About CompareLiving.us
Our Mission
CompareLiving.us exists to make US cost-of-living data accessible to everyone — renters, homebuyers, job-seekers, and retirees deciding where to live or relocate. We believe that major life decisions should be informed by facts, not guesswork or marketing copy.
Every number on this site comes directly from US government datasets — the Census Bureau, Bureau of Economic Analysis, Bureau of Labor Statistics, Department of Housing and Urban Development, and EPA. We do not estimate, interpolate, or fabricate data. If a figure is unavailable for a city, we say so.
Who Runs This Site
CompareLiving.us was founded in 2024 and is run by the CompareLiving.us Editorial Team. We are an independent project with no affiliation to any real estate brokerage, mortgage lender, or relocation company.
We cover 1,857 US cities with populations of 25,000 or more. All data is sourced from federal agencies and updated as new survey years are published.
Editorial Standards
- Data-first: Every metric displayed must trace to an official government source. We link to source documentation on our Methodology page.
- No fabrication: When city-level data is unavailable, we show "N/A" or omit the section. We never fill gaps with estimates.
- Transparent methodology: We document how each metric is calculated, its source, and its known limitations.
- Regular updates: We update data as new survey vintages are released. Each data section shows the last-updated date.
- No paid placement: Rankings are determined entirely by the underlying data. Cities cannot pay to rank higher.
Data Sources
- US Census Bureau ACS 5-Year: Median rent, home values, household income, population, age, demographics
- BEA Regional Price Parities: Overall cost of living index, goods, rents, and services sub-indices
- BLS Occupational Employment & Wage Statistics: Median wages by occupation at the metro-area level
- HUD Fair Market Rents: Studio through 3-bedroom fair market rent estimates by geography
- EPA AirNow: Annual average Air Quality Index by monitoring area
- Tax Foundation: State income tax rates and state sales tax rates
Full methodology and citations: compareliving.us/methodology
Contact
Questions, corrections, or data issues? Visit our contact page.