Cost of Living Varies Widely by State : Residence Fleeing NY and California

It makes a lot sense that if you can live better even though you make less money moving to a location that offers the advantage of living a better life makes good sense. Little wonder why states like New York and California are losing residence by the thousands every year.

Then it's logical that if you live in a state that is controlled by progressive democrats, and has been for decades, you are living at a disadvantage of those that are living the good life in states that value prosperity and personal freedom like the state of Texas, controlled by Conservatives, that has produced more new jobs then the rest of the entire country combined.

The question that remains is why does one accept this disadvantage by continuing to vote for democrats that are responsible for the this discrepancy? Why??

What is $100 Worth in Different States?
Source: Alan Cole, Lyman Stone and Richard Borean, "The Real Value of $100 in Each State," August 18, 2014.

August 19, 2014

Costs of living vary across the United States, and the average price of a good in Georgia might be very different from the average price of the same good in California. As such, a person's nominal income is not necessarily reflective of his standard of living.

Economists Alan Cole, Lyman Stone and Richard Borean of the Tax Foundation have developed a map detailing what $100 is worth across the 50 states.

• $100 is worth much less in Washington, D.C. ($84.60), Hawaii ($85.32), New York ($86.66) and New Jersey ($87.64) than it is in Mississippi ($115.74), Arkansas ($114.16), Missouri ($113.51), Alabama ($113.51) and South Dakota ($113.38).
• Incredibly, money is worth 40 percent more in Mississippi than the same amount of money in Washington, D.C.
• Nominally, New Yorkers have much higher incomes than Kansans. But after adjusting for prices, Kansas residents have higher average incomes than New York residents.
• High incomes are often found in states with high prices, but not always: in North Dakota, for example, residents have high incomes but low prices.

This reality is especially significant for welfare programs, explain the authors. A poor person in a high-cost area may not qualify for a means-tested program, while a person in a low-cost area may qualify for welfare despite being in a better financial position than his income alone would indicate.

Price differences could also change the impact of welfare on a person: a South Dakota resident, write the authors, may be discouraged from work after receiving welfare, while a New York resident may be little impacted by it.