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 **** — well below the national benchmark of 100. Virginia— which had an index value of ***** — 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 ******* 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 ******* U.S. dollars. That makes living expenses in these states significantly lower than in states such as Hawaii and California, where housing is much pricier. 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 *** U.S. dollars. That was because of the significantly higher prices for electricity and natural gas in these states.

Hawaii is the state with the highest household electricity price in the United States. In February 2025, the average retail price of electricity for Hawaiian residences amounted to 41.11 U.S. cents per kilowatt-hour. California followed in second, with 32.41 U.S. cents per kilowatt-hour. Meanwhile, Utah registered the lowest price in the period, at around 12.41 U.S. cents per kilowatt-hour. Why is electricity so expensive in Hawaii? Fossil fuels, and specifically oil, account for approximately 80 percent of Hawaii’s electricity mix, so the electricity price in this state can be roughly brought down to the price of oil in the country. Oil was by far the most expensive fossil fuel used for electricity generation in the country. As Hawaii depends on oil imports, the cost of transportation and infrastructure must be added to the oil price. Electricity prices worldwide The U.S. retail price for electricity increased almost every year since 1990. In 2024, it stood at 13 U.S. cents per kilowatt-hour, almost double the charge put on electricity back in 1990. However, household electricity prices are around 25 U.S. dollar cents per kilowatt-hour lower in the U.S. when compared to European countries reliant on energy imports, such as Germany and Italy.

More than one minimum wage job was required to afford two-bedroom housing in all states in the United States in 2025. At mean wage, Hawaii was the most expensive state, requiring renters to hold about *** full-time jobs at a mean wage to afford two-bedroom housing. The fair market rent value of two bedroom housing in Hawaii ranked *******most expensive among all states in the United States in 2025.

A comprehensive dataset of average residential, commercial, and combined electricity rates in cents per kWh for all 50 U.S. states and Washington D.C.

Telluride, CO, was the most expensive market for luxury single-family home market in the United States in 2025. In February that year, the median sales price of a single-family home in Telluride was *** million U.S. dollars. Ft. Lauderdale, FL, and Park City, UT were other locations that fetched prices over **** million U.S. dollars.

On July 1, 2025, the price of regular gasoline was highest in California, at around **** U.S. dollars per gallon. This was some *** dollars above the national average of **** U.S. dollars. California's high motor fuel prices are largely determined by it being the U.S. state with the highest gasoline tax. Tax impact on pump prices As of January 2024, California's gasoline tax reached **** U.S. cents per gallon, far exceeding rates in other states. This tax burden plays a crucial role in shaping retail prices, with federal and state taxes being one of the strongest determinants of what consumers pay at the pump. The revenue generated from these taxes is typically reinvested in road infrastructure, demonstrating the direct link between fuel costs and transportation development. Winter months see lowest prices While taxes significantly influence gasoline prices, crude oil costs remain the primary factor, accounting for ** percent of the retail price in February 2025. The volatility of crude oil prices directly impacts pump prices, as seen in the fluctuations over recent years. Conventional motor fuel prices, including gasoline and diesel, are generally lowest in the winter months. This is due to generally lower demand during those months, as well as the winter fuel blend being less expensive to produce than the summer alternative.

The graph displays the most expensive divorce settlements in U.S. history, with each bar representing a high-profile couple. The x-axis lists the names of the divorced couples, while the y-axis indicates the settlement amount in billions of U.S. dollars. Settlement values range from a high of $36 billion for Jeff Bezos and MacKenzie Scott to a low of $874 million for Adnan and Soraya Khashoggi. The graph shows that only one divorce exceeds $30 billion, while most others fall between $874 million and $3.8 billion. This bar chart highlights the wide disparity in financial outcomes among high-net-worth divorces.

The District of Columbia holds the record for the highest price per ounce of high quality marijuana in the United States, as of January 2025, with an average price of some 590 U.S. dollars per ounce. Recreational cannabis use Recreational cannabis is not legal in all U.S. states; however, many consumers use the drug illicitly. A recent survey indicated that over half of U.S. adults think that cannabis should be legalized and taxed like alcohol and tobacco. Recreational cannabis is often used by consumers for relaxation, stress relief, and creativity, to name a few. Surveys have shown that a majority of recreation users use marijuana for relaxation. Legal marijuana market potential It is projected that by 2025 the sales of legal cannabis in the U.S. will generate approximately 25 billion dollars in revenue. The regulation of marijuana includes the taxation of all sales. There is potential for the U.S. cannabis market to generate significant taxes and boost the economy. It is estimated that the taxes from legal marijuana sales would exceed the taxes earned from U.S. sales taxes by a significant amount.

Pre-packaged, thick sliced, regular sliced or thin sliced pork bacon, regardless of process state."

As of January 2025, Hurricane Katrina, which occurred between 25 and 30 August 2005, was still the most expensive hurricane to ever hit the United States. It caused insured property losses amounting to almost *** billion U.S. dollars.

In January 2025, apartment rents recorded an annual growth in most U.S. states. Nevertheless, the national average rent declined by about *** percent. West Virginia was the state with the largest rental increase, while Colorado measured the largest decline. California, one of the most expensive states to rent an apartment, such as California, saw an increase of about *** percent from the previous year. How much should you earn to afford to rent an apartment in different states in the U.S.? Both employment opportunities and the living costs vary widely across the country. In California, which is among the most competitive housing markets in the U.S., the hourly wage needed to afford a two-bedroom apartment rental was roughly ** U.S. dollars, more than twice higher than in North Carolina, Louisiana, or Michigan in 2024. When it comes to the median household income, on the other hand, California does not even make it in the top ten states. How much should you earn to afford a home in some of U.S. largest metros? In 2022, the annual salary needed to buy a median-priced home in the U.S. was ****** U.S. dollars. However, in some of the largest metropolitan areas in the United States, where housing prices are up to two or three times higher, homebuyers would have to earn more than 100,000 U.S. dollars to afford a home. In San Jose, which was the most expensive metro, the annual salary needed for a median-priced home was approximately ******* U.S. dollars.

In the first quarter of 2025, San Francisco, Chicago, New York, and Honolulu were some of the U.S. cities with the highest housing construction costs. Meanwhile, Phoenix had one of the lowest construction costs for high-end multifamily homes at *** U.S. dollars per square foot and Las Vegas for single-family homes between *** and *** U.S. dollars per square foot. Construction cost disparities As seen here, the construction cost for a high-end multi-family home in San Francisco in the first quarter of 2024 was over ***** more expensive than in Phoenix. Meanwhile, there were also great differences in the cost of building a single-family house in New York and in Portland or Seattle. Some factors that may cause these disparities are the construction materials, installation, and composite costs, differing land values, wages, etc. For example, although the price of construction materials in the U.S. was rising at a slower level than in 2022 and 2023, several materials that are essential in most construction projects had growth rates of over **** percent in 2024. Growing industry revenue Despite the economic uncertainty and other challenges, the size of the private construction market in the U.S. rose during the past years. It is important to consider that supply and demand for housing influences the revenue of this segment of the construction market. On the supply side, single-family home construction fell in 2023, but it is expected to rise in 2024 and 2025. On the demand side, some of the U.S. metropolitan areas with the highest sale prices of single-family homes were located in California, with San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara at the top of the ranking.

As of January 2025, the rent for a two-bedroom apartment in Hawaii was about *** U.S. dollars higher than in California. The states of Hawaii and California ranked as the most expensive within the United States for apartment renters. Conversely, an apartment in Arkansas was almost ***** times more affordable than one in Hawaii.In 2025, the average monthly rent in the U.S. declined slightly. Nevertheless, in rents increased in most states, with West Virginia registering the highest growth.

This statistic shows the average amount charged for select organ transplantations in the United States as of 2025. As of that time, the average cost for a kidney transplant was around 446,800 U.S. dollars.

As of April 2025, the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold6 (256GB) was the most expensive folding phone available at AT&T in the United States, priced at around ***** U.S. dollars. By contrast, the Motorola Razr+2024 (256GB) cost just under 1,000 U.S. dollars.

Apartment rents in two states and the District of Columbia in the U.S. exceeded ***** U.S. dollars in April 2025. In Hawaii, the median rent was about ***** U.S. dollars, nearly *** U.S. dollars higher than the national average. At the other end of the spectrum was Nebraska, where renters paid about ***** U.S. dollars for the median new lease. Overall, most states saw rental rates increase year-on-year.

Gas peaking and nuclear power had the highest unsubsidized levelized costs of energy (LCOE) generation in the United States in 2025. Their LCOE averaged around *** and *** U.S. dollars per megawatt-hour, respectively. The high upfront capital costs for the construction of nuclear plants and the investment in gas infrastructure accounted for these figures. LCOE for solar PV Levelized cost of electricity or energy generation (LCOE) is a measure used to compare cost efficiency of different electricity-generating technologies. It describes the average expense of building and maintaining a power plant divided by its total power output over the facility’s lifetime. The global levelized cost of electricity for solar PV averaged **** U.S. dollars per kilowatt-hour in 2024. The economic viability of solar PV installations is dependent on factors largely centering around topography and the predominant weather pattern at the installation site. In regions with high sunshine duration, installing solar PV would come with lower LCOE’s as electricity production may be higher. As countries may stretch across highly variable topography and even across climate zones, solar PV LCOE may also vary greatly within a country. The U.S. has some of the lowest LCOE’s for utility-scale solar PV. Capital costs by energy technology In terms of capital costs – the one-time expense arising from the purchase of land, construction material, and building of the power plant for new power plants expected to come live in 2030, battery storage systems are the most expensive in the United States. They had an estimated levelized capital costs of roughly **** U.S. dollars per megawatt-hour as of April 2025. Nuclear energy and combustion turbines followed, while capital costs for solar PV are comparatively low.

At **** U.S. dollars, Switzerland has the most expensive Big Macs in the world, according to the January 2025 Big Mac index. Concurrently, the cost of a Big Mac was **** dollars in the U.S., and **** U.S. dollars in the Euro area. What is the Big Mac index? The Big Mac index, published by The Economist, is a novel way of measuring whether the market exchange rates for different countries’ currencies are overvalued or undervalued. It does this by measuring each currency against a common standard – the Big Mac hamburger sold by McDonald’s restaurants all over the world. Twice a year the Economist converts the average national price of a Big Mac into U.S. dollars using the exchange rate at that point in time. As a Big Mac is a completely standardized product across the world, the argument goes that it should have the same relative cost in every country. Differences in the cost of a Big Mac expressed as U.S. dollars therefore reflect differences in the purchasing power of each currency. Is the Big Mac index a good measure of purchasing power parity? Purchasing power parity (PPP) is the idea that items should cost the same in different countries, based on the exchange rate at that time. This relationship does not hold in practice. Factors like tax rates, wage regulations, whether components need to be imported, and the level of market competition all contribute to price variations between countries. The Big Mac index does measure this basic point – that one U.S. dollar can buy more in some countries than others. There are more accurate ways to measure differences in PPP though, which convert a larger range of products into their dollar price. Adjusting for PPP can have a massive effect on how we understand a country’s economy. The country with the largest GDP adjusted for PPP is China, but when looking at the unadjusted GDP of different countries, the U.S. has the largest economy.

Men typically face higher automotive insurance costs in the United States than women, this was apparent across the majority of leading auto insurance providers in the United States. This was particularly prevalent in the 17-year-old age category, with the average insurance rate for young males being over **** U.S. dollars more expensive with *** out of 11 of the leading insurers. American Family had the largest price difference at **** U.S. dollars, with the average 17-year-old female receiving an annual rate of ***** U.S. dollars and the average 17-year-old age males receiving an annual rate of ***** U.S. dollars. What factors into the cost of motor insurance? Requirements regarding auto insurance in the U.S. differ from state to state, but in most states some form of minimum insurance coverage is compulsory. The cost of insurance is determined by a variety of factors, including location, gender, age, type of vehicle, and personal factors such as how many accidents the driver has had and their credit score. These factors can create major price differences, with average insurance costs of the most expensive state (Michigan) being over *** times higher than the cheapest state (Iowa). Why is there such a large motor insurance market in the U.S.? There ******** of ******** of motor vehicles registered in the United States, creating an enormous market for auto insurance. However, there is a reason that most states require a minimum level of insurance – each year millions of vehicle crashes occur, which lead to incurred losses for auto insurers.

In the second quarter of 2025, Portland and San Francisco were some of the most expensive cities in the United States for the construction of general hospitals. The cost of building a hospital in Portland ranged between ***** and ***** U.S. dollars. Boston and Los Angeles were the next cities in the ranking. Meanwhile, Las Vegas was one of the cheapest city in the list to build a general hospital.