In 2024, the annual cost for a private room in an assisted living facility in the U.S. amounted to 70,800 U.S. dollars. However, costs varied greatly from one state to another. The most expensive states for a private room in assisted living was found in Hawaii, followed by Alaska and DC.

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.

In 2024, the annual cost for a private room in an assisted living facility in the U.S. amounted to 70,800 U.S. dollars - the national median price. However, cost varied greatly from one state to another. The least expensive states for a private room in assisted living were South Dakota, and Mississippi. While the most expensive states for assisted living were Hawaii and Alaska.

This statistic shows the average increase in cost to live alone in one- to three- bedroom rental units in the United States in 2017, by state. Georgia was the most expensive state in which to rent alone, as it cost on average 136.2 percent more to live alone there than with roommates.

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 ******* 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 ******* 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 **** 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 ****** U.S. dollars for their electricity bills in Hawaii, while the average monthly bill for natural gas came to *** 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 ****** U.S. dollars.

In 2024, the average daily cost for adult day health care services in the U.S. stood at 100 U.S. dollars. However, such costs varied greatly from one state to another. In that year, the most expensive state for adult day health care services was by far Oregon, amounting to 284 U.S. dollars a day, while in Delaware daily rates were just 35 U.S. dollars. In the most expensive states, the daily cost of adult day care actually exceeded that of assisted living facilities and sometimes even home health care. The large variation may be in part due to the source using community subsidy rates where available, thus lower rates were reported, while states with higher rates may capture the full private pay rates.

A table listing the average electricity rates (kWh) of all 50 U.S. states as of March 2025.

Addis Ababa, in Ethiopia, ranked as the most expensive city to live in Africa as of 2024, considering consumer goods prices. The Ethiopian capital obtained an index score of 46.7, followed by Harare, in Zimbabwe, with 37.4. Morocco and South Africa were the countries with the most representatives among the 15 cities with the highest cost of living in Africa.

Rooftop solar photovoltaic installations on residential buildings and nuclear power have the highest unsubsidized levelized costs of energy generation in the United States. If it wasn't for federal and state subsidies, rooftop solar PV would come with a price tag between *** and *** U.S. dollars per megawatt-hour. Rooftop installations have a higher levelized cost range due to their relatively small capacity when compared with utility-scale power plant facilities. 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 2023. The economic viability of solar PV installations is dependent on a variety of 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 2028, offshore wind power is the most expensive in the United States. It had an estimated levelized capital costs of roughly **** U.S. dollars per megawatt-hour as of March 2023. Capital costs for solar PV are comparatively low.

In 2024, the annual median cost for long-term care in the United States ranged from ****** to ******* U.S. dollars, depending on the type of service. This significant financial burden highlights the importance of planning for future healthcare needs, as many older adults may face substantial out-of-pocket costs for extended care services. Nursing homes and assisted living facilities Nursing homes represent the most expensive long-term care option, with private rooms costing an estimated ****** U.S. dollars per month in 2024. Semi-private rooms are slightly more affordable at ***** U.S. dollars monthly. Assisted living facilities offer a less costly alternative, with annual expenses for a private room averaging ****** U.S. dollars. However, these costs can vary dramatically by location, with states like Hawaii, Alaska, and Washington D.C. commanding the highest prices for assisted living accommodations. Home care services and future projections For those preferring to receive care at home, the hourly rates for long-term home care services in 2024 were ** U.S. dollars for homemaker services and ** U.S. dollars for home health aide services. These costs are expected to rise significantly in the coming decades, with projections suggesting home health aide services could approach *** U.S. dollars per hour by 2060. The increasing expense of long-term care is evident across all service types, with assisted living facilities experiencing a ** percent cost increase from 2023 to 2024, while nursing home rates for semi-private and private rooms rose by * and * percent, respectively.

The average for 2021 based on 165 countries was 79.81 index points. The highest value was in Bermuda: 212.7 index points and the lowest value was in Syria: 33.25 index points. The indicator is available from 2017 to 2021. Below is a chart for all countries where data are available.

Zurich, Lausanne, and Geneva were ranked as the most expensive cities worldwide with indices of ************************ Almost half of the 11 most expensive cities were in Switzerland.

There were approximately 18.58 million college students in the U.S. in 2022, with around 13.49 million enrolled in public colleges and a further 5.09 million students enrolled in private colleges. The figures are projected to remain relatively constant over the next few years.

What is the most expensive college in the U.S.? The overall number of higher education institutions in the U.S. totals around 4,000, and California is the state with the most. One important factor that students – and their parents – must consider before choosing a college is cost. With annual expenses totaling almost 78,000 U.S. dollars, Harvey Mudd College in California was the most expensive college for the 2021-2022 academic year. There are three major costs of college: tuition, room, and board. The difference in on-campus and off-campus accommodation costs is often negligible, but they can change greatly depending on the college town.

The differences between public and private colleges Public colleges, also called state colleges, are mostly funded by state governments. Private colleges, on the other hand, are not funded by the government but by private donors and endowments. Typically, private institutions are  much more expensive. Public colleges tend to offer different tuition fees for students based on whether they live in-state or out-of-state, while private colleges have the same tuition cost for every student.

Key quality of life indicators - cost index, housing.

Of the most populous cities in the U.S., San Jose, California had the highest annual income requirement at ******* U.S. dollars annually for homeowners to have an affordable and comfortable life in 2024. This can be compared to Houston, Texas, where homeowners needed an annual income of ****** U.S. dollars in 2024.

The study on people with low incomes was conducted by Veian on behalf of the Press and Information Office of the Federal Government. In the survey period from 4 July 2024 to 15 July 2024, 1,019 German-speaking people aged 18 and over with a needs-weighted monthly net income of up to EUR 1,500 in Germany (low-income earners) were surveyed in online interviews (CAWI) on the following topics: Burden of inflation and future prospects, ideas of justice, insecurities, financial situation, awareness of reforms of social benefits, assessment of relief measures, use of social benefits and assessment of the new regulations on the Citizen´s Income. The respondents were selected using a quota sample from an online access panel.
Concerns about inflation: extent of the impact of general price increases. Block A - Future prospects: Confidence vs. worries with regard to personal future in the following areas: financial situation, housing situation, health, old-age provision and career prospects; assessment of own children´s future prospects.

Block B - Ideas of justice: Importance of different aspects of justice (intergenerational justice; performance justice, opportunity justice, family justice, distributive justice and needs justice); most important aspects of justice (order).

Block C - (In)certainties: Agreement with statements on own lifeworld (changes in society frighten me, I feel left alone by the state, I have good friends who support me, I am flexible enough to be able to adapt to difficult situations, I can largely determine my own life, in financial emergencies I can rely on the financial support of my parents/siblings or other relatives, I perceive life as a constant struggle, I feel marginalized in society, within the scope of my possibilities I support my friends and family when necessary).

Block D - Financial situation: Change in financial situation in recent years; perceived burden of current price increases in various areas (fuel, purchase of food, costs for craftsmen, heating, electricity, costs for public transport, restaurant visits, visits to events, leisure activities, clothing purchases, costs for hobbies, costs for vacations, travel, hotels, purchase of household items such as furniture, household appliances, rental costs); changes in everyday behavior due to higher prices (I drive less, I heat my home more conservatively, I set the temperature at home lower than usual, I pay more attention to the price when shopping, I only buy food and everyday products that I really need, I buy more expensive products in installments, I make sure I use less hot water, I do without certain leisure activities, I make sure I save electricity, I now use public transport more often, I have postponed larger purchases for the time being, I do without vacation trips, I have canceled memberships and subscriptions, I meet fewer people than before, as joint activities are often associated with additional costs); characterization of the household´s financial situation (my household can usually put some money aside at the end of the month, my household cannot put any money aside at the end of the month, but the money is enough to cover running costs, my household currently has to draw on savings to cover running costs, my household uses credit (consumer credit, instalment credit, overdraft/overdraft facility); use of state benefits by persons in my own household (parental allowance, child benefit, advance maintenance payments, reductions via a social or family pass, unemployment benefit, citizen´s allowance, housing benefit/ Housing Benefit Plus, certificate of eligibility for social housing, education grant/ BAföG); reasons for not claiming the above-mentioned state benefits (because I am not entitled to the benefit, because I do not know whether I am entitled or not, because I do not know who to contact, because I do not feel comfortable applying for such benefits, because I do not want to be dependent on the state).

Block E - Expectations of politics and the welfare state: strength of state support for the household; need for further state support measures; information about state social benefits (I actively inform myself about state social benefits, i.e. I specifically look for information about them, I tend to get information about state social benefits by chance, e.g. via my normal media consumption, neither, both); level of information about state social benefits; awareness of various reforms of social benefits that have already been decided or are planned (introduction of the citizen´s income (abolition of Hartz IV), increase in unemployment benefit, introduction of a basic child benefit, increase in the minimum wage, guarantee of a minimum pension level, increase in child benefit, increase in care allowance for people in need of care, increase in housing benefit and expansion of the group of people entitled to it, increase in contributions to be paid into the pension insurance scheme); evaluation of these...

The median sales price of existing single-family homes in the United States was the highest in the West region. In 2023, the median sales price for a home in the West region of the United States amounted to approximately 603,000 U.S. dollars.

A dataset listing the 20 richest counties in Maryland for 2024, including information on rank, county, population, average income, and median income.

As of September 2024, Mumbai had the highest cost of living among other cities in the country, with an index value of ****. Gurgaon, a satellite city of Delhi and part of the National Capital Region (NCR) followed it with an index value of ****.  What is cost of living? The cost of living varies depending on geographical regions and factors that affect the cost of living in an area include housing, food, utilities, clothing, childcare, and fuel among others. The cost of living is calculated based on different measures such as the consumer price index (CPI), living cost indexes, and wage price index. CPI refers to the change in the value of consumer goods and services. The wage price index, on the other hand, measures the change in labor services prices due to market pressures. Lastly, the living cost indexes calculate the impact of changing costs on different households. The relationship between wages and costs determines affordability and shifts in the cost of living. Mumbai tops the list Mumbai usually tops the list of most expensive cities in India. As the financial and entertainment hub of the country, Mumbai offers wide opportunities and attracts talent from all over the country. It is the second-largest city in India and has one of the most expensive real estates in the world.