Mecklenburg Times: News for Mecklenburg, Union and Iredell counties Real Estate, Development, Construction, and Community News in the Charlotte area and throughout Mecklenburg, Union and Iredell counties
CHARLOTTE – The Queen City on Monday was named as one of the most affordable big cities in the U.S., according to a cost-of-living report done by the Council for Community and Economic Research and distributed by the most likely organization to sing the city’s praises: the Charlotte Chamber of Commerce.
The CCER publishes the index after organizations around the country, including the Charlotte Chamber, complete pricing surveys. The index encompasses groceries, health care, utilities, housing, transportation and other miscellaneous costs. According to the report, Charlotte’s health care, housing, transportation, and miscellaneous goods and services indexes are below the national average.
Of the top 40 metro markets in the U.S. included in the report, Charlotte ranked 13th in affordability at 95.4 percent of the national average. The Charlotte Chamber said the city is more affordable than Denver, Seattle, San Francisco and Manhattan, where the cost of living index is 219.3 percent of the national average. Of the largest Southeastern markets, Charlotte ranks seventh, ahead of Columbia, S.C., Houston and Dallas.
The cities that the Chamber reported are more affordable than Charlotte are Columbus, Ohio, where the cost of living is 86.9 percent of the national average; Nashville, Tenn., 87.3 percent; San Antonio, Texas, 88.4 percent; Cincinnati, 91.4 percent; Indianapolis, 91.6 percent; Tampa, Fla., 92.8 percent; Austin, Texas, 92.9 percent; Pittsburgh, 93.6 percent; St. Louis, 93.9 percent; Atlanta, 94.9 percent; Jacksonville, Fla., 94.9 percent; and Detroit, 95.3 percent.
