Cost of living can look drastically different depending on where you are. It will cost a single person about $29,118 a year to live in Brownsville, Texas, for example, but in San Francisco, California, that expense more than doubles, to $69,072.

That's according to the Economic Policy Institute's newly updated family budget calculator, which shows the income differently sized families need in order to attain a baseline standard of living across the U.S. In other words, it measures "what families need to get by," says EPI Senior Economist Elise Gould.

The calculator factors in geographic differences in cost of living and six main expenses: housing, food, transportation, health care, other basic necessities and taxes.

"In order to keep the budgets modest, the calculator notably does not include many expenses associated with a middle-class lifestyle, such as paying off student loans or saving for college or retirement," the EPI notes.

The EPI gathered data for 10 family types in all 3,142 counties and in all 611 metro areas. Below, CNBC Make It highlighted the monthly and annual cost of living for a single adult in the 15 largest U.S. cities. We also included the cost of one of the biggest expenses singles face: housing.

Cities are listed in ascending order of total cost of living.