Online Cost-of-Living Calculators
Stumble It!
Digg It!
Tip It!
del.ico.us
FacebookAre you thinking about relocating? If so, then you’re probably interested in knowing how the cost-of-living compares between your current location and your destination. Below I’ve listed a collection of online cost-of-living calculators for making just this sort of comparison between various U.S. locales.
Just hop on over to one of these sites, enter your income, and select your current location/destination. Within seconds you’ll have an estimate of the amount of money that you’d need to make in the new location to maintain your current standard of living.
Homefair.com – The Salary Calculator
CNN/Money – Cost of Living Calculator
Bankrate.com – Cost of Living Comparison Calculator
Salary.com – Cost of Living Wizard
The first three of these sites even break the results down into categories (e.g., groceries, housing, utilities, and more). Bankrate seems to give the most detailed breakdown, whereas Homefair appears to have the best coverage in terms of cities per state. Based on my brief perusal, there’s a bit of site-to-site variation in the calculations, so it’s probably a good idea to use more than one calculator to get a sense of the true difference in cost-of-living.
Published on September 28th, 2005 - 5 Comments
Filed under: Online
email this article
- bookmark it
About the author: Nickel is the founder and editor-in-chief of this site. He's a thirty-something family man who has been writing about personal finance since 2005, and guess what? He's on Twitter!
Related articles...
» More Online Financial Calculators» Online Financial Calculators Galore
» One Year Ago This Week (October 1st – October 7th)
» One Year Ago This Week (October 15th – October 21st)
» Pre-Paid Legal Plans
» Calculate Your PayPal Fees
» Cost of Living Increasing Faster Than Inflation Estimates?
» Weekly Roundup – National Save for Retirement Week Edition
Was this article useful? Please sign up to receive our content via e-mail:
Great deals...
Readers’ choice...
Recent articles...
- Effect of Foreclosure, Short Sale, and Bankruptcy on Your Credit Score
- DIY Garage Kayak Racks: Fast, Frugal, and Effective
- Lending Club $25 Bonus Reminder
- Coupons are a Waste?
- How to Save Money on Pet Care
- Best HSA Custodian?
- Considering a High Deductible Health Plan
- Pay Back the Homebuyer Tax Credit?
- How to Find a Good Deal
- How Much Does Your Debt Cost?
Recent comments...
- Tim Rosen: Pros and Cons: Pros: a.) A systematic discipline to save/invest on a regular basis, for a...
- Matt Jabs: @Tim: Thanks, I hope this article helps get even one person on the...
- Tim Rosen: Excellent Matt! A very practical, real-world plan that I believe anyone can "flesh out"....
- Jerry Robertson: Your article has great information about the large companies going out of business, but...
- laura: I have a foreclosure on my credit from Jan 2007 and my FICO score...
- nickel: Ron: Good question, and I have no idea as to the answer. It could...
- Christina: While foreclosures wreck less havoc on the score than a bankruptcy (according to your...
- Ron: Why do you think those large mortgage lenders are switching over to Vantage? Does...
Most talked about...
- Dave Ramsey is Bad at Math
- $8,000 Homebuyer Tax Credit
- Dish Network Customer Service SUCKS
- How to Claim the First-Time Homebuyer Tax Credit
- $15,000 Homebuyer Tax Credit
- Reduced Credit Limits? Share Your Experience
- Would the "Fair Tax" Gut the Economy?
- Tax Stimulus Rebate Payments to Start Early
- Pay Off Mortgage Early? Or Invest?
- The Best Online Savings Accounts (Updated!)
- Life's Too Short to Drink Cheap Beer
- $7500 First Time Homebuyer Tax Credit
Man, there’s so much information available for free on the Internet. How did we get anything done twenty or even ten years ago?
Your point about checking other sites is a good one — not all Internet sites are created equal.
Comment by mbhunter — Sep 28th 2005 @ 12:32 pmI think we probably used to get even more done because we didn’t waste our time with things like online cost-of-living calculators…
Nice Article
Comment by Cathy — Sep 30th 2005 @ 4:01 amLiving in New York City, I have to disagree with those cost of living calculators. They assume that you live the exact same way in one city vs. another. According to those calculators, I should be barely getting by on a salary that allows me to save a lot!
Yeah, I pay a little more in rent than I might if I was living in a city with a lower ‘cost of living’- But how much money do I save not needing to own a car? Car payment (though not if you pay with cash), insurance, repairs, gas- especially lately!
I admit that NYC can get expensive if you have a family, and that 2- and 3- bedrooms that are affordable are hard to find. But for a single person? My monthly expenses are probably less than most.
Comment by Meaghan — Sep 30th 2005 @ 6:22 am>They assume that you live the exact same way in one city vs. another.
That’s the entire point, genius.
Comment by Bob — Aug 4th 2009 @ 2:27 pm