Cheapest places to live in America
Finding the cheapest place to live in America is not exactly cut and dry. There are many factors involved. Therefore, in this article we are going to look into some of these factors and the different relationships they create.
If you are looking to move and are serious about living in a frugal way, then it’s a great idea to look deeply into the cost of living as well as the price of real estate.
One way the US Department of Labor measures cost of living is by what’s called CPI. The USA CPI (The United States Consumer Price Index), isn’t a complete cost of living index; rather, it helps to gather many details such as job rates and wages averages. I couldn’t find out which state the US government deemed the cheapest. Thus I was forced to do some of my own research.
Which places in the US has the highest minimum wage? (source wikipedia)
San Francisco - $9.36
Washington - $8.07
California - $8.00
Massachusetts - $8.00
Some of these states have lower wages for service jobs. However, considering most states have lower wages starting at around $5, these are pretty good. Keep in mind, however, that other costs of living may be much higher in the four states mentioned above.
Cheapest housing in USA
| Market | Median home price* |
| Minot, N.D. | $132,300 |
| Killen, Texas | $140,310 |
| Arlington, Texas | $140,975 |
| Grayling, Mich. | $144,250 |
| Topeka, Kan. | $148,050 |
| Canton, Ohio | $148,333 |
| Tulsa, Okla. | $148,575 |
| Billings, Mont. | $150,141 |
| Fort Worth, Texas | $151,250 |
| Cadillac, Mich. | $151,530 |
| *All prices for 2,200 sq-ft., 4 br, 2 1/2 bath homes; Source: Coldwell Banker’s Home Price Comparison Inde | |
Source: http://realestate.msn.com/buying/article
_busweek.aspx?cp-documentid=1014352
North Dakota is the cheapest place to purchase a house right now. But they also have a minimum wage of $6.55 (from July 24th 2008). If you are in the market for a minimum wage job, it may not be the best place to buy, but if you are able to relocate with your current job (bloggers like me 
) then it could be a great place to investigate further.
If you are looking to rent….
Source: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/23172597/
1. Wichita, Kansas. - Here you can get a 600-square-ft, one-bedroom with a big kitchen and full-size washer and dryer for $470. Golf and country club fees are included. You can also join the fitness center and tanning parlor for a small cost.
2. Oklahoma City. - Here you’ll get a 900 square-ft home with a gym any fitness die-hard would kill for, all for $490 a month.
3. Tulsa, Oklahoma. - You can live in a brand-new, 600-square-ft, one-bedroom near a pond filled with ducks for $520 a month. The apartment is right next door to several golf and country clubs.
4. Knoxville, Tennessee. -Here you get a one bedroom hidden in the woods that comes with a balcony, a nearby pool, a tennis court and playground for $560 a month.
5. Dayton, Ohio. - You get a 500-square-ft, one-bedroom on the lake, with your own parking space, for $570 a month. Best of all, you can use a portion of your monthly rent toward a down payment if you decide to buy.
Of all these places, Ohio has the highest minimum wage at $7/hour. I am sure that you can get much cheaper houses to rent than the luxurious places priced here.
Price of White Bread and Beer
For many, these two commodities are seen as essentials (I would not recomend Beer as an essential BTW!) Looking at the prices, I found the following:
Price of White bread: (Keep in mind that due to the current price of oil, combined with the food crisis, the prices here are probably lower than today’s prices).
| Region | February 1999 | February 2000 |
| Northeast | $1.044 | $1.101 |
| Midwest | $0.889 | $0.896 |
| South | $0.774 | $0.822 |
| West | $0.900 | $0.964 |
Source: https://www.aibonline.org/resources/statistics/whitebread.html
Price of Beer:
According to Pint Price, which gathers data from users, here are a bunch of places to get a beer for less than $2:
Allentown, Pa $1.25 USD
Antigo, Wi $1.25 USD
Athens, OH $1.85 USD
Elmira , NY $1.75 USD
Fort, Tx $1.99 USD
Islip $1 USD
Lock Haven Pa. $1.75 USD
Mt. Vernon, IL. $1.5 USD
Pontiac,MI $1 USD
Shanghai $1.57 USD
Sunnyvale $1.52 USD
Tamaqua $1.75 USD
Texarkana,Ar $1.5 USD
Waterford, MI $1.55 USD
Wenona, IL $1 USD
Wheeling, WV $1.25 USD
Lowest taxes
One of the main factor in looking for the least expensive place to live is tax. Strangely, the US tax laws are all over the place. There are a few places where you can get away with comparatively paying very little tax.
It’s very hard to sort all the taxes yourself and work out exactly what state has the lowest overall taxes. In this case, we can look at Tax Burden.
- Tax Burden is a measure of the taxes paid in a state relative to another constant factor, such as total personal income, for example. www.governing.com/gpp/2003/gp3gloss.htm
The five states with the lowest tax burden as a percent of income are:
(measured as a % of earnings. Source: http://www.retirementliving.com/RLtaxes.html)
Alaska (6.6%)
New Hampshire (8.0%)
Tennessee (8.5%)
Delaware (8.8%)
Alabama (8.8%)
Alaska, Florida, Nevada, South Dakota, Texas, Washington, and Wyoming do not tax personal income.
Alaska, Delaware, Montana, New Hampshire and Oregon, do not collect sales taxes.
Now you know at least one reason why New Hampshire has “Live FREE or Die” on it’s license plate!!
Conclusion:
There are so many more factors that could have been looked at, but hopeully you saw this as a useful overview. Once you establish what you need to relocate for (work, retirement, frugality etc etc) you can easily start gathering data and work out the state with lowest cost of living for your personal circumstances.
Just remember living in a frugal way can be achieved in any state if you are determined and able to keep the right frame of mind.
If you think I have mis-interperated or overlooked anything important, please let me know.
Thanks for reading If you liked it, please give me a Digg, Stumble, Reddit or anything else using the social icons below.
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July 10th, 2008 at 4:51 am
Nice article, but I must say that Dayton is the worst place on the planet. That could account for it’s frugality. I pity anyone having to live in that awful place.
July 10th, 2008 at 4:55 am
Hey Essence,
Thanks for letting us know
I definitely have not had a chance to go to all of these places.
I do know that I have gotten some of the cheapest beer ever in vermont! Sadly it was bad beer!
July 10th, 2008 at 7:35 am
“…but if you are able to relocate in your current job (blogger like me
)…”
Yeah… rub it in. The smilie was a nice touch, douchebag.
July 10th, 2008 at 8:33 am
Another one on Pop URLs… Good job!
Bryan Clarks last blog post..Quick Links - How To Build Links FAST!
July 10th, 2008 at 11:03 am
Hey Molasses Brain…… never meant to sound pompass! Was just trying to keep a good humored run to the post….. guess it never worked with you!!
As a blogger I don’t make a lot of money (hence the frugal blog) so moving to a cheap state would not be a bad idea for me!!
@Bryan, Yeah I noticed….. I am suprised at home much traffic I am getting but still nothing from Google!
July 10th, 2008 at 5:12 pm
Minot could GIVE AWAY a house and I still would not live there.
Once the kids are done with school, I will be looking for a cheaper place to live. I’ve been in Denver for 20+ years, but I know I could seriously reduce my cost of living somewhere else.
Annie Binnss last blog post..From Tragedy to Triumph - A Review
July 10th, 2008 at 7:12 pm
Surely Alabama should be the cheapest!
your conclusion sucked, it said nothing, how about a conclusion with figures?
July 10th, 2008 at 7:18 pm
Hey Mr Pubes,
Thanks for the diplomatic criticism :), but seriously I am glad that people speak up when they don’t like something and I will put it on my to do list to research a more figure based conclusion.
Thanks for visiting….. as you are very honest and this is a new site, anything else that grinds against your grain?
July 10th, 2008 at 7:21 pm
Hey Annie,
Greta to have you swing by. I have never been to Denver either. The states is just too darn big to visit everywhere!!
Do you have any idea where you may move to?
July 10th, 2008 at 8:26 pm
If you are looking for a home to buy or rent Arizona is the place to go! There have been so many forclosures that all of those empty houses (A LOT) are selling for next to nothing now. I recently found a home that was over 2000 sq ft selling for $70,000.00, Towns like Florence, Queen Creek, Pinal County, Coolidge, Maricopa, etc., I have found to have the best bang for your buck in the housing market.
July 11th, 2008 at 4:41 pm
Of course Dayton sucks…it’s in Ohio…
Dannys last blog post..TEST:Pleased to Meet You, Hope You Guess my Name
July 11th, 2008 at 5:06 pm
@Danny, now now let’s not be state-ist
July 12th, 2008 at 8:53 am
Alaska doesn’t have state sales tax, but many cities and boroughs have their own sales taxes. The lack of state income tax certainly doesn’t make Alaska cheap. Where I’m currently located a 1-bedroom apartment rents from 700-1200 dollars a month. Also we have the highest gas prices in the nation at the moment and while many Alaskans have short commutes that does raise food prices quite a bit. It’s not unusual to buy a $4 loaf of bread or $4.50 gallon of milk. In some isolated parts of the state those prices are doubled. There’s no way that Alaska would be considered a cheap place to live.
I think cost of living calculators that combine many factors are the way to go. The additional info may help, but I think most of the time a lower wage in a cheaper area goes further than a higher wage in an expensive area.
July 12th, 2008 at 12:43 pm
A Coral, It’s strange that when I was doing my research I kept coming across little bits of info saying how cheap Alaska was but I have always heard quite the opposite. I did not know that individual areas could have sales tax but I guess even if they didn’t, rising oil prices will mean that goods are going to go up and up.
I have always wanted to visit Alaska… I am very interested in sating in one of the towns that get almost 24 hour darkness…. just to see how I fare for a few days!!!
July 12th, 2008 at 10:57 pm
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July 15th, 2008 at 12:03 pm
While articles like this can be fun to read and consider, many of us have other considerations to be thought of when comtemplating a move. Many of these places may be cheap to live but if culturally they are void would I want to committ suicide after 1 month? Would I be safe? Would I want to stay long term? Would any of my friends want to come visit me? I got sick of the price of living in the Bay Area in CA and we tried Philadelphia, but hated it. Many people love it but we hated it. It taught us that there is always a way to make it in the bigger cities so trying for the ones less traveled is not usually worth it for us. To each their own though.
francetales.coms last blog post..Montcuq, France
July 15th, 2008 at 3:01 pm
Hey FranceTales, thanks for stopping by.
I totally agree you always have to try and make sure that you get to know an area a little before moving. I grew up in an area of London, England and hated it. So when I was old enough to move away I moved away from that area.
Then I decided it was time to buy. My old area was one of the only affordable (barely) places for me so I purchased a flat there believing it may have changed…… well, I still hated it and eventually managed to sell up and get out again!
July 17th, 2008 at 5:53 am
Please oh please tell me where in Wichita I can find a 600-square foot one-bedroom with a huge kitchen and full-size washer and dryer for only $470. Because I have to move there and it is looking pretty dismal!
July 17th, 2008 at 4:36 pm
Hey TJP, I have never actually been Wichita but was looking around for rentals and found this site: http://www.wichitarentals.net/properties.php?bed=2&bath=1.5&loc=All&image.x=43&image.y=10&image=Submit and the prices look pretty decent to me.
But I am from originally from England so almost any price looks amazing to me
July 17th, 2008 at 6:11 pm
Interesting - because that is the same thing I found out last Thursday.
July 31st, 2008 at 1:39 am
Thanks for this post!
July 31st, 2008 at 2:33 pm
No problem max.
August 5th, 2008 at 3:44 am
Got any ideas where a 50 year old can live on her ss disabiliy check at approx $840.00 per month? I live in Florida and I don’t care anymore where the H**L I end up. I have to find a place to live by the end of Aug. I own my car, a bunch of personal stuff, but no real furniture. However, I do have an air mattress and furniture isn’t all that important right away. The boutique GW (Goodwill) and I are great friends. I don’t drink. I don’t smoke. I do have a cat and in Florida apparently that’s worse than not being a Republican.I have no dependents, husbands etc. Just me and the cat. I really liked your info; at least it felt like somebody out there actually (dare I say it?) is nice . Anyway, I’m not as depressed as I was after all the other sites I’ve looked at. I realize that I am basically screwed. But hey, I figure you can’t say anything that could make me feel any worse. Thanks
August 5th, 2008 at 4:55 pm
Hey Lori,
Thanks so much for your comment.
I spent a lot of time looking into this post and although I could have researched more I did not want to overload with info.
Obviously my info was pooled from the web, so I can’t verify that it is all as true as I would like but it should be a rough guide.
I actually live in Montreal with my partner on about $800 a month for myself. I do however live in a hared house (shared bathroom and kitchen) and walk everywhere, I don’t have a car. Gas is sooo expensive right now.
I have it on my list of things to do this week to look into a specific cheap place in the states and write a post about it.
Although I would never be able to completely verify my info without actually living in a place I will try and see if I can work out a place that is livable for about $840 a month.
Should be a good case study for my website.
I really really hope you find somewhere. I don’t think you are screwed. If I can do it in expensive Montreal then there has to be somewhere in the states, as in my experience it’s cheaper than Canada (Quebec anyway) in many respects.
Please please do let me know how you get along and what you find out. I will try and do my research and post on Thursday or Friday.
…… From what I have heard ANYWHERE will be cheaper than Florida.
As for the kittie, I think it’s worth looking for as many coupons as possible and finding free samples too. May only save you a couple of dollars here ad there but it all adds up!
August 5th, 2008 at 9:47 pm
Thank you so much for your thoughtfulness. If it’s ok by you, I think I’ll keep you in my pocket (metephorically speaking that is) as if you were by my side giving me courage and strength. I will let you know what happens.
Sincerely,
Lori
August 9th, 2008 at 8:27 pm
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August 9th, 2008 at 8:30 pm
Hi Lori…. just letting you know I published a new article that may interest you…. http://frugalzeitgeist.com/cheapest-places-to-live-in-america-topeka-ks-for-under-840-a-month/
I’d love to have your input. Thanks.
November 11th, 2008 at 10:35 pm
I couldn’t understand some parts of this article, but I guess I just need to check some more resources regarding this, because it sounds interesting.