Compare Cost of Living in Any US City
Median rent, home values, wages, taxes, and air quality — backed by real US government data. No estimates, no guesswork.
Sample comparison
Austin, TXvsDenver, CO
Metric
Austin
Texas
Denver
Colorado
Median Rent
per month
Cost of Living Index
US avg = 100
Median Household Income
per year
✓ = better value · Sources: US Census ACS, BEA Regional Price Parities, HUD Fair Market Rents
City Rankings
Top 100 cities ranked by US government data
Popular Comparisons
The most-searched city pairs on CompareLiving.us
Featured Cities
Popular Moving Guides
Salary adjustments and cost breakdowns for common relocation routes
From the Blog
What is Cost of Living — and Why Does It Matter?
Cost of living measures how much it costs to maintain a typical standard of life in a given city — covering housing, groceries, utilities, transportation, and healthcare. Two cities with identical salaries can have dramatically different purchasing power depending on their local price levels.
CompareLiving.us uses the Bureau of Economic Analysis Regional Price Parity (RPP) index, HUD Fair Market Rents, US Census ACS median income data, and BLS Occupational Employment wages to give you an objective, government-sourced picture of every US city — no estimates, no surveys.
Whether you're relocating for a job, retiring somewhere affordable, or just curious whether Fort Worth is really cheaper than Dallas — you'll find a data-backed answer here for any of the 1,857 US cities in our database.
Data Sources
- US Census Bureau — ACS 5-Year Estimates
- Bureau of Economic Analysis — Regional Price Parities
- Bureau of Labor Statistics — Occupational Wages
- HUD — Fair Market Rents
- EPA AirNow — Air Quality Index
- Tax Foundation — State & Local Tax Rates