<html> <head> <title>Cost of Living by State</title> <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=unicode"> <style type="text/css"> <!-- body,td,th { font-family: Geneva, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 10px; color: #000000; } body { background-color: #000000; margin-left: 10%; margin-right: 10%; margin-top: 10px; margin-bottom: 10px; } a:link { color: #0000FF; } a:visited { color: #0000FF; } a:active { color: #0000FF; } .style2 { font-size: 12px; font-weight: bold; font-family: Geneva, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; color: #FF0000; } .style3 {font-weight: bold} --> </style> <meta name="verify-v1" content="657dKHd2b06ARcJjp9v8If43axJJzEP63F2bgZqcQAQ="> <meta name="Keywords" content="cost of living by state"> <meta name="Description" content="Cost of living statistics by state; Apartment rent,utilities Gas, ect."> <meta content="MSHTML 6.00.6000.16441" name="GENERATOR"> </head> <body> <br> <table height="1910" width="849" align="center" bgcolor="#ffffff" border="0"> <tr height="395"> <td valign="top" bordercolor="#0000ff" align="middle" bgcolor="#ffffff" height="350"> <p class="style2" align="center"><IMG height=84 alt="cost of living by state" src="pics/usflag.jpg" width=133 align=middle></p> <h1 align="center"><font size="3">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <u> Cost&nbsp;Of Living By State</u>&nbsp;&nbsp;</font> &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;</h1> <p align="center"><font size="1"><font size="1"><br> </font> <font size="2"><br> <font size="1"><br><strong><br></strong> </font></font></font></p> <p align="justify"><font size="1"><font size="2"><font size="1"> <font size="1"><font><font color="#408080"><font color="#000000"><u><font size="3"><strong> Cost Of Living By State<br></strong></font></u><font color="#ff0000"> <font><br> <script type="text/javascript"> <!-- google_ad_client = "pub-2346121780353164"; /* 468x60, created 6/5/08 */ google_ad_slot = "9426621867"; google_ad_width = 468; google_ad_height = 60; //--> </script> <script type="text/javascript" src="http://pagead2.googlesyndication.com/pagead/show_ads.js"> </script> </font></font><u><strong><font size="3"><br><br>Tools</font></strong></u></font><br> </font><font face="Bookman Old Style" color="#ff0000" size="3"><strong>Select: </strong></font></font><A href="cost-of-living-calculator.html" cost-of-living-calculator.html=""><strong><font face="Bookman Old Style" size="2">Cost Of Living&nbsp;Calculators</font> </strong></a>&nbsp;<font face="Bookman Old Style" size="3"><strong>/</strong></font><a href=""><A href="cost-of-living-index.html"><font face="Bookman Old Style" size="2"><strong>Cost Of Living Index</strong></font></a><font size="2"><font face="Bookman Old Style"><strong> / </strong></font></font><A href="average-cost-of-living.html"><font face="Bookman Old Style" size="2"><strong>Average Cost Of Living</strong></font></a>&nbsp;<strong><font face="Bookman Old Style" size="2">/</font></strong> <A href="international-cost-of-living .html"><font face="Bookman Old Style" size="2"><strong>International Cost Of Living</strong></font></a><br> <br> <strong><font size="3"><font color="#ff0000"><font face="Franklin Gothic Medium"><u>Select:</u> </font></font></font></strong><a href=""><font color="#000000"><A href="state-cost-of-living-government-grants.html"><font color="#0000ff"><font size="2"><font face="Bookman Old Style"><strong>Government Grant </strong></font></font></font></a></font><strong><font color="#000000"><font face="Bookman Old Style" size="2">/ </font><A href="day-trading-system.html"><font face="Bookman Old Style" size="2">Day Trading System</font></a><br> </font></strong>--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br> <u><strong><font size="3"><font color="#408080"><br>Cost of living Comparisons</font></font><br> <br> </strong></u> <font size="2"><strong><font size="3"> Texas</font>-</strong></font> <font face="Century Gothic">Texas Ranks 2nd in overall cost of living.You can get a lot of house for your money in Texas! <br> </font><font face="Bookman Old Style" color="#ff0000" size="3"><strong>Select:</strong></font> <A href="realestate-texas.html" realestate-texas.html=""><font face="Bookman Old Style" size="2"><strong>Texas&nbsp; Real Estate</strong></font></a><strong><font face="Bookman Old Style" size="2">&nbsp; /</font></strong> <a href=""><A href="cost-of-living-in-texas-apartments.html"><font face="Bookman Old Style" size="2"><strong>Apartment Rent </strong></font></a><font size="2"><font face="Bookman Old Style">/ </font></font> <A href="texas-cost-of-living.html"><font face="Bookman Old Style" size="2"><strong>Texas Cost Of Living</strong></font></a><br> <br> --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br><font face="Bookman Old Style"><font size="3"><strong>California</strong></font>-<em><font face="Century Gothic">Ranking almost dead last at 49th,living in California is not exactly a cost effective venture.</font> </em><br><strong><font color="#ff0000" size="3">Select:</font></strong></font>&nbsp; <A href="realestateca.html"><font face="Bookman Old Style" size="2"><strong>California Real Estate&nbsp;</strong></font> </a><font face="Bookman Old Style" size="2"><strong>&nbsp;/</strong></font> <A href="southern-california-rent.html"><font face="Bookman Old Style" size="2"><strong>Apartment Rent&nbsp;</strong></font> </a><font face="Bookman Old Style" size="2"><strong>/&nbsp;</strong></font><A href="california-cost-of-living.html"><font face="Bookman Old Style" size="2"><strong> California Cost Of Living&nbsp;</strong></font> </a><br><br>------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br><font face="Bookman Old Style" size="3"><strong>Florida</strong></font>-<font face="Bookman Old Style"><font face="Century Gothic"><em># 35 in the index out of states with the highest cost of living</em></font>.</font> <br><font face="Bookman Old Style"><strong><font color="#ff0000" size="3">Select:</font></strong>&nbsp;<a href=""><A href="florida-cost-of-living-apartments.html"><font size="2"><font face="Bookman Old Style"><strong>Apartment Rent </strong></font></font></a></font><font face="Bookman Old Style" size="2">/<A href="florida-cost-of-living.html"><strong>Florida Cost Of Living </strong></a></font><br> <br>---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br><font face="Bookman Old Style"><font size="3"><strong>Hawaii</strong></font>-<font face="Century Gothic"><em>Hawaii is well above the national average in every category</em></font>.</font>&nbsp;<br><font face="Bookman Old Style" color="#ff0000" size="3"><strong>Select:</strong></font>&nbsp;<A href="hawaii-cost-of-living.html"><font face="Bookman Old Style" size="2"><strong>Apartment Rent </strong></font> </a><font face="Bookman Old Style" size="2"><strong>/</strong></font><A href="hawaii-cost-of-living.html"><font face="Bookman Old Style" size="2"><strong>Hawaii Cost Of Living</strong></font>&nbsp;</a>&nbsp;<br><br>---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------<font> <br><strong><font face="Bookman Old Style"><font size="3">New York</font>-</font></strong> </font><font face="Bookman Old Style"><em>Ranked in the top 10 in all major US cost of living categories.</em><br><font color="#ff0000" size="3"><strong>Select:</strong></font> </font> <A href="new-york-apartment-rent.html"><font face="Bookman Old Style" size="2"><strong>Apartment Rent&nbsp; </strong></font> </a>&nbsp; <A href="cost-of-living-new-york.html"><font face="Bookman Old Style"><strong><font size="2">New York Cost Of Living</font></strong> </font> </a><br><br>__________________________________________________________________________________________________<br><br><font face="Bookman Old Style"><font size="3"><strong>Washington</strong></font>- Washington has the second highest cost for housing in the nation.<br><font color="#ff0000" size="3"><strong>Select:</strong></font>&nbsp;<font size="2"><strong><A href="washington-realestate.html"><font size="2"><strong>Real Estate</strong></font></a>&nbsp;/ </strong><A href="cost-of-living-washington.html"><strong>Apartment Rent</strong></a><strong>&nbsp;/</strong></font> </font> <a href=""><a href=""><A href="cost-of-living-washington.html"><font face="Bookman Old Style" size="2"><strong>Washington Cost Of Living&nbsp;</strong></font></a><br> <br>___________________________________________________________________________________________________<br><br><font face="Bookman Old Style"><font size="3"><strong>Chicago</strong></font>-Chicago ranks well when compared to the national average <br><font color="#ff0000" size="3"><strong>Select:</strong></font>&nbsp;</font> <A href="chicagoapartments.html"><font size="2" face="Bookman Old Style"><strong>Apartment Rent </strong></font> </a><font face="Bookman Old Style"><font size="2"><strong>&nbsp;/</strong></font> </font> <A href="cost-of-living-chicago.html"><font size="2"><font face="Bookman Old Style"><strong>Chicago Cost Of Living</strong>&nbsp; </font> </font> </a><br> <br><font face="Bookman Old Style">_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________<br><font size="3"><strong><u>Additional Resources<br></u><font color="#ff0000">Select:</font></strong> </font></font> <span class="style3"><A href="apartmentforrent.html"><font size="2"><strong><font face="Bookman Old Style">Apartment Rent By City&nbsp;</font></font></a></span><font face="Bookman Old Style" size="2"><strong>&nbsp;/</strong><A href="affordable-cities.html"><strong>Most <MOST a="" href="affordable-cities.html">Affordable Cities</strong></a></font><font face="Bookman Old Style"><font size="2"><strong> /</strong></font> </font> <A href="cost-of-living-by-state.html"><font size="2" face="Bookman Old Style"><strong>Cost of living Index By State</strong></font></a><br> <br>_____________________________________________________________________________________________________<br></A></font><font> <font face="Bookman Old Style"><font size="3"><strong><u>Must Reads</u></strong></font> <br> </font></font><font face="Bookman Old Style" color="#ff0000" size="3"><strong>Select:</strong></font> <A href="how-do-loans-work.html"><font face="Bookman Old Style" size="2"><strong>How to Avoid Bad Home Loans </strong></font> </a><font face="Bookman Old Style" size="2"><strong>/ </strong></font> <A href="bank-foreclosed-real-estate.html"><font><strong><font face="Bookman Old Style"><font size="2">Bank Foreclosed Real Estate</font> </font> </strong></font> </a><br><font face="Bookman Old Style" size="2"><font face="Bookman Old Style" size="2"><u><font color="#0000ff"><font face="Arial" size="1"><font face="Bookman Old Style" size="2"><strong><br><br></strong></font></font></font></u><br></font></font><br><script type="text/javascript"> <!-- google_ad_client = "pub-2346121780353164"; google_ad_width = 468; google_ad_height = 60; google_ad_format = "468x60_as"; google_ad_type = "text"; //2007-10-13: index bottom google_ad_channel = "9332628398"; google_color_border = "FFFFFF"; google_color_bg = "FFFFFF"; google_color_link = "0000FF"; google_color_text = "000000"; google_color_url = "0000FF"; //--> </script> <script type="text/javascript" src="http://pagead2.googlesyndication.com/pagead/show_ads.js"> </script><br> <br><font> <font size="3"><font face="Bookman Old Style"><strong><u>Featured Articles</u> <br></strong><br></font></font></font> <a name="The rising cost of living"><font> <font face="Bookman Old Style"><strong><font size="2">The&nbsp;Rising Cost of living</font> </strong>&nbsp;</font> </font> </a><br> <br></p> <p align="left">Despite efforts by the Federal Reserve to bring increasing prices&nbsp;under control, consumer prices&nbsp;climbed twice as fast in July as they did in June. Inflation is running at an annual rate of 4.8 percent. This is the highest rate of increase since 1991.This increase of living is effecting&nbsp;everything&nbsp;from apartment rent to&nbsp;Food. The Federal Reserve suspended its series of interest rate increases in hopes that this would cause inflation&nbsp;to subside. Central bank policy makers along and consumers alike are praying this will temper the steady climb of inflation we have been experiencing this year.<br> <br> Experts say the economy is slowing because of past interest rate increasing and should continue to do so over the course of next year and beyond.&nbsp;They state the&nbsp;goal is to slow the economy enough to weaken inflation while avoiding a nation wide recession.<br> <br> But they are unsure whether&nbsp;or not more interest rate increases will be needed to complete the task.&nbsp;<br> Recent data provides reasons for concern about inflation. A widely followed inflation gauge called the Labor Department's consumer price index, rose 0.4 percent in July and doubled its 0.2 percent increase the month before. The index rose 4.1 percent in 12 months. Compared with a 3.4 percent increase for all of last year.<br> <br>&nbsp;<strong>A 2.9 percent jump in energy prices last month</strong> accounted for much of the inflation. Crude oil prices&nbsp;topped out at&nbsp;$77.03 a barrel July 14,&nbsp;which caused&nbsp;gasoline prices to&nbsp;exceed $3 a gallon across much of the nation. Prices have slowly dropped since. Prices rose for many other items, however, suggesting to economists that inflation is fanned by&nbsp;rising energy costs. Food and energy prices &nbsp;rose 0.2 percent in July and was up 2.7 percent for the 12 months ended in July, the highest yearly increase since late 1991.<br> <br> Due to the fact that unemployment is low and wages are rising we don't see inflation subsiding anytime soon.<br> <br> <script type="text/javascript"> <!-- google_ad_client = "pub-2346121780353164"; google_ad_width = 468; google_ad_height = 60; google_ad_format = "468x60_as"; google_ad_type = "text"; //2007-10-13: index bottom google_ad_channel = "9332628398"; google_color_border = "FFFFFF"; google_color_bg = "FFFFFF"; google_color_link = "0000FF"; google_color_text = "000000"; google_color_url = "0000FF"; //--> </script> <script type="text/javascript" src="http://pagead2.googlesyndication.com/pagead/show_ads.js"> </script></p> <font size="1"><font size="1"><font size="2"><font face="Bookman Old Style"><strong> <font>The Cost Of Home Ownership</font></strong><br> <br></font></font> A good education leads to a great-paying career; job security affords the dream of owning your own home becoming a reality. Sounds good, doesn't it? Once upon a time, that was more than likely an achievable dream. These days, however, with housing costs devouring about 70% of an individual's gross income, keeping a roof over one's head may be the most we can do... never mind owning the house! Being employed, does not offer the same security to families that it did during our grandparent's era. The cost of living is not compatible with surging home prices; health care; property taxes; insurance; education... and, on and on, and on.After you have paid the excessive amount of income required in order to live in your own house there is not much left over for necessities (let alone life's little luxuries)!Housing crosses the threshold of being un-affordable when you are spending 30% or more of your "before tax-income;" yet almost 40% of U.S. homeowners with a mortgage are living that reality. And, over 7 million households are spending 50% of their gross monthly income on covering their home loan, and basics, like utilities.<font size="1">It would appear that the strain of owning your own home is inevitable. Existing homeowners&nbsp;with adjustable rate mortgage&nbsp;should expect to see an increase in their monthly mortgage, especially once the initial fixed-rate period ends. And, those homeowners who want to sell or re-finance will find it more difficult to get a loan now that the real estate market is softening, and the mortgage industry is plagued with problems.Cities like Stockton, and Long Beach, in California, and Miami and Fort Lauderdale in Florida seem to have the highest percentage of homeowners paying between 30% - 50% of their incomes on housing.With a population of 300,000 in Stockton, California, to date there have been over 8,000 foreclosures in the past 8 months!If you are a potential homeowner educate yourself about the market. Learn about adjustable rates, refinancing, and pre-payment penalties.Having a dream is a necessity in order to achieve goals; home ownership should not become a stigma attainable only by a select few.Don't let your dream become a living nightmare! Own a home; but only if you can afford it!</font><br> <br> <br> <br><font size="2"><font face="Bookman Old Style"> <strong><font>Reduce Your Cost of Living Consolidate your Debt</font></strong><br></font></font> <br> Worrying over you debts won?t help you. You should rather fight out this adverse situation with conviction and a right approach. Debt management can solve your problem. Some of the most popular ways to avoid being declared a bankrupt is to get an administration order from the court, consolidate your debts, or make an individual voluntary arrangement. An administration order is issued by a court and it allows you to make a single payment every month to the court. The court, after deducting an administration fee, divides this money between your creditors. However, administration order can be taken only when your debts are less than $5,000. This limits your options if you have more debts. Debt consolidation loans, on the other hand, do not pose such a restriction as in the case of an administration order. There are many lenders in the UK who may give you up to $250,000 if you are ready to pledge your home. Debt consolidation Loans can be unsecured also. In that case, you can get up to $25,000 only. That too depends on your monthly income and repayment capability. If a debt consolidation loan is sanctioned, you can repay your existing lenders. It will convert all your debts into one single debt, requiring a single repayment per month. It is a relief when you are deep down in debts and your lenders are asking you to repay their money. However, it is important to note that debt consolidation loans provide you a temporary relief only so that you can repay your existing lenders. The overall outstanding debt remains the same as earlier. Debt consolidation loans provide you with an opportunity to recover by lowering your monthly bills. You can extend the repayment period, thereby bringing down your monthly repayments. In the meantime, you can get time to recover financially.These loans provide you a much needed breather. Taxes by state Sales Tax- If you are looking to decrease your cost of living move to either Alaska, Delaware, Montana, New Hampshire or Oregon these state don't collect sales tax.States with the highest sales taxes are: California (7.25%), Mississippi (7.0%), New Jersey (7.0%), Tennessee (7.0%), Rhode Island (7.0%), Minnesota (6.5%), Nevada (6.5%), and Washington (6.5%). Fuel Taxes -Every state with out exeption tax on fuel. While every state will very due to country and local goverments and their taxations. Cigarette Tax-The cost of living for smokers is very high in every state but New Jersey, Rhode Island Washington are the highest in the U.S.The federal taxation of cigarettes is .45 cents per pack. Personal Income Tax-Seven states (Alaska, Florida, Nevada, South Dakota, Texas, Washington, and Wyoming) do not tax personal income. New Hampshire and Tennessee apply it only to income from interest and dividends.<br> <br> </font></font></td> </tr> </table> <br> <br> </body> </html>