The True Cost of Living Index · 2026 edition
Where a paycheck really goes furthest.
Some states take less tax. Some are cheaper to live in. This index counts both at once. The same pay goes furthest in South Dakota, and least far in California and District of Columbia. On a $75,000.00 salary, that gap is worth $17,807 $17,806.91 a year in what your pay buys.
Tax-burden rankings ignore prices and cost-of-living rankings ignore tax. This index combines them: take-home pay after federal, FICA and state income tax, deflated by the BEA regional price parity, for three reference households, scored against the unweighted average state. South Dakota leads; California and District of Columbia trail, a spread of about 32.73% in real purchasing power — on a $75,000.00 single filer, $17,807 $17,806.91 a year at national prices.
Goes furthest
South Dakota
113.4
Least far
California and District of Columbia — tied
85.5
The average state
Every state counted once
100
The index at your salary
One household — yours. The published index above averages three.
Every state, ranked
Download the indexAbove 100, the same pay buys more than in the average state; below 100, less. Tap a state for what it would mean for you.
| Rank | State | Against the average | Index | Single, $50,000 | Single, $75,000 | Married couple, $120,000 | Tax on $75,000 | Prices |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | South Dakota | 113.4 | 113.0 | 113.7 | 113.5 | 17.88% | -11.9% | |
| 2 | North Dakota | 112.6 | 112.4 | 112.7 | 112.8 | 18.15% | -11.43% | |
| 3 | Arkansas | 111.3 | 111.3 | 111.5 | 111.1 | 20.97% | -13.49% | |
| 4 | Wyoming | 110.0 | 109.6 | 110.3 | 110.1 | 17.88% | -9.15% | |
| 5 | Louisiana | 109.9 | 109.8 | 110.0 | 110.0 | 20.36% | -11.66% | |
| 6 | Mississippi | 109.2 | 108.9 | 109.4 | 109.3 | 21.75% | -12.71% | |
| 7 | Iowa | 108.8 | 108.8 | 108.8 | 108.9 | 20.86% | -11.23% | |
| 8 | Oklahoma | 108.2 | 108.1 | 108.2 | 108.3 | 21.71% | -11.71% | |
| 9 | Tennessee | 108.0 | 107.6 | 108.3 | 108.1 | 17.88% | -7.48% | |
| 10 | West Virginia | 106.8 | 107.2 | 107.0 | 106.4 | 21.27% | -10.23% | |
| 10 | New Mexico | 106.8 | 107.1 | 106.6 | 106.8 | 21.02% | -9.61% | |
| 12 | Ohio | 106.6 | 106.8 | 106.7 | 106.1 | 19.67% | -8.19% | |
| 13 | Montana | 106.1 | 106.2 | 105.8 | 106.3 | 21.71% | -9.76% | |
| 13 | Nebraska | 106.1 | 106.1 | 106.0 | 106.2 | 21.49% | -9.62% | |
| 15 | Kentucky | 106.0 | 105.8 | 106.2 | 106.1 | 21.22% | -9.53% | |
| 16 | Alabama | 105.4 | 105.1 | 105.6 | 105.4 | 22.15% | -10.03% | |
| 17 | Missouri | 104.7 | 104.9 | 104.6 | 104.7 | 21.33% | -8.24% | |
| 18 | Indiana | 104.6 | 104.3 | 104.8 | 104.7 | 20.79% | -7.82% | |
| 19 | Kansas | 104.3 | 104.2 | 104.3 | 104.5 | 23.07% | -10.03% | |
| 20 | Idaho | 104.2 | 104.3 | 104.0 | 104.3 | 22.04% | -8.57% | |
| 21 | South Carolina | 103.3 | 104.4 | 102.9 | 102.8 | 21.42% | -6.82% | |
| 22 | Nevada | 103.0 | 102.7 | 103.3 | 103.1 | 17.88% | -3.02% | |
| 23 | Texas | 102.8 | 102.5 | 103.1 | 102.9 | 17.88% | -2.82% | |
| 24 | Wisconsin | 102.4 | 102.9 | 102.4 | 101.9 | 21.87% | -6.9% | |
| 25 | North Carolina | 102.2 | 102.1 | 102.1 | 102.3 | 21.19% | -5.86% | |
| 26 | Michigan | 101.2 | 101.1 | 101.3 | 101.3 | 21.79% | -5.82% | |
| 27 | Utah | 99.6 | 99.3 | 99.7 | 99.7 | 22.33% | -5% | |
| 28 | Vermont | 99.2 | 99.6 | 98.9 | 99.1 | 21.66% | -3.36% | |
| 29 | Pennsylvania | 98.7 | 98.4 | 98.9 | 98.8 | 20.95% | -2.5% | |
| 30 | Georgia | 98.4 | 98.4 | 98.3 | 98.5 | 22.07% | -3.3% | |
| 31 | Alaska | 98.2 | 97.9 | 98.5 | 98.3 | 17.88% | 1.71% | |
| 32 | Maine | 97.3 | 97.6 | 96.9 | 97.4 | 22.87% | -2.9% | |
| 33 | Arizona | 96.7 | 96.5 | 96.7 | 96.8 | 19.84% | 1.11% | |
| 34 | Florida | 96.6 | 96.3 | 96.8 | 96.7 | 17.88% | 3.45% | |
| 35 | Minnesota | 96.3 | 96.7 | 95.9 | 96.2 | 22.65% | -1.58% | |
| 36 | Illinois | 95.4 | 95.2 | 95.5 | 95.5 | 22.63% | -1.14% | |
| 37 | Rhode Island | 94.9 | 94.8 | 95.0 | 94.9 | 21.07% | 1.41% | |
| 37 | New Hampshire | 94.9 | 94.5 | 95.1 | 94.9 | 17.88% | 5.34% | |
| 39 | Colorado | 94.8 | 94.8 | 94.7 | 94.9 | 21.33% | 1.38% | |
| 40 | Delaware | 94.7 | 95.1 | 94.8 | 94.3 | 22.84% | -0.75% | |
| 41 | Virginia | 93.8 | 93.9 | 93.7 | 93.7 | 22.61% | 0.75% | |
| 42 | Washington | 92.0 | 91.7 | 92.3 | 92.1 | 17.88% | 8.56% | |
| 43 | Connecticut | 91.5 | 91.5 | 91.3 | 91.6 | 22.38% | 3.69% | |
| 44 | Maryland | 91.3 | 91.2 | 91.4 | 91.4 | 22.14% | 3.96% | |
| 45 | New Jersey | 88.5 | 88.8 | 88.1 | 88.4 | 21.34% | 8.88% | |
| 46 | New York | 87.9 | 87.9 | 87.9 | 88.0 | 22.48% | 7.63% | |
| 47 | Massachusetts | 87.4 | 87.3 | 87.4 | 87.4 | 22.45% | 8.24% | |
| 48 | Oregon | 86.5 | 86.5 | 86.3 | 86.6 | 25.89% | 4.72% | |
| 49 | Hawaii | 86.3 | 86.6 | 85.9 | 86.4 | 23.55% | 8.61% | |
| 50 | California | 85.5 | 86.0 | 84.8 | 85.7 | 21.78% | 12.58% | |
| 50 | District of Columbia | 85.5 | 86.0 | 85.4 | 85.0 | 22.45% | 10.8% |
How the index works
We take three ordinary households. One person on fifty thousand dollars. One on seventy-five thousand. A married couple on a hundred and twenty thousand.
For each state we work out what they keep after federal tax, Social Security and Medicare, and state income tax. Then we ask what that money buys at that state's prices.
A score of a hundred is the average state. A score of a hundred and ten means the same pay buys a tenth more there. The index is the three scores averaged. Anyone can check it: the whole table is free to download.
Three reference households — single filers on fifty and seventy-five thousand dollars, and a married couple filing jointly on one hundred and twenty thousand — with wage income only and no pre-tax deductions. Take-home is gross less federal income tax, FICA and state income tax at current-year rates; local income taxes are excluded, so this is a state-level index.
Purchasing power is take-home divided by the BEA all-items regional price parity. Each household's score is that figure over the unweighted mean across the fifty states and the District, times one hundred; the index is the unweighted mean of the three scores. The baseline is unweighted deliberately: each jurisdiction counts once, so the largest states do not define the average.
What it leaves out
Sales tax and property tax are not in the score. Prices already carry much of what shopping costs, and counting a tax twice would flatter the cheap states. City income taxes are left out too, because they change from one town to the next.
A state's prices are an average for the whole state. A big city will cost more than that, and a small town less.
Sales and property tax are published elsewhere on this site but excluded from the score, because regional price parities are built from consumer prices and a separately computed sales-tax bill would risk double counting. Local income taxes, credits, and itemized deductions are excluded.
Price parities are state averages; metropolitan and rural areas within a state can differ substantially, so the index describes a state, not any place within it.