Check All Living Costs Before Moving

published 8 March 2018

If you're a retiree looking for a change of scenery, or you've been offered a job in another city, you may want to consider more than just the cost of housing. Prices for groceries, utilities, health care and other necessities can also vary significantly.

For example, the average cost of a doctor's appointment in Rockford, Ill., is $139, compared with $75 in Bloomington, Ind., according to the Council for Community and Economic Research's cost of living index, or COLI. The general rule of thumb is that you should spend no more than 50% of your budget on necessities such as housing, food and transportation. But relocating to a high-cost area may make this guideline unworkable.

The table below shows what you would pay for commonly used products and services in four cities that made the list of 20 finalists for Amazon's second headquarters—which is expected to add 50,000 jobs. We added Orlando because that area is attractive to retirees.

Subscribe to Kiplinger’s Personal Finance

Be a smarter, better informed investor.

Save up to 74%

https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/hwgJ7osrMtUWhk5koeVme7-200-80.png

Sign up for Kiplinger’s Free E-Newsletters

Profit and prosper with the best of expert advice on investing, taxes, retirement, personal finance and more - straight to your e-mail.

Profit and prosper with the best of expert advice - straight to your e-mail.

You can find a COLI calculator at www.payscale.com/cost-of-living-calculator.

Topics

Features

Rivan joined Kiplinger on Leap Day 2016 as a reporter for Kiplinger's Personal Finance magazine. A Michigan native, she graduated from the University of Michigan in 2014 and from there freelanced as a local copy editor and proofreader, and served as a research assistant to a local Detroit journalist. Her work has been featured in the Ann Arbor Observer and Sage Business Researcher. She is currently assistant editor, personal finance at The Washington Post.