Cost of Living Estimator by ZIP Code: the facts

1. Most cost-of-living tools give an index. This one gives dollars: the month's rent or mortgage, taxes, health care, child care, food, transportation, and other necessities at two ZIP codes, and what a stated income leaves at each.
2. Housing is the line that differs within a county, so it is the line taken by ZIP: HUD's fair market rent for the ZIP by bedroom count, and for buyers what a typical home there is worth today, with property tax as a new buyer would be billed where a state's rule is modeled and at the county's average effective rate elsewhere, never the capped median long-time owners report. The other lines are county, state, or national figures, and each row says which.
3. Example: two adults, two children, $150,000 a year, renting three bedrooms. In Naperville, DuPage County (60540) take-home is $10,062 a month, living there costs $12,149, and −$2,087 is left; in Sarasota, Sarasota County (34236) take-home is $10,632, the cost of living $11,413, and −$781 is left.
4. Taxes are computed, not looked up. Florida has no income tax; Illinois takes a flat 4.95% after a $2,925 exemption per person. On the example income that is $570 a month in Illinois and nothing in Florida; on a modest budget the sales tax on necessities adds $87 a month in Naperville against $71 in Sarasota.
5. Child care is the line people forget. For two children it is $2,056 a month in DuPage County and $1,710 in Sarasota County, from each state's market-rate survey, more than food in both places.
6. Buying changes the answer more than moving does. The same family buying a typical three-bedroom, $536,268 in 60540 and $1,927,119 in 34236, at 20 percent down and 6.50%, pays $3,735 and $12,927 a month for the house and a new buyer's property tax, before insurance.

Educational only, not investment, tax, or legal advice. Results are hypothetical estimates that vary with each use and over time and are not guaranteed accurate or complete. Using this tool creates no client relationship with Considerate Capital, and the site that linked here is not affiliated with it. By using it you agree to the tool terms.