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.