Living Costs Across the 50 States: How Housing and Earnings Shape Big Price Differences

Key Takeaways

• Oklahoma provides the strongest purchasing power among all states, helped by a low cost of living and relatively affordable housing.

• Hawaii’s cost of living is 84% above the U.S. average, more than twice Oklahoma’s level, and housing costs are nearly four times higher.

It is widely understood that California is much more expensive than states such as Oklahoma. What is less obvious is how deeply those differences reshape household budgets and financial choices across the country.

To measure state-by-state costs, the Missouri Economic Research and Information Center assigns each state a score using a national baseline of 100. States below 100 are cheaper than average, while those above 100 are more expensive. When those figures are paired with Census data on income, home values, and rent, the latest numbers show just how large the gaps have become. They also help explain why nearly 15 million Americans moved last year, with many seeking lower expenses.

Where Money Stretches the Most

Oklahoma was the least expensive state overall, with a MERIC composite index of 84.7, about 15% below the national average. Mississippi (86.0), West Virginia (88.0), Alabama (88.1), and Kansas (88.4) completed the list of the five cheapest states. The lowest-cost states are concentrated largely in the South and Midwest, and that pattern holds across MERIC’s measures for groceries, utilities, transportation, and healthcare.

Housing makes up the biggest share of local living costs. In MERIC’s housing subindex, Oklahoma scored 68.8, roughly 31% below the U.S. average. The state’s median home value is $222,100, according to Census data, meaning a 10% down payment would be $22,000 rather than the $88,000 that would be needed in Hawaii.

Tennessee adds a more complicated example. Its composite index of 90.1 places it among the 10 most affordable states, yet its median home value has risen to $332,600, showing the effect of years of strong demand as more people have moved there.

Where Costs Are Highest

Hawaii ranked as the priciest state by a wide margin, with a MERIC index of 183.9, or 84% above the national average. Its housing subindex of 299.0 is triple the U.S. average, and the median home value is $875,900—nearly four times the price of a home in Oklahoma, according to Census data. The state’s median monthly rent of $1,942 is the second highest in the Census figures.

Massachusetts placed second overall with a composite index of 148.5, followed by California at 143.1, the District of Columbia at 137.8, and New York at 125.8. California’s housing subindex of 199.4, about twice the national average, reflects years of difficulty expanding housing supply. Its median gross rent of $2,104 was the highest among all states, according to Census data. North American Van Lines reported that California was the top outbound migration state in 2025, with housing costs and the broader cost of living cited as the main reasons.

New Jersey presents a different picture. Its composite index of 115.3 makes it one of the more expensive states, but a median household income of $104,294—the second highest in the Census, behind only Massachusetts and the District of Columbia—gives residents more ability to absorb those higher costs.

The Paycheck Problem

One way to estimate the median household’s purchasing power is to divide each state’s median household income by its MERIC composite index, a standard affordability measure.

Oklahoma’s median income of $66,148, adjusted for its below-average cost structure, would be equivalent to about $78,100 in overall U.S. cost-of-living terms. Massachusetts, by contrast, has a median income of $104,828, nearly $39,000 more, but that translates to only about $70,600 after accounting for living costs.

Across these and other states, the lesson is becoming clearer: a salary shows what you earn, but your ZIP code determines how far it goes.