Everybody knows that the cost of living is high in places like New York City and Los Angeles, but did you know how much more expensive? According to the Carroll Area Development Corporation (CADC) and the Council for Community and Economic Research (C2ER), Carroll County is a much more cost-effective place to live. The national index score average is 100 while the score in our region was 92.2 for the first quarter of 2016. The Cost of Living Index (COLI) value is calculated by measuring six variables: housing, utilities, grocery items, transportation, healthcare and miscellaneous goods and services. Carroll County is now able to receive this index score thanks to the introduction of the Small Cities Program from the C2ER. The CADC has been attempting to report this data for many years, and C2ER is the gold standard in calculating cost of living. Among the 276 urban areas that participated in the index, Manhattan was the most expensive with a score of 227, nearly 2.5 times more expensive than Carroll, and the least costly place to live was in McAllen, TX with a score of 76.9.
