25 least expensive states to live in

Canva Over the last three decades, the rising cost of living has been weighing on Americans. The situation became even more dire in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. Record-setting inflation rates in 2022 and stagnating or falling salaries during the same period have burdened U.S. residents. The size of the middle class shrunk by 10 percentage points between 1971 and 2023, while lower-income American households grew from 27% to 30%, according to Pew Research. An unaffordable housing market coupled with soaring childcare prices has left many young families feeling like they can’t meet their goals, CNN reports. Similarly, a 2024 Pew Research survey found that 41% of respondents felt the American dream was once possible, but not anymore. A key factor in how much you make and spend and how possible that American dream is can come down to where you live. To identify the most affordable states, Stacker used data from the Council for Community and Economic Research (C2ER) to determine the 25 states with the lowest cost of living as of August 2024. Each state’s cost of living index was calculated based on the prices of 60 goods and services from a voluntary survey. Figures were rounded to the nearest 10th of a percent. Every index is a percentage of the U.S. average. For example, a state with an index of 90 has a cost of living 10% lower than the national average. Read on to see if your state is one of the most affordable in the country. You may also like: How do executives feel about AI? #25. Pennsylvania Sean Pavone // Shutterstock – Average cost of living index: 95.6 — Groceries: 98.4 — Health care: 88.4 — Housing: 85.8 — Transportation: 107.5 — Utilities: 103.5 — Other: 97.8 Pennsylvania snuck onto this list with the third-lowest health care costs of any state in the U.S., according to C2ER. Transportation and utilities may be relatively expensive, but miscellaneous expenditures are not, including getting a haircut, seeing a movie, and dropping in on a yoga class, per the C2ER report. #24. Wyoming Canva – Average cost of living index: 95.1 — Groceries: 100.4 — Health care: 105.9 — Housing: 87.6 — Transportation: 88.5 — Utilities: 85.5 — Other: 102.1 Wyoming has no personal or corporate income tax, which makes it the most business-friendly locale in the nation, along with South Dakota, according to the Tax Foundation. The Cowboy State also produces an abundance of coal, leading to utility costs that are 14.5% lower than the national average. #23. Minnesota