What is Cost of Living?

Cost of living is the amount of money needed for one to be able to sustain a certain standard of living in a specific location by being able to afford basic expenses, such as housing, food, transportation, healthcare, and taxes. This type of information can be of great use for you if you are planning to move to a new city, state, or country, and would like to know if you can afford the relocation.

Agencies calculate the cost of living of various locations by selecting a representative sample of goods and services, checking their prices, and taking into account how each of these items affect one’s budget on an annual basis. Each item’s price is weighted based on its relevance to a typical family’s budget. As an index, the cost of living of the primary location is always set at 100, while the values for the locations being compared to it may be higher or lower, depending on whether the cost of goods and services in these areas are more expensive or cheaper relative to those of the primary location.

2019 Cost of Living Index in Santa Cruz, CA

If you have plans to relocate to Santa Cruz, CA, it would be advantageous for you to check the cost of living here and compare it with that of your current location. The table below has been prepared to help you determine the affordability of this city and how living here would affect your budget. In this table, you will see the most recent cost of living indexes for Santa Cruz, as well as the indexes for the state of California and the United States. As you can see, the primary location in this table is the United States, which explains why all of the values under this are set at 100, while the values under Santa Cruz and California are higher or lower than 100, as these are based on the actual values of the basic expenses in these areas.