Which Pacific Northwest cities made list of most affordable in western US?
The Pacific Northwest isn’t known for being cheap. But when you take into account the area’s relatively high cost of living, is it more affordable than the rest of the western U.S.?
In a new study, personal finance website Motley Fool tried to determine the most affordable cities in the western U.S. when taking average income into account.
The study took each city’s score on the Council for Community and Economic Research’s cost-of-living index and multiplied it by the national median for annual household spending. A total of 49 western cities were featured in the report. It then divided the city’s median income by that number to get the income to cost ratio. Any city with a cost of living 10% higher than the national average was excluded from the study no matter how high its average income was.
Most affordable cities in western U.S.
The Pacific Northwest wasn’t very well-represented on the list of most affordable cities. The only city from the region (depending on whether or not you include Idaho in the Pacific Northwest) to make the list was Boise, in fifth place.
With an estimated cost of living of $74,499 a year and a median income of $81,308, Motley Fool determined that the city’s income to expense ration was 1.09.
Here’s are the top ten:
Denver, CO
Sandoval County, NM
Surprise, AZ
Colorado Springs, CO
Boise, ID
Reno, NV
Casper, WY
Cheyenne, WY
Phoenix, AZ
Great Falls, MT
In addition to the most affordable cities relative to average income, Motley Fool included a list of the ten cheapest and most expensive cities without taking average income into consideration.
Cheapest cities in western U.S.
In seventh place, Yakima was the only place in the Pacific Northwest on the list of the cheapest cities, with a cost of living index of 93.4 (100 is average).
Here are the other cities in the top ten:
Casper, WY
Las Cruces, NM
Great Falls, MT
Laramie, WY
Pueblo, CO
Bullhead City, AZ
Yakima, WA
Albuquerque, NM
Sandoval County, NM
Cedar City, UT
Most expensive cities in western U.S.
A number of Washington cities made the list of the most expensive places to live. Seattle came in fifth place with a cost of living index of 145.1, followed by Tacoma in eighth place at 126.9. Kent was the final Washington city on the list, in ninth place with a cost of living index of 123.7.
Here’s the entire top ten:
San Jose, CA
San Francisco, CA
Orange County, CA
San Diego, CA
Seattle, WA
Oakland, CA
Sacramento, CA
Tacoma, WA
Kent, WA
Flagstaff, AZ