- Chicago had the highest Cost of Living Index score among 32 Midwestern cities.
- Of the 32 Midwestern urban areas examined, 29 fell below the national average.
- Springfield, Missouri, was the least expensive of the large Midwestern areas in the study, more than 15 percent below the national average.
Chicago is the most expensive place to live in the Midwest based on the third quarter cost of living index. However, the vast majority of the 32 large Midwestern cities included in the study are cheaper than the national average.
The Council for Community and Economic Research, or C2ER, released the quarter Cost of Living Index in October. The index is based on six categories: housing, utilities, groceries, transportation, health care, and miscellaneous goods and services.
“The Cost of Living Index measures regional differences in the cost of consumer goods and services, excluding taxes and non-consumption expenditures, for professional and managerial households in the top income quintile,” the press release states.
Of the 269 urban areas that participated in the most recent C2ER study, 63 are from 12 Midwestern states — Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, Ohio, South Dakota and Wisconsin. We've narrowed this list down to the 32 largest cities among the 63 Midwestern locations with an index for the third quarter based on their population size.
Business Insider previously looked at the cost of living for parties FloridaTexas and California. In California, all 10 urban areas in the third-quarter analysis had an index score greater than 100. That means those places in California were more expensive than the national average among cities in the study.
In the Midwest, only two cities — Chicago and Detroit — were above the national average. A third, Milwaukee, was right at 100. At the other extreme, Springfield, Missouri, had a cost of living 15.5 percent below average at 84.5.
Below are the 32 Midwestern locations in our analysis ranked by their indicators from C2ER.
Correction: December 1, 2023 — This article has been updated with a correct photo of Minneapolis.
