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 continues to rank as one of the lowest cost-of-living metro areas in the nation. Newly released data from the Council for Community and Economic Research show it costs 95.9 percent less than the national average to live in the Charlotte metro. That makes the Queen City the 14th least expensive U.S. metro in which to live.
Charlotte beat out Southeastern peer metros Austin (96.3 percent) Atlanta (97.6 percent), and Houston (99.4 percent), among others, in the rankings.
What is the Cost of Living Index?
The Cost of Living Index measures regional differences in the cost of consumer goods and services, excluding taxes and non-consumer expenditures, for professional and managerial households in the top income quintile. It is based on more than 90,000 prices covering 60 different items for which prices are collected quarterly by chambers of commerce, economic development organizations, and university applied economic centers in each participating urban area. Small differences should not be interpreted as showing a measurable difference.
The composite index is based on six component categories – housing, utilities, grocery items, transportation, health care, and miscellaneous goods and services.
