The Homa Files

The Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) does a periodic market basket study – estimating how much a standard basket of goods costs in different parts of the country.

The national average is indexed to $100 … and called the Relative Price Parity index.

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Based on the most recent study, prices are the lowest in Mississippi where the $100 shopping basket can be purchased for $86.80.

Said differently, a dollar is worth 15% than the national average in Mississippi.

What’s the most costly state?  Where does your state rank?

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Technically speaking, Hawaii is the highest price state …   the $100 basket costs $116.20

But, Hawaii gets nosed out for the top spot by the District of Columbia …  $117.20.

Here are the top and bottom states …

click for the BEA’s complete list

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According to the Tax Foundation …

Regional price differences are strikingly large; real purchasing power is 36 percent greater in Mississippi than it is in the District of Columbia.

In other words: by this measure, if you have $50,000 in after tax income in Mississippi, you would have to have after-tax earnings of $68,000 in the District of Columbia just to afford the same overall standard of living.

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Here’s the full national view courtesy of the Tax Foundation … yellow is bad (high prices), deep pink is good (low prices)

click for the Tax Foundations enlarged view
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Thanks to MS for feeding the lead

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This entry was posted on July 27, 2015 at 6:59 am and is filed under Cost of living, Living wage, Prices, Relative Price Parity. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.