The BEA released price levels by state today for 2022. Here's how your state stacks up:
This includes housing costs, so it's no surprise that DC and California top the list. Conversely, your dollar goes the furthest in Arkansas and Mississippi. Keep this in mind when you're deciding where to retire.
Note that virtually all the cheap states are Republican and virtually all the expensive ones are Democratic. There are nonpartisan reasons for some of this (rural vs. urban, coastal vs. inland), but it still tells you something about the state of American politics. When Republicans say the economy isn't very good, at least part of this is because it isn't very good in their states.
Just to mention, this chart's scaling exaggerates the differences. No biggie, numbers people will know that. Graphing the same data on a scale of -100 to +100 would be more accurate visually; but, to be sure, not as exciting.
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North Carolina is a purple state even though the legislature is dominated by Republicans. It is the major target swing state for Dems in 2024.
https://www.usnews.com/news/national-news/articles/2023-08-31/uniquely-competitive-north-carolina-emerges-as-key-2024-battleground
Housing costs in the big cities have gone up quite a lot although not nearly as high as NY and Cal because our economy is booming.
“With a world-class workforce and a booming economy, North Carolina repeats as America’s Top State for Business in 2023”
https://www.cnbc.com/2023/07/11/north-carolina-is-top-state-for-business-led-by-workforce-economy-.html
It's a bad idea to decide where you are going to retire based on some idea that it will be cheaper or have lower taxes.
You should retire where you will be happy living.
Also, I don't think I want to count on the healthcare available in Mississippi or Arkansas.
Plus, anyplace decent to live in those states will be more expensive because everyone sane wants to live there, driving up prices.
It's a bad idea to decide where you are going to retire based on some idea that it will be cheaper or have lower taxes.
It's a "bad idea" if you have the wealth/income, to ignore COL, sure.
If costs leave you no options, well, do the math.
Interesting by itself, but I must be missing something. Wouldn't I need to know how income levels compare in the states to determine if people were better or worse off? For example, if the income levels were 5000x higher in DC :), wouldn't they be much better off despite their cost of living being higher? Or is that subsumed somehow in the "parities" analysis?
D.C. is not comparable to the others since it consists entirely of a city. Any major city on its own would probably top the list.
Wouldn't I need to know how income levels compare in the states to determine if people were better or worse off?
Sure.
But this chart doesn't purport to show whether people are "better or worse off."
It tracks cost of living, pure and simple.
> When Republicans say the economy isn't very good, at least part of this is because it isn't very good in their states.
It's not clear to me that "price level" is a proxy for the quality of the economy. Certainly Texas keeps telling us that everyone is moving away from California to Texas and they can keep housing prices low because they have no rules related to housing construction.
If you want to argue that Arkansas has low price levels because they are basically in a locally deflationary environment because everyone is moving away, seems like there ought to be additional evidence for that.
My understanding is that Republicans say the local economy is working great for them, but obviously the local and national economies aren't working well for anyone else.
Low prices = low demand. Low demand = shitty or no jobs. Shitty or no jobs = bad economy. That's Adam Smith 101.
If you want to argue that Arkansas has low price levels because they are basically in a locally deflationary environment because everyone is moving away, seems like there ought to be additional evidence for that
Maybe. But who is arguing that, and why do you even bring this up?
Kevin's not implying anything abvout "deflation" (sheesh!) but he is clearly implying—reasonably in my view—that relative price level correlates with wages, and higher wage states tend to be governed by Democrats.
You'd have to shoot me stone cold dead before I'd retire to either Mississippi or Arkansas.
Or any of the other red ones except Michigan and Minnesota.
Michigan is not a red state. It has a Dem governor, Dem control of both houses of the legislature and voted for Biden. It is a swing state, but definitely leans blue.
Michigan is indeed not a red state (it's purple) but it's a "red one" on the graph, which is what pjcamp1905 stated.
Does anyone actually retire to Mississippi, or Arkansas? Is this actually a thing that people do?