louisiana, Florida, and the District of Colombia. According to the Federal Housing Association, house appreciation in 13 states exceeded nine percent in 2023.

Alaska, Hawaii, and Connecticut were the states with the highest average monthly utility costs in the United States in 2023. Residents paid about 133.89 U.S. dollars for their electricity bills in Hawaii, while the average monthly bill for natural gas came to 164 U.S. dollars. This was significantly higher than in any other state. Bigger homes have higher utility costs Despite regional variations, single-family homes in the United States have grown bigger in size since 1975. This trend also means that, unless homeowners invest in energy savings measures, they will have to pay more for their utility costs. Which are the most affordable states to live in? According to the cost of living index, the three most affordable states to live in are Mississippi, Kansas, and Oklahoma. At the other end of the scale are Hawaii, District of Columbia, and New York. The index is based on housing, utilities, grocery items, transportation, health care, and miscellaneous goods and services. To buy a median priced home in Kansas City, a prospective home buyer will have to earn an annual salary of about 76,000 U.S. dollars.

The average price per square foot of floor space in new single-family housing in the United States decreased after the great financial crisis, followed by several years of stagnation. Since 2012, the price has continuously risen, hitting 168 U.S. dollars per square foot in 2022. In 2024, the average sales price of a new home exceeded 500,000 U.S. dollars. Development of house sales in the U.S. One of the reasons for rising property prices is the gradual growth of house sales between 2011 and 2020. This period was marked by the gradual recovery following the subprime mortgage crisis and a growing housing sentiment. Another significant factor for the housing demand was the growing number of new household formations each year. Despite this trend, housing transactions plummeted in 2021, amid soaring prices and borrowing costs. In 2021, the average construction cost for single-family housing rose by nearly 12 percent year-on-year, and in 2022, the increase was even higher, at close to 17 percent. Financing a house purchase Mortgage interest rates in the U.S. rose dramatically in 2022 and remained elevated until 2024. In 2020, a homebuyer could lock in a 30-year fixed interest rate of under three percent, whereas in 2024, the average rate for the same mortgage type was more than twice higher. That has led to a decline in homebuyer sentiment, and an increasing share of the population pessimistic about buying a home in the current market.

The median sales price of an existing single-family home in the United States reached almost 389,300 U.S. dollars in 2023 – the highest price on record. The sales price has risen year-on-year since 2011, increasing by over 100,000 U.S. dollars between 2019 and 2023. Location, location, location Regional differences in the median sales prices of existing single-family homes were evident across the United States. The cheapest region is the Midwest; the most expensive region is the West. An existing home in the West cost over 100,000 U.S. dollars more than in the Midwest. Prices surge due to housing shortage A lack of properties on the market is one reason why the prices of existing single-family homes are rising across all regions of the United States. The shortage in housing comes despite increases in both the number of new single-family units being authorized by building permits and new single-family housing unit starts. Homebuyers in the United States will have to pay top dollar should they want a new single-family home.

In 2023, the real median household income in the state of Alabama was 60,660 U.S. dollars. The state with the highest median household income was Massachusetts, which was 106,500 U.S. dollars in 2023. The average median household income in the United States was at 80,610 U.S. dollars.

Telluride, CO, was the most expensive market for luxury single-family home market in the United States in 2024. In February that year, the median sales price of a single-family home in Telluride was 6.3 million U.S. dollars. Park City, UT, Paradise Valley, AZ, and the Los Angeles Beach Cities, CA, were other locations that fetched prices over 4.3 million U.S. dollars.

The United States has the highest expenditure on health care per capita globally. However, the U.S. has an unique way of paying for their health care where a majority of the expenditure falls upon private insurances. In FY 2023, around one third of all health expenditure is paid by private insurance. Public insurance programs Medicare and Medicaid accounted for 22 and 18 percent, respectively, of health expenditure during that same year.

U.S. health care system

Globally health spending has been increasing among most countries. However, the U.S. has the highest public and private per capita health expenditure among all countries globally, followed by Switzerland. As of 2020, annual health care costs per capita in the United States totaled to over 12 thousand U.S. dollars, a significant amount considering the average U.S. personal income is around 54 thousand dollars.

Out of pocket costs in the U.S.

Aside from overall high health care costs for U.S. residents, the total out-of-pocket costs for health care have been on the rise. In recent years, the average per capita out-of-pocket health care payments have exceeded one thousand dollars. Physician services, dental services and prescription drugs account for the largest proportion of out-of-pocket expenditures for U.S. residents.

Lifetime costs for a 25 year old patient, suffering from paraplegia in the United States are estimated at around 2.97 million U.S. dollars. There are approximately 18,000 new cases of spinal cord injuries in the United States every year, with 43 years being the average age of injury. Lifetime costs are directly attributable to health care and living expenses and do not include loss of wages, fringe benefits and productivity. This statistic displays the estimated lifetime costs for those suffering a spinal cord injury, sorted by severity, as of 2023.

In September 2024, the disposable personal income in the United States increased by 0.3 percent from the previous month. The data are in current U.S. dollars, seasonally adjusted at annual rates. Disposable personal income in the United States According to the BEA, personal income is the income that is received by persons from all sources. It is calculated as the sum of wage and salary disbursements, supplements to wages and salaries, proprietors' income with inventory valuation and capital consumption adjustments, rental income of persons with capital consumption adjustment, personal dividend income, personal interest income, and personal current transfer receipts, minus contributions for government social insurance. In simple terms, disposable personal income is the total remaining income after taxes paid; it is the income available to persons for spending or saving. It is useful to economists because it measures the amount of money available for spending in a specific area. Disposable personal income is a significant indicator of an economy’s health. Personal income determines an individual’s ability to consume goods and services, i.e. personal consumption expenditure, and industries producing consumer goods and services contribute heavily to United States gross domestic product. The retail trade industry, for example, contributed 1.38 trillion chained U.S. dollars to the GDP of the United States in 2021. Total real GDP amounted to about 22.99 trillion U.S. dollars that year. The arts, entertainment, recreation, accommodation and food services industry contributed 839.6 billion U.S. dollars to the GDP in 2021. Personal income in the United States was 21.06 trillion U.S. dollars in 2021, the highest value in over ten years.

In 2020, the average out-of-pocket (OOP) per person spending on healthcare services by women aged 85 years and above in the U.S. amounted to 6,504 U.S. dollars. The per-person healthcare expenditure increased exponentially for the women in the oldest age group. In the same year, the total per-person expenditure on personal healthcare by women was also the highest in the same age group, it amounted to 36,686 U.S. dollars per individual.

A July 2021 report examined the amount of money spent by high net worth (HNW) art collectors on art and antiques worldwide between 2019 and the first half of 2021. The results of the study, which identified collectors' median expenditure according to the generation they were born in, showed an increase in spending by 207 thousand U.S. dollars and 62 thousand U.S. dollars among Millennials and Boomers, respectively. While the median expenditure of art collectors from both of these generations more than doubled in the first half of 2021 compared to 2019, the median spending of Gen X art collectors dropped by 10 thousand U.S. dollars during the same timeframe.

In December 2024, inflation amounted to 2.9 percent, while wages grew by 4.2 percent. The inflation rate has not exceeded the rate of wage growth since January 2023. Inflation in 2022 The high rates of inflation in 2022 meant that the real terms value of American wages took a hit. Many Americans report feelings of concern over the economy and a worsening of their financial situation. The inflation situation in the United States is one that was experienced globally in 2022, mainly due to COVID-19 related supply chain constraints and disruption due to the Russian invasion of Ukraine. The monthly inflation rate for the U.S. reached a 40-year high in June 2022 at 9.1 percent, and annual inflation for 2022 reached eight percent. Without appropriate wage increases, Americans will continue to see a decline in their purchasing power. Wages in the U.S. Despite the level of wage growth reaching 6.7 percent in the summer of 2022, it has not been enough to curb the impact of even higher inflation rates. The federally mandated minimum wage in the United States has not increased since 2009, meaning that individuals working minimum wage jobs have taken a real terms pay cut for the last twelve years. There are discrepancies between states - the minimum wage in California can be as high as 15.50 U.S. dollars per hour, while a business in Oklahoma may be as low as two U.S. dollars per hour. However, even the higher wage rates in states like California and Washington may be lacking - one analysis found that if minimum wage had kept up with productivity, the minimum hourly wage in the U.S. should have been 22.88 dollars per hour in 2021. Additionally, the impact of decreased purchasing power due to inflation will impact different parts of society in different ways with stark contrast in average wages due to both gender and race.

According to a survey conducted in Ghana in December 2023, tourists in the country spent the most on accommodation. This reached an average value of 476.6 U.S. dollars daily per person. Expenditure on entertainment added up to around 268 U.S. dollars per individual. Moreover, the average daily spending on gifts was 83.5 U.S. dollars, the least among the other purposes observed. The overall international tourist expenditure in Ghana stood at 946 U.S. dollars in 2020.

The average transaction price of new housing in Europe was the highest in Norway, whereas existing homes were the most expensive in Austria. Since there is no central body that collects and tracks transaction activity or house prices across the whole continent or the European Union, not all countries are included. To compile the ranking, the source weighed the transaction prices of residential properties in the most important cities in each country based on data from their national offices. For example, in Germany, the cities included were Munich, Hamburg, Frankfurt, and Berlin. House prices have been soaring, with Sweden topping the ranking Considering the RHPI of houses in Europe (the price index in real terms, which measures price changes of single-family properties adjusted for the impact of inflation), however, the picture changes. Sweden, Luxembourg and Norway top this ranking, meaning residential property prices have surged the most in these countries. Real values were calculated using the so-called Personal Consumption Expenditure Deflator (PCE), This PCE uses both consumer prices as well as consumer expenditures, like medical and health care expenses paid by employers. It is meant to show how expensive housing is compared to the way of living in a country. Home ownership highest in Eastern Europe The home ownership rate in Europe varied from country to country. In 2020, roughly half of all homes in Germany were owner-occupied whereas home ownership was at nearly 97 percent in Romania or around 90 percent in Slovakia and Lithuania. These numbers were considerably higher than in France or Italy, where homeowners made up 65 percent and 72 percent of their respective populations.For more information on the topic of property in Europe, visit the following pages as a starting point for your research: real estate investments in Europe and residential real estate in Europe.