As an aside: The website uses jQuery's grid plugin ( <a href="http://www.trirand.com/blog" rel="nofollow">http://www.trirand.com/blog</a> ) to present the data.<p>There is a newer plugin called DataTables ( <a href="http://datatables.net/" rel="nofollow">http://datatables.net/</a> ) which I find to be much nicer, especially when combined with JQuery DataTables Editable ( <a href="http://code.google.com/p/jquery-datatables-editable/" rel="nofollow">http://code.google.com/p/jquery-datatables-editable/</a> ).
Well, this is definitely not entirely accurate. It has Phoenix, AZ as being more expensive than San Jose, CA. Having lived in both places I can say the cost of living in Phoenix is about half that of San Jose so its entirely wrong on that. I suppose its just mean to give a general idea overall and maybe was taking in data in some strange way to where it counted a large rural area that also included San Jose, or something, against just the urban area of Phoenix.
The small map image seems out of sync with the live map.<p>I'm in Darwin, Australia. The small map (correctly in my view) shows us as bright red -- quite expensive -- because of the combination of isolation (high fuel, food, labour costs) and land shortages (ie high rent).<p>I see people in SV and NYC complain about the rent. Well I pay that much ... and I don't earn SV / NYC wages. And I don't live in one of the Earth's great commercial or cultural epicentres.<p>I would if I could.<p>So quitcherwhinin'.
Suspect. The grocery index for Chicago is 72 and in Baltimore it's 101. Are groceries really 40% more in Baltimore than in Chicago? They're likely not more at all. In fact, on the whole, Chicago is more expensive than Baltimore. That's just a fact. But the figures here say otherwise.
I'd like to see where Perth sits on that scale. There's a pub here that charges $18 (~$19US) for a pint of Hoegaarden and an average pint of beer is $10.
Seems to me there is some good money to be made where high and low cost of living adjoin.<p>For example Vienna and Bratislava.<p>If nothing else, if you can work in the high cost of living place, and live in the low cost area.
Seeing this makes me wonder, because I've dabbled with the thought of living a year in NYC ever since I visited this summer, but I have been put off by all the warnings here on HN and elsewhere stating that the cost of living there is insane. My current city of residence, Trondheim, Norway is ranking top for consumer price and second for consumer price + rent in this ranking. And still, living as a single male on state scholarship and loans (which adds up to about $15k a year), I live in a pretty ok standard apartment with a room mate and don't save on food etc. at all. I have zero credit-card debt etc. (I could easily do the same in Stavanger, Norway, which ranks higher for cost of rent.)<p>What am I missing?
This totally flies in the face of Wolphram Alpha's data: <a href="http://www.wolframalpha.com/input/?i=chicago+vs+phoenix+vs+dallas+vs+san+jose+vs+new+york+city+vs+san+francisco+vs+austin+texas+vs+denver+vs+las+vegas+vs+atlanta+vs+los+angeles+vs+seattle+cost+of+living" rel="nofollow">http://www.wolframalpha.com/input/?i=chicago+vs+phoenix+vs+d...</a><p>Phoenix, where I live, is cheaper according to Wolphram Alpha than Dallas, Las Vegas, Chicago, and Devner whereas it's more expensive according to Numbeo's list.
I think they mean for 2011 (more precisely, Q4 2011), as we don't have data for 2012 yet. This doesn't inspire confidence in the accuracy of the numbers.