Bloomberg Businessweek - USA (2020-12-21)

34

DATA:

ECONOMIC

RESEARCH

INSTITUTE,

U.S.

CENSUS

the case for moving to houston

Imagine you’re a professional earning $100,000 and are considering a move. The chart below, based on data from the

Economic Research Institute, shows how much your salary would vary across metro areas and compares it to the cost

of living. The two are generally correlated, but not perfectly. San Diego, for instance, is about 40% more expensive than

average but has only slightly better pay. Houston, on the other hand, has similar relative pay but below-average costs.

Populationgrowth,2010-19: ●●Negative ●●0%-10% ●●10%-20% ●●Over20%

90

100

110

120

80 100 120 140

Cost-of-living index

Pay index

FairfieldCounty,Conn.

NewYork

Washington,D.C. Vallejo,Calif.

Indianapolis

Augusta,Ga.

Akron

Bend,Ore.

Madison,Wis.

PalmBay,Fla.

Phoenix

Orlando

Toledo,Ohio Spokane,Wash.

Winston-Salem,N.C.

Greensboro,N.C.

SanAntonio

KansasCity Tampa

Jacksonville,Fla.

Birmingham,Ala.

Dayton

Olympia,Wash.

Pittsburgh

Buffalo,N.Y.

WallaWalla,Wash.

CorpusChristi,Texas

Cleveland

Cincinnati

Columbus,Ohio

St.Louis ColoradoSprings

VirginiaBeach

Fayetteville,Ark.

Memphis

GrandRapids,Mich. DesMoines

Albuquerque BatonRouge,La.

McAllen,Texas

SaltLakeCity

ElPaso

Louisville

Omaha

Charleston,S.C.

Ogden,Utah

Tulsa

Provo,Utah

Tucson Deltona,Fla.

Wichita

Nashville

Lexington,Ky.

OklahomaCity Jackson,Miss.

LittleRock

Boise, Idaho

Charlotte

Springfield,Mass.

Syracuse,N.Y.

Richmond,Va.

Raleigh,N.C. Austin

Atlanta Miami

Rochester,N.Y. Albany,N.Y. Bellingham,Wash.

Milwaukee Portland,Ore.

LasVegas Detroit Reno,Nev.

Minneapolis Kingston,N.Y.

Worcester,Mass.

Durham,N.C. Fresno,Calif. Baltimore

Dallas Chicago Providence

Denver

Modesto,Calif. Hartford

Trenton,N.J. LosAngeles

SantaRosa,Calif.

SantaMaria,Calif.

Anchorage Seattle Oxnard,Calif.

Bakersfield,Calif. Sacramento Boston SanDiego

Houston Philadelphia Stockton,Calif.

NewHaven

Riverside,Calif.

NewOrleans

more bang for your

buck

less bang for your buck

Pay and cost of living index are equal