Housing Finances

Most Expensive States to Live in for 2012

Written by Mint.com
Published Jul 24, 2012
2 min read
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You won’t get more for your money in these 10 states.

With the launch of CNBC’s sixth-annual edition of “America’s Top States For Business,” we decided to take a look at the cost of a variety of items in the nation’s 10 most expensive states. In the CNBC study, states are ranked using a 50-point scale—the lower the score, the higher the cost of living, and vice versa.

Interestingly enough, some of the states with the highest cost of living also had some of the highest scores in the quality-of-life category, so maybe you do get what you pay for.

Nevertheless, only one of 10 states in the slides ahead managed to rank among the top 10 overall in this year’s Top States for Business. Cost of living may not be among the top criteria for a business, but it can be a big consideration for employees in the state.

To cover as much ground as possible, we included the average cost of one item related to housing, transportation, health, food and entertainment — single-family home, movie-theatre ticket, residential rent, doctor’s visit, gallon of gasoline and even a T-bone steak — in the most expensive metropolitan areas of each of the 10 states. Data are from the ACCRA Cost of Living Index, based on average prices from Q1 2011-Q1 2012.

So, which states have the highest cost of living? Read on to find out!