A Cost of Living Comparison

Boston is one of the most desirable cities to live in the United States, and consequently it is also one of the most expensive. In fact, according to the ACCRA Cost of Living Index, the most expensive metropolitan areas to live are Boston, New York City, Philadelphia and Washington D.C. While costs of living generally deal with money value, both monetary and social costs should be considered.

The cost of living is an important factor in choosing a permanent residency, and perhaps employment opportunity is one of the main reasons to compare expenses between cities. Salary equivalencies between two cities can be calculated using The Salary Calculator at www.homefair.com. For instance, the medium income of the United States (middle salary between two extremes) is $37,000. If someone earns this amount as an annual wage in Boston, and is offered a new wage of $50,000 in New York City, he would still need to earn $6,000 more in order to maintain the same purchasing power and standard of living in New York City (Manhattan). In other words, the cost of living in Boston is about 34% less than living in the Big Apple. In the same scenario, the same living standard in Houston only requires a salary of $18,244.26, or 51% less than Boston.

There are noticeable trends when costs are broken down into categories in major metropolitan cities. According to the ACCRA Cost of Living Index, there are consistencies in cost for housing, utilities, groceries, transportation, health care and miscellaneous goods and services. Overall, Manhattan is the most expensive place to live according to this data. Cities in the west and southwest are the cheapest, while mid-level living is most common in certain Florida cities. Although Boston is not the most expensive in any of these groups, each cost is well above the mediums.

It is easy to discredit a city for being too expensive, but it is important to realize that there are usually tradeoffs associated with high costs. For the monetary costs of living in Boston, there are positive social costs in return. Generally, the city is considered to be a fairly exciting but safe place to live. In fact, last year Money.com ranked Boston as the second best city in the northeast, just below Washington D.C. Many factors contributed to this poll, including pollution, crime, housing, economy, weather, and quality of life. While Boston was faulted for being one of the most expensive cities, it was praised for other social issues that are important to American citizen's values. For example, as a tradeoff for being costly, Boston ranks first above all other northeastern cities in terms of air quality, low violent crime rates, and low unemployment rates. In essence, positive social costs are an important return for high prices.

Boston is clearly an expensive city to reside. With so much to offer, the city comes with quite a heavy price tag. But in relative terms, its high cost is a small price to pay for the unmatched geography, opportunity, excitement, and experience of Boston city living.

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