Cost of Living by Metro Area for 110 US Metros

Key points from the map

• The map ranks all 110 US metro areas with more than 500,000 people by the household living wage for a family of four with two working adults, using MIT Living Wage Calculator data for 2024.
• The average across those metros is $113,958. Tiers run from VVVHCOL (40% to 50% above average) to VLCOL (20% to 30% below).
• San Jose ($167k), San Francisco ($165k) and Boston ($160k) are the most expensive. McAllen ($87k), El Paso ($90k) and Killeen ($96k) are listed as the cheapest tier, all in Texas.
• Coastal California and the Boston to New York corridor hold the highest tiers. Most Midwest, Mountain West and Florida metros sit near average, and much of the South is below it.

Cost of living by metro area, the map in text

Title. Cost of Living of Metro Areas. All metro areas (MSAs) over 500,000 people are shown (US Census Bureau). COL means cost of living and V means very.

Value shown. Dollar values are the household income living wage for a family of four with two working adults. The average COL of all US metros over 500,000 people for a family of four is $113,958 in 2024.

What the living wage covers, as listed on the map. Housing (fair market two-bedroom rent plus all utilities), food (a nutritious, practical diet from grocery stores), healthcare (insurance plus out of pocket), childcare (toddler, school and summer care), internet and mobile phone, transportation, other necessities (clothing, personal and household items) and civic engagement or fun (education, pets, toys, hobbies). Tax differences at state, metro and county level are also included.

Credits on the map. Map by u/TA-MajestyPalm. MSA and population data from the US Census Bureau (2023). Living wage data from the MIT Living Wage Calculator (2024).

The ranked list, by tier, with the band each tier covers relative to the average:

VVVHCOL (+40% to +50% of average). 1. San Jose $167k, 2. San Francisco $165k, 3. Boston $160k.

VVHCOL (+30% to +40%). 4. Bridgeport $159k, 5. Honolulu $150k.

VHCOL (+20% to +30%). 6. San Diego $144k, 7. New York City $143k, 8. Seattle $142k, 9. Oxnard $140k, 10. Denver $140k, 11. Los Angeles $140k, 12. Portland OR $138k.

HCOL (+10% to +20%). 13. Washington D.C. $135k, 14. Hartford $135k, 15. Kiryas Joel / Poughkeepsie $134k, 16. New Haven $133k, 17. Minneapolis-St Paul $131k, 18. Sacramento $131k, 19. Worcester $131k, 20. Providence $126k, 21. Portland ME $126k.

MCOL (+10% to -10%). 22. CO Springs $125k, 23. Philadelphia $124k, 24. Albany $123k, 25. Madison $123k, 26. Riverside $123k, 27. Chicago $121k, 28. Reno $121k, 29. Stockton $120k, 30. Rochester $120k, 31. Las Vegas $120k, 32. Milwaukee $120k, 33. Lancaster $119k, 34. Phoenix $119k, 35. Baltimore $119k, 36. Syracuse $118k, 37. Raleigh $118k, 38. Atlanta $115k, 39. Modesto $115k, 40. Buffalo $115k, 41. Allentown $115k, 42. Harrisburg $115k, 43. Durham $115k, 44. Grand Rapids $112k, 45. Austin $112k, 46. Des Moines $112k, 47. Richmond $111k, 48. Fresno $111k, 49. Pittsburgh $111k, 50. Omaha $111k, 51. Boise $111k, 52. SLC $111k, 53. Charlotte $111k, 54. Miami $110k, 55. Detroit $110k, 56. Indianapolis $110k, 57. Columbus $110k, 58. Bakersfield $109k, 59. Ogden $109k, 60. Cleveland $109k, 61. St. Louis $109k, 62. Charleston $109k, 63. Spokane $108k, 64. Provo $108k, 65. Sarasota $108k, 66. Tucson $108k, 67. Akron $107k, 68. Dallas $107k, 69. VA Beach $107k, 70. Cincinnati $107k, 71. Kansas City $107k, 72. Nashville $107k, 73. Birmingham $105k, 74. Scranton $105k, 75. Orlando $105k, 76. Cape Coral $105k, 77. Tampa $105k, 78. Jacksonville $104k, 79. Toledo $104k, 80. Dayton $104k, 81. Port St Lucie $104k, 82. Albuquerque $104k.

LCOL (-10% to -20%). 83. Huntsville $102k, 84. Houston $102k, 85. Louisville $101k, 86. OKC $101k, 87. Palm Bay $100k, 88. Baton Rouge $100k, 89. San Antonio $100k, 90. Columbia $100k, 91. Greenville $100k, 92. Greensboro $99k, 93. Pensacola $99k, 94. Tulsa $99k, 95. Chattanooga $98k, 96. Lexington $98k, 97. Winston-Salem $97k, 98. Memphis $97k, 99. Deltona $97k, 100. Knoxville $97k, 101. New Orleans $96k, 102. Wichita $96k, 103. Fayetteville $95k, 104. Augusta $97k, 105. Lakeland $94k, 106. Little Rock $97k, 107. Jackson $93k.

VLCOL (-20% to -30%). 108. Killeen $96k, 109. El Paso $90k, 110. McAllen $87k.

Where the high and low tiers fall

On the map, the dark red metros cluster in two places: the San Francisco Bay Area and coastal Southern California, and the Northeast from Washington D.C. to Boston. Honolulu, Seattle, Portland OR and Denver are the only other metros in the top three tiers. Minneapolis-St Paul is the only Midwest metro above MCOL.

The MCOL band, from 10% above to 10% below the average, holds 61 of the 110 metros, from Colorado Springs at $125k down to Albuquerque at $104k. It covers most large Midwest metros such as Chicago, Detroit and Columbus, the Mountain West outside Denver, Florida’s big metros and Texas cities Dallas and Austin. The LCOL and VLCOL metros are almost all in the South, from Houston and San Antonio to Memphis, New Orleans and Little Rock, with Wichita the furthest north.

How the MIT living wage is calculated

The MIT Living Wage Calculator defines the living wage as what one full-time worker must earn per hour to cover their family’s minimum basic needs where they live without public or private assistance [2]. It counts eight basic needs, food, childcare, health care, housing, transportation, civic engagement, broadband and other necessities, plus income and payroll taxes [2]. Estimates are published for 3,144 counties, 387 metropolitan statistical areas and every state [2].

For a family of four with two working adults, MIT divides the total pre-tax family budget by two to get each worker’s share, then by 2,080 hours to get an hourly wage [2]. The map shows the whole household figure, before that split, which is why its values run into six figures.

Notes on this infographic

• The map was posted on 15 August 2024 by Reddit user TA-MajestyPalm, who wrote that it was made in Excel, Photoshop and MapChart from MIT living wage data and Census metro areas [1].
• Killeen ($96k) is listed as VLCOL, but $96k is about 16% below the $113,958 average, which falls in the LCOL band (10% to 20% below) on the map’s own legend.
• A few values are out of rank order as printed: Augusta (104th, $97k) is below Fayetteville ($95k), Little Rock (106th, $97k) is below Lakeland ($94k) and Killeen (108th, $96k) is below Jackson ($93k).
• San Diego ($144) and Los Angeles ($140) are printed without the “k” used elsewhere; both mean thousands. Rank 104 is printed “104,” instead of “104.”. The note reads “US Census burea”, meaning Bureau.
• Alaska is not drawn and no Alaska metro is listed. The figures are 2024 estimates; MIT updates its data, and its current methodology page describes estimates for 2026 [2], so newer values will differ.

Sources

1. u/TA-MajestyPalm, Cost of Living of US Metro Areas over 500k People (2024), r/MapPorn, 15 August 2024. The creator’s original post.
2. MIT Living Wage Calculator, Methodology.

Last reviewed 30 October 2026