Cost of living in United States

Summary of cost of living in United States

  • Family of four estimated monthly costs: $5,664
  • Single person estimated monthly costs: $3,341
  • Cost of living in United States is more expensive than in 89% of countries in the World (9 out of 75)
Change the currency:
Food
Basic lunchtime menu (including a drink) in the business district $19
Combo meal in fast food restaurant (big mac meal or similar) $10
500 gr (1 lb.) of boneless chicken breast $5.78
1 liter (1 qt.) of whole fat milk $1.08
12 eggs, large $4.94
1 kg (2 lb.) of tomatoes $4.68
500 gr (16 oz.) of local cheese $7
1 kg (2 lb.) of apples $4.67
1 kg (2 lb.) of potatoes $2.51
0.5 l (16 oz) domestic beer in the supermarket $3.10
1 bottle of red table wine, good quality $16
2 liters of coca-cola $2.77
Bread for 2 people for 1 day $2.99
Housing
Monthly rent for 85 m2 (900 sqft) furnished accommodation in expensive area $2,830
Monthly rent for 85 m2 (900 sqft) furnished accommodation in normal area $2,146
Utilities 1 month (heating, electricity, gas ...) for 2 people in 85m2 flat $222
Monthly rent for a 45 m2 (480 sqft) furnished studio in expensive area $1,886
Monthly rent for a 45 m2 (480 sqft) furnished studio in normal area $1,448
Utilities 1 month (heating, electricity, gas ...) for 1 person in 45 m2 (480 sqft) studio $146
Internet 8 mbps (1 month) $64
40” flat screen tv $295
Microwave 800/900 watt (bosch, panasonic, lg, sharp, or equivalent brands) $134
Laundry detergent (3 l. ~ 100 oz.) $14
Hourly rate for cleaning help $31
Clothes
1 pair of jeans (levis 501 or similar) $54
1 summer dress in a high street store (zara, h&m or similar retailers) $45
1 pair of sport shoes (nike, adidas, or equivalent brands) $93
1 pair of men’s leather business shoes $119
Transportation
Volkswagen golf 1.4 tsi 150 cv (or equivalent), with no extras, new $27,977
1 liter (1/4 gallon) of gas $1.05
Monthly ticket public transport $79
Personal Care
Cold medicine for 6 days (tylenol, frenadol, coldrex, or equivalent brands) $8
1 box of antibiotics (12 doses) $21
Short visit to private doctor (15 minutes) $140
1 box of 32 tampons (tampax, ob, ...) $8
Deodorant, roll-on (50ml ~ 1.5 oz.) $4.80
Hair shampoo 2-in-1 (400 ml ~ 12 oz.) $6
4 rolls of toilet paper $4.72
Tube of toothpaste $2.25
Standard men's haircut in expat area of the city $27
Entertainment
Basic dinner out for two in neighborhood pub $55
2 tickets to the movies $28
2 tickets to the theater (best available seats) $203
Dinner for two at an italian restaurant in the expat area including appetisers, main course, wine and dessert $89
1 cocktail drink in downtown club $14
Cappuccino in expat area of the city $5.19
1 beer in neighbourhood pub (500ml or 1pt.) $6
Ipad wi-fi 128gb $556
1 min. of prepaid mobile tariff (no discounts or plans) $0.21
1 month of gym membership in business district $54
1 package of marlboro cigarettes $10

Moving to United States with your children?

International Schools in United States

Map of Cost of Living in United States

loading...

This map shows only the top cities in United States. We also have on this page a list of all the cities available in Expatistan:
List of all the cities available in Expatistan

The color of each marker corresponds with the cost of living in the city red markers show more expensive cities green ones show cheaper cities
Moving the mouse on top of a city will show its name and the Cost of Living Index of that city.

What is the Cost of Living Index? To calculate each city's Price Index value, we start by assigning a value of 100 to a central reference city (that happens to be Prague). Once the reference point has been established, the Price Index value of every other city in the database is calculated by comparing their cost of living to the cost of living in Prague.
Therefore, if a city has a Price Index of 134, that means that living there is 34% more expensive than living in Prague.

Cost of Living Ranking in United States

(top cities by data quality)

Ranking City Price Index *
1st New York City 211
2nd Maui 200
3rd San Francisco, California 189
4th Miami, Florida 186
5th Los Angeles, California 182
6th Boulder, Colorado 182
7th Boston, Massachusetts 181
8th Oakland, California 181
9th Palo Alto, California 179
10th Washington D.C. 175
11th Jersey City, New Jersey 173
12th Denver, Colorado 168
13th Berkeley, California 167
14th Honolulu, Hawaii 167
15th Portland, Oregon 165
16th San Diego, California 163
17th Seattle, Washington 162
18th Dallas, Texas 162
19th San Jose, California 156
20th Chicago, Illinois 154
21st Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 154
22nd Atlanta, Georgia 153
23rd Tampa, Florida 152
24th Sacramento, California 146
25th Raleigh, North Carolina 145
26th Phoenix, Arizona 144
27th Minneapolis - St. Paul, Minnesota 144
28th Cocoa Beach, Florida 144
29th Irvine, California 143
30th Austin, Texas 142
31st Salt Lake City, Utah 141
32nd Fort Lauderdale, Florida 141
33rd Walnut Creek, California 139
34th Tacoma, Washington 138
35th Orlando, Florida 137
36th Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania 135
37th St. Petersburg, Florida 134
38th Long Beach, California 134
39th Baltimore, Maryland 134
40th Jacksonville, Florida 131
41st Anchorage, Alaska 131
42nd Detroit, Michigan 131
43rd Newark, New Jersey 130
44th Houston, Texas 130
45th Kansas City, Missouri 130
46th Eugene, Oregon 129
47th Spokane, Washington 129
48th Wilmington, Delaware 123
49th Providence, Rhode Island 122
50th Milwaukee, Wisconsin 121
51st New Orleans, Louisiana 120
52nd San Antonio, Texas 119
53rd Omaha, Nebraska 118
54th Burlington, Vermont 117
55th Santa Fe, New Mexico 115
56th Des Moines, Iowa 114
57th Pensacola, Florida 114
58th Billings, Montana 113
59th Tucson, Arizona 113
60th Modesto, California 112
61st Asheville, North Carolina 110
62nd Amarillo, Texas 109
63rd Harrisburg, Pennsylvania 108
64th Rochester, New York 107
65th Tallahassee, Florida 107
66th Louisville, Kentucky 106
67th Tulsa, Oklahoma 104
68th Green Bay, Wisconsin 104
69th Provo, Utah 103
70th Lafayette, Louisiana 99
71st Memphis, Tennessee 98
72nd Lawrence, Kansas 97
73rd Shreveport, Louisiana 96
74th Youngstown, Ohio 94
75th Lincoln, Nebraska 92
76th Roanoke, Virginia 92
77th San Antonio, California 91
78th Springfield, Missouri 90
79th Cedar Rapids, Iowa 86

Price Index:

To calculate each city's Price Index value, we start by assigning a value of 100 to a central reference city (that happens to be Prague). Once the reference point has been established, the Price Index value of every other city in the database is calculated by comparing their cost of living to the cost of living in Prague.
Therefore, if a city has a Price Index of 134, that means that living there is 34% more expensive than living in Prague.

Are you moving to United States? Do you know how much money you will need there to maintain your current standard of living?

Find out what is the real equivalent in USA of your current salary and improve your chances of a happy relocation.

Get your own salary calculation

List of all cities available in United States

Akron, Ohio Albany, New York Albuquerque, New Mexico
Allentown, Pennsylvania Amarillo, Texas Anchorage, Alaska
Ann Arbor, Michigan Arcata, California Arlington, Texas
Asheville, North Carolina Athens, Georgia Atlanta, Georgia
Augusta, Georgia Austin, Texas Babylon, New York
Bakersfield, California Baltimore, Maryland Baton Rouge, Louisiana
Beaverton, Oregon Berkeley, California Billings, Montana
Birmingham, Alabama Bismarck, North Dakota Boise, Idaho
Boston, Massachusetts Boulder, Colorado Bozeman, Montana
Bridgeport, Connecticut Buffalo, New York Burlington, Massachusetts
Burlington, Vermont Butte, Montana Cedar Falls, Iowa
Cedar Rapids, Iowa Charleston, South Carolina Charlotte, North Carolina
Charlottesville, Virginia Chattanooga, Tennessee Chicago, Illinois
Cincinnati, Ohio Cleveland, Ohio Cocoa Beach, Florida
Colorado Springs, Colorado Columbia, South Carolina Columbus, Ohio
Corpus Christi, Texas Dallas, Texas Denver, Colorado
Des Moines, Iowa Detroit, Michigan Durango, Colorado
Durham, North Carolina El Centro, California El Paso, Texas
Erie, Pennsylvania Eugene, Oregon Fargo
Flint, Michigan Florence, Alabama Fort Collins, Colorado
Fort Lauderdale, Florida Fort Wayne, Indiana Fort Worth, Texas
Fresno, California Gainesville, Florida Grand Rapids
Green Bay, Wisconsin Greensboro, North Carolina Greenville, South Carolina
Harrisburg, Pennsylvania Hartford, Connecticut Hilton Head Island, South Carolina
Honolulu, Hawaii Houston, Texas Huntsville, Alabama
Indianapolis, Indiana Iowa City, Iowa Irvine, California
Ithaca, New York Jackson, Mississippi Jacksonville, Florida
Jersey City, New Jersey Kansas City, Missouri Knoxville, Tennessee
Kodiak, Alaska Lafayette, Louisiana Laguna Niguel, California
Las Vegas, Nevada Lawrence, Kansas Lexington, Kentucky
Lincoln, Nebraska Little Rock, Arkansas Long Beach, California
Los Angeles, California Louisville, Kentucky Lubbock, Texas
Lynchburg, Virginia Madison, Wisconsin Maui
McAllen, Texas Memphis, Tennessee Miami, Florida
Midland, Texas Milwaukee, Wisconsin Minneapolis - St. Paul, Minnesota
Moab, Utah Mobile, Alabama Modesto, California
Montclair, New Jersey Mount Pleasant, South Carolina Mountain View, California
Naknek, Alaska Nantucket Nashville, Tennessee
New Haven, Connecticut New Orleans, Louisiana New York City
Newark, New Jersey Niagara Falls, New York Oakland, California
Oklahoma City, Oklahoma Omaha, Nebraska Orlando, Florida
Palm Bay, Florida Palm Springs, California Palo Alto, California
Pensacola, Florida Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Phoenix, Arizona
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania Portland, Oregon Providence, Rhode Island
Provo, Utah Raleigh, North Carolina Reno, Nevada
Richmond, Virginia Riverside, California Roanoke, Virginia
Rochester, New York Rockford, Illinois Sacramento, California
Salt Lake City, Utah San Antonio, California San Antonio, Texas
San Bernardino, California San Diego, California San Francisco, California
San Jose, California San Luis Obispo, California Santa Ana, California
Santa Barbara, California Santa Cruz, California Santa Fe, New Mexico
Savannah, Georgia Scottsdale, Arizona Seattle, Washington
Shreveport, Louisiana Spokane, Washington Springfield, Illinois
Springfield, Massachusetts Springfield, Missouri St. Louis, Missouri
St. Petersburg, Florida Stamford, Connecticut Staunton, Virginia
Stockton, California Tacoma, Washington Tallahassee, Florida
Tampa, Florida Tempe, Arizona Toledo, Ohio
Traverse City, Michigan Tucson, Arizona Tulsa, Oklahoma
Tyler, Texas Vancouver, Washington Virginia Beach, Virginia
Walnut Creek, California Washington D.C. Waterbury, Connecticut
West Lafayette, Indiana Wichita, Kansas Wilmington, Delaware
Youngstown, Ohio Zanesville, Ohio

Prices recently added

Make a different comparison:

Compare cost of living between cities:
vs