Cost of Living Index
The ACCRA Cost of Living Index is produced quarterly by the Council for Community and Economic Research, formerly known as ACCRA, to provide a useful and reasonably accurate measure of living cost differences among urban areas. Items on which the Index is based have been carefully chosen to reflect the different categories of consumer expenditures. Weights assigned to relative costs are based on government survey data on expenditure patterns for professional and executive households. The Index reflects cost differentials for professional and executive households in the top income quintile. All items are priced in each place at a specified time and according to standardized specifications. More than 50,000 prices covering almost 60 different items are collected quarterly in the 290 urban areas. The composite index is based on six components: housing, utilities, grocery items, transportation, health care and miscellaneous goods and services.
The Cost of Living Index measures RELATIVE price levels for consumer goods and services in participating areas. The average for all participating places, both metropolitan and nonmetropolitan equals 100, and each participant’s index is read as a percentage of the average for all places. The Index does not measure inflation (price change over time). Each quarterly report is a separate comparison of prices at a single point in time, and because both the number and mix of participants changes from one quarter to the next, Index data from different quarters cannot be compared.
ACCRA Q4 2007 Cost of Living Index
| Area | Composite | Grocery Items | Housing | Utilties | Transportation | Health Care | Misc. Items |
| New York, NY | 212.8 | 158.1 | 396.1 | 152 | 122.5 | 128.4 | 139.4 |
| San Diego, CA | 139.5 | 111.9 | 218.1 | 104.7 | 111.2 | 116.3 | 107.5 |
| Washington, DC | 136.4 | 106.6 | 210.6 | 111.4 | 109.8 | 110.0 | 106.0 |
| Boston, MA | 134.7 | 120.0 | 164.0 | 129.2 | 104.7 | 136.0 | 126.8 |
| Minneapolis-St.Paul, MN | 110.1 | 112.1 | 121.3 | 101.2 | 107.8 | 102.9 | 104.4 |
| Denver, CO | 103.4 | 102.9 | 109.3 | 102.4 | 95.4 | 108.5 | 100.8 |
| Orlando, FL | 103.4 | 98.2 | 99.2 | 109.6 | 105.9 | 98.2 | 106.7 |
| Phoenix, AZ | 100.6 | 100.5 | 100.9 | 93.6 | 100.7 | 101 | 102.4 |
| Columbus, OH | 97.4 | 96.3 | 95.9 | 102.3 | 103.5 | 104.1 | 94.9 |
| Indianapolis, IN | 94.7 | 92.3 | 98.4 | 95.6 | 98.6 | 92.3 | 91.6 |
| Akron, OH | 93.6 | 98.7 | 80.8 | 99.6 | 101.8 | 92.4 | 98.1 |
| St. Louis, MO | 91.5 | 106.1 | 77.9 | 90.9 | 96.0 | 97.2 | 95.0 |
| Des Moines, IA | 90.3 | 87.0 | 86.2 | 96.4 | 94.1 | 89.9 | 91.9 |
| Illinois Communities | Composite | Grocery Items | Housing | Utilties | Transportation | Health Care | Misc. Items |
| Chicago | 110.3 | 108.3 | 125.0 | 107.8 | 113.1 | 104.3 | 99.9 |
| Joliet-Will County | 99.1 | 107.2 | 93.6 | 90.3 | 105.8 | 102.7 | 100.8 |
| Champaign-Urbana | 98.2 | 95.9 | 89.0 | 111.5 | 99 | 101.3 | 102.0 |
| Peoria | 97.7 | 100.2 | 88.4 | 104.1 | 103.7 | 98.0 | 100.7 |
| Quincy | 94.8 | 93 | 97.9 | 82.7 | 95.0 | 96.1 | 96.3 |
| Bloomington-Normal | 94.4 | 100.3 | 83.0 | 103.0 | 105.0 | 97.7 | 95.6 |
| Galesburg | 94.3 | 97.7 | 86.6 | 96.5 | 102.3 | 95.2 | 96.3 |
| Rockford | 94.0 | 92.4 | 77.7 | 96.8 | 109.2 | 103.1 | 101.6 |
| Springfield | 92.9 | 94.5 | 84.5 | 97.4 | 107.3 | 112.0 | 91.5 |
| Danville | 92.0 | 88.4 | 80.7 | 108.0 | 114.5 | 89.6 | 91.8 |
| Wisconsin Communities | Composite | Grocery Items | Housing | Utilties | Transportation | Health Care | Misc. Items |
| Milwaukee-Waukesha | 99.9 | 95.3 | 105.2 | 96.1 | 102.1 | 111.1 | 97.0 |
| Sheboygan | 99.9 | 94.2 | 90.4 | 109.7 | 120.7 | 102.2 | 100.6 |
| Stevens Point-Plover | 95.5 | 104.3 | 90.4 | 85.2 | 95.0 | 97.7 | 99.2 |
| Wausau | 94.8 | 87.8 | 87.7 | 111.1 | 99.3 | 99.5 | 96.7 |
| Eau Claire | 94.6 | 93.2 | 93.8 | 78.9 | 103.3 | 104.1 | 96.8 |
| Green Bay | 93.3 | 91.5 | 84.2 | 106.7 | 102.2 | 97.0 | 94.6 |
| Marshfield | 90.7 | 92.7 | 83.6 | 99.8 | 97.6 | 103.6 | 89.7 |