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Cost of Living Can Significantly Affect “Real” Median Household Income

Among 170 large counties, Fairfax and Loudoun Counties in Washington’s Northern Virginia suburbs have the highest median household income areas in 2006, according to the US Census Bureau. However, when factoring in the cost of living, Williamson County, Tennessee, in greater Nashville and Forsyth County, Georgia in the Atlanta metro area rank as the two counties with the highest “real” median household income among the counties studied, based on an analysis of the most recent ACCRA Cost of Living Index data.

Policy makers who are using the median household income data should pay more attention to the effects of cost of living adjustment. In areas with higher cost of living, the current median household income report overstates the buying power of household incomes. At the same time, households in areas with a lower cost of living frequently do better than their ranking might suggest. As the following table shows, the ranking of the nation’s wealthiest counties changes considerably when adjusted for the ACCRA Cost of Living Index.

* The median household income data is from the U.S. Census Bureaus American Community Survey (ACS) at the county level. The ACS-reported 2006 US median household income was $48,451. For more information on the U.S. Census data, visit the American Community Survey at http://www.census.gov/acs/www/.

The ACCRA Cost of Living Index measures regional differences in the cost of consumer goods and services, excluding taxes and nonconsumer expenditures, for professional and managerial households in the top income quintile. It is based on more than 50,000 prices covering 60 different items for which prices are collected quarterly by chambers of commerce, economic development organizations or university applied economic centers in each participating urban area. Small differences should not be interpreted as showing a measurable difference. The composite index is based on six components – housing, utilities, grocery items, transportation, health care and miscellaneous goods and services.

C2ER provides 2006 adjusted median household income data, reflecting the effects of the 2006 ACCRA Cost of Living Index as a report available at our online store for $12.95 .