What Is the Cost of Living?

The cost of living refers to the amount of money needed in order to sustain a particular standard of living in a given location by affording basic expenses, such as housing costs, food and groceries, utilities, transportation expenses, healthcare, and taxes. If you are planning to move to a different city, knowing the cost of living in that area would help you assess whether you’d be able to afford to live comfortably given your expected salary and your lifestyle.

The cost of living index reflects the percentage difference in the cost of living between two or more locations. The primary location would be your current city or state, and this would show a value of 100 for all the basic expenses, as this would be your reference point. For the other locations that you are considering moving to, the values would be higher or lower than 100 – depending on whether the costs in these places are higher or lower relative to those of your primary location.

For example, if you are currently living in Missouri and are considering relocating to Delaware, the cost of living index for your present location which is Missouri would always be 100, while the values for Delaware would either be higher or lower than 100, depending on whether the expenses being compared to those of Missouri ’s are more expensive or cheaper in Delaware.

2019 Cost of Living Index in Delaware

If you are keen on relocating to Delaware, it would be to your best interest to do your own research and check the cost of living index in this state before you make a decision. The table below compares the cost of living in Delaware with the rest of the United States. In this table, the primary location is the United States, so all of the values under this are all fixed at 100, while the values under Delaware will vary, depending on whether the expenses in this state are higher or lower compared to the rest of the country.

Index Delaware United States

Overall 110.2 100 Grocery 101.8 100 Health 107.7 100 Housing 120.2 100 Utilities 105.2 100 Transportation 109.1 100 Miscellaneous 104 100

Based on the table above, you can see that the overall cost of living index in Delaware is 110 – 10 points higher than that of the United States, which means that the basic expenses in this state are 10% more expensive compared to those of the nation. Looking at each index, you’ll see that most of the expenses are slightly higher relative to those of the state, except for housing, which is 20% higher.

Cost of Goods and Services in Delaware

Most of the services in Delaware cost higher than the national average. Going to the beauty salon would cost around $36.17 to $38.67, while the national average is $37.33. A haircut costs $13.22 to $14.17, a couple of dollars lower than the national average of $16.09. The average cost of a movie ticket on the national level is $10.28, but in Delaware, the cost ranges from $11.50 to $11.75. A game of bowling costs between $4.69 and $4.75 in the state, which is close to the national average of $4.93. For toiletries, a tube of toothpaste costs around $2.82 to $3.37, (national average is $2.45) and a bottle of shampoo is usually priced between $1.07 and $1.11 (national average is $1.00).