Ingram's March 2023

which also enjoys a No. 7 ranking for lowest grocery costs, a No. 14 ranking for transportation costs, and near rock bottom at No. 4 for miscellaneous-item costs. And in the two other ACCRA met rics—health care and utilities—the state still runs no worse than the middle of the pack: No. 25 for utilities, still be low the national average, and No. 29 for health care, the only metric where Kan sas runs higher than the national aver age, and just barely, at that.

Grocery costs (93.7 compared to 100) are held in check by virtue of liv ing where a lot of the nation’s pro- tein chain originates—cattle ranching, meat-packing, pork processing, poultry farms and processors—all have major operations in Kansas. Fresh avocados for your toast? Not so much, but with the savings on dietary pillars, there’s plenty left over to splurge. Transportation costs overall (95.6 vs. 100) are comparatively low because people here tend to live near their

work. It’s a measure of how spoiled Kansans are that, in the urban centers, a 20-minute commute in these parts and the gallon of gas consumed are considered impositions. But compare that to day-killing and pricey commuter rail options in the east and the often insufferable highway conditions in the west. The lone metric to exceed national averages does it by the narrowest of margins: 100.4 on health care, a tick over the 100 national mean.

COST OF LIVING BY STATE Xxx

$

RANK

STATE

INDEX

GROCERY

HOUSING

UTILITIES

TRANSPORTATION

HEALTH CARE

MISC. 91.6 90.4 91.6 95.0 95.1 91.3 94.8 92.9 95.3 94.2 99.3 99.9 94.8 97.5 96.9 96.9 94.5 97.5 95.6 98.2 92.9 106.7 97.9 99.0 96.8 99.4 99.4 104.0 102.9 102.3 101.9 102.1 106.9 104.3 114.7 113.1 116.9 105.3 127.2 115.8 109.0 111.7 120.4 115.7 110.9 121.1 118.8 127.5 99.6 99.2 92.7

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9

Mississippi Oklahoma

85.0 85.8 87.5 88.1 88.6 89.1 89.2 89.9 90.0 90.2 90.6 91.9 91.9 92.2 92.5 92.5 92.6 93.6 94.0 94.3 94.5 94.9 95.5 95.7 97.1 97.5 98.2 99.6 102.8 102.8 102.8 103.2 104.6 104.8 105.6 105.8 112.4 112.9 114.2 115.3 115.9 116.1 116.8 121.2 124.0 126.6 134.5 137.6 149.7

92.4 93.7 93.7 97.6 94.6 95.4 99.5 93.7 98.7 94.4 92.7 99.0 97.4 91.6 90.3 103.2

67.4 70.2 71.1 69.6 75.6 79.9 71.5 77.4 68.8 81.7 77.9 75.3 83.0 81.1 84.7 82.4 82.0 86.7 88.4 81.6 92.9 77.3 85.3 90.0 90.7 84.7 88.1 104.8 107.9 110.2 108.5 115.5 119.8 117.6 105.3 120.6 131.8 117.9 126.0 125.0 132.3 109.7 125.5 147.5 164.0 121.3 193.9 193.8 223.8 251.5 313.5

89.0 95.1 98.0 100.7 90.3 94.8 93.7 94.4 93.8 97.5 94.3 87.1 98.9 82.5 92.7 87.3 89.6 104.0 102.7 110.6 106.1 103.4 89.8 95.3 98.7 97.3 80.6 92.3 99.5 94.6 91.1 84.3 94.3 108.9 101.3 100.4 108.1 124.7 105.0 122.3 114.4 130.3 106.7 106.7 146.2 124.5 124.8 112.6 141.4 88.4 99.5

91.9 90.9 95.6 89.9 89.8 91.8 95.8 94.0 111.2

97.7 91.2 89.6 94.6 92.3 100.4 100.0 89.9 82.0 97.6 97.5 94.8 96.0 98.4 103.4 100.7 100.9 96.4 93.1 91.9 97.3 96.4 96.0 97.1 95.2 95.1 103.9 105.0 103.4 120.6 100.6 110.1 130.6 104.8 104.2 154.4 104.1 110.5 119.8 87.7 95.5 101.8 95.8 94.6 79.0 116.8 109.1 113.8 112.3

Kansas Alabama Georgia Missouri

Iowa

Indiana

West Virginia Tennessee

10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51

90.5 91.9 96.5 98.9 98.7 92.4 97.8 96.6 98.6 90.9 92.3 95.2 91.0 99.0 99.4

Arkansas

Ohio

Nebraska Michigan

Texas

Wyoming

Illinois

98.5 97.4 98.6

105.8

Louisiana New Mexico South Carolina South Dakota

100.3 104.3

Kentucky Wisconsin

93.5 97.5 97.7

105.3

North Carolina North Dakota

102.4 100.7 104.6

Minnesota

Pennsylvania

104.7 112.6 108.0

Idaho Utah

96.3

100.2

Virginia Florida Nevada Colorado Montana Delaware Arizona

96.1

95.9 98.7

105.4 104.2 100.9 105.3 101.5 106.2 108.5 103.4 106.2 105.3 103.0 107.9 111.4 134.1 112.3 115.2 114.0 109.3 150.1 95.3 98.4

115.2 101.7 106.8 114.6 101.3 106.6 109.4 114.1 118.1 118.3 106.9 109.8 132.4 103.1 118.0 109.0 129.1 128.1 108.5 125.7

New Jersey Rhode Island Washington

Maine

Vermont

New Hampshire

Connecticut

Oregon

Maryland

Alaska

New York California

Massachusetts

District of Columbia 152.2

99.1

Hawaii

184.0

118.1

U.S.

100

100

100

100

100

100

100

Source: C2ER, Council for Community & Economic Research

13

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