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Mapped: The Real Purchasing Power of $100 by U.S. State

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Mapped: The Real Purchasing Power of $100 by U.S. State

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Key Takeaways

  • The same amount of cash goes 30% further in Arkansas than it does in California.
  • By looking at the real purchasing power of $100, we can get a sense of how cost of living varies between U.S. states.

Is a dollar in your pocket the same in Albuquerque as it is in New York City?

The face value may be the same, but in reality that dollar just goes further in certain metro areas and states.

Today’s visualization shows the relative value of $100 in each U.S. state. It’s based on data from GOBankingRates, which uses publicly available federal datasets such as those from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, the U.S. Bureau of Economic Affairs, and the U.S. Census American Consumer Survey to do the calculations.

The Data: State-by-State Purchasing Power

Below you’ll see how far $100 goes in each state.

Included in the dataset is typical home value and annual cost of living to help provide context:

Rank State Real Value of $100 Typical Home Value Annual Cost of Living
1 Arkansas $113.49 $208,734 $37,067
2 Mississippi $112.71 $176,933 $35,580
3 South Dakota $111.91 $302,023 $44,923
4 Oklahoma $111.71 $205,311 $37,697
5 Louisiana $111.66 $198,094 $36,860
6 North Dakota $111.43 $268,912 $42,925
7 Iowa $111.23 $218,773 $39,069
8 West Virginia $110.23 $163,193 $35,206
9 Kansas $110.04 $225,396 $39,073
10 Alabama $110.03 $222,475 $38,712
11 Montana $109.76 $450,056 $56,763
12 Nebraska $109.62 $257,397 $42,019
13 New Mexico $109.61 $302,570 $55,579
14 Kentucky $109.53 $208,745 $38,817
15 Wyoming $109.15 $349,235 $48,609
16 Idaho $108.58 $452,207 $56,438
17 Missouri $108.24 $246,692 $40,318
18 Ohio $108.19 $229,027 $40,062
19 Indiana $107.82 $238,281 $40,548
20 Tennessee $107.49 $318,006 $44,868
21 Wisconsin $106.90 $307,398 $46,182
22 South Carolina $106.82 $296,068 $44,854
23 North Carolina $105.86 $328,226 $47,494
24 Michigan $105.82 $239,674 $40,628
25 Utah $105.00 $528,156 $61,534
26 Vermont $103.37 $388,319 $53,614
27 Georgia $103.30 $326,933 $41,159
28 Nevada $103.02 $458,436 $57,796
29 Maine $102.90 $387,588 $54,032
30 Texas $102.83 $299,948 $44,989
31 Pennsylvania $102.50 $266,221 $43,345
32 Minnesota $101.58 $335,238 $48,347
33 Illinois $101.15 $270,708 $43,758
34 Delaware $100.75 $380,485 $51,935
35 Virginia $99.25 $398,259 $52,734
36 Arizona $98.90 $433,746 $55,529
37 Colorado $98.62 $552,897 $63,270
38 Alaska $98.29 $379,622 $59,801
39 Rhode Island $98.29 $379,622 $59,801
40 Florida $96.55 $404,924 $53,525
41 Connecticut $96.31 $429,793 $57,885
42 Maryland $96.04 $430,192 $56,244
43 Oregon $95.28 $498,760 $61,654
44 New Hampshire $94.66 $495,860 $61,111
45 New York $92.37 $455,344 $58,146
46 Massachusetts $91.76 $642,213 $75,065
47 Washington $91.44 $603,927 $70,164
48 Hawaii $91.39 $967,396 $103,371
49 New Jersey $91.12 $558,134 $65,337
50 California $87.42 $793,150 $86,408

In Arkansas, $100 actually goes much further than normal, providing $113.49 of real purchasing power.

In California it’s the opposite case, where a hundred-dollar bill is only really worth $87.42. In the case of California and other expensive states, purchasing power is eroded away by the high cost of living, local taxes, and other factors that prevent you from making the most of your money.

High Income ≠ High Purchasing Power

Here’s one interesting takeaway: many of the highest-income states, such as California, New Jersey, Massachusetts, Hawaii, also rank among the worst for real dollar value.

Massachusetts has a six-figure median income, but $100 only buys $92 worth of goods. Meanwhile, Iowa and Kansas have more modest incomes, but a dollar goes almost 25% further than in an expensive state like Massachusetts.

This shows that higher wages in coastal states are partially or completely eaten by cost of living premiums.

The Affordability Belt

Looking at the map, there is a clear “affordability belt” that can be seen visually.

In the Mountain West, Midwest, and South—including Idaho ($108.58), Montana ($109.76), Louisiana ($111.66), Ohio ($108.19), and West Virginia ($110.23)—each dollar goes a little further.

Learn More on the Voronoi App

Where are countries losing purchasing power the fastest? See this visualization on the highest inflation rates by country on Voronoi, the app from Visual Capitalist.

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