There are a number of sources of cost of living data with different methods and products. They’re useful for research applications and to provide a reference point for wage data. Although cost of living is non-standard and does not have a formal WID table, the content is useful enough to states to index here.
Data Sources
| Geographic Extent | Notes | |
|---|---|---|
| MIT | County | This is an annual calculation that produces annual costs for various components (food, childcare, etc) and a required wage value to cover those costs for 14 family structures. You can find the documentation here. |
| Self Sufficiency Standard | County | This is an annual calculation that produces annual costs for various components (food, childcare, etc) and a required wage value to cover those costs for many family structures. You can find the documentation here. |
| C2ER | County and MSA | This is a widely-used annual index value but is available for a cost. You can find the documentation here. |
| WID Version? | County and State | This is an adaptation of a method developed by Minnesota. It has both component costs and an index value but is relatively new. You can find the documentation here and a visualization here. |
Table Format
This is non-standard content but has been structured to work seamlessly with the WID.
SQL Statements to create tables
Update Calendar
This is a new data source at the national level. If there’s interest, it will continue to be produced in future years, with updates occurring in January or early February.
Related Tables
The structure of related tables and the SQL are in the same files under Table Format above.
Lookup table contents:
AgeCol
FamilyChars
