Housing prices drag down Indianapolis' cost of living
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Indianapolis' reputation as an affordable city is justified, especially for housing.
Driving the news: Most goods and services are less expensive in Central Indiana compared to the national average, per a new analysis.
- Each quarter, the Council for Community and Economic Research assembles a cost-of-living index designed to measure "regional differences in the cost of consumer goods and services."
Why it matters: It's a snapshot in time useful for comparing relative costs across cities.
How it works: An index value of 100 represents the national average cost of living across 269 cities.
- If a city has a value over 100, its cost of living is higher than average. Under 100, lower than average.
By the numbers: Indianapolis' cost-of-living index value, as of the third quarter of 2023: 91.5.
- Indianapolis' most expensive category was utilities (101.2), and its least expensive was housing (78.4).
Zoom out: Among cities with more than 100,000 residents, Honolulu (179.2), San Jose (171.3) and San Francisco (169.5) had the country's highest relative cost of living as of Q3 2023.
- If Manhattan were its own city, it would hold the top spot, at 227.8.
Meanwhile, residents of McAllen, Texas (80.2); Augusta, Georgia (82.8); and Amarillo, Texas (84.4) were enjoying the lowest cost of living.