Statistics and facts on Cost of Living

The cost of living is the amount of money that is needed to sustain a certain standard of living. A popular way to quantify the cost of living is to aggregate the prices of certain basic goods and services and compile indices that can be compared across different locations and over time. Such indices typically include prices for housing, food, health care and other goods and services considered basic needs.

A prominent example of a cost of living index is the U.S. Consumer Price Index (CPI) that is compiled by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics based on prices of a certain market basket of goods and services across different urban areas. The cost of living in the United States is rising continuously. The 2013 CPI was 233 compared to an index value of 100 during the base period, between 1982 and 1984. I.e. consumer prices in the United States more than doubled between 1984 and 2013. The fact that the CPI is based on a fixed basket of goods, and does not account for substitution between item categories, limits its suitability as a measure of the cost of living. That is why the Bureau of Labor Statistics introduced the Chained Consumer Price Index for the U.S. in 2002. Based on the same bundle of goods, the C-CPI allows for substitution between categories and is thus considered a more accurate indicator for changes of the cost of living.

While the CPI is mostly used to measure inflation within the U.S., other cost of living calculations are used to compare price levels across different geographic areas. A worldwide city ranking based on the cost of living in 2012, identifies Oslo as the most expensive city in the world with Zürich and Tokyo ranking second and third. A very popular indicator for the cost of living is the so called Big Mac Index, which compares the average price of a Bic Mac across different countries. According to the 2014 index, Norway is the most expensive country in the world followed by Venezuela and Switzerland, with the United States ranked 20th. The Bic Mac index is clearly not very scientific but nonetheless serves as a palpable indicator of the cost of living.

This text provides general information. Statista assumes no liability for the information given being complete or correct. Due to varying update cycles, statistics can display more up-to-date data than referenced in the text.

Photo: istcokphoto.com / tforgo