Use caution when using City-Data stats to determine COL (long read, sort of) (Jackson: 2014)

[volosong]

Well...that was an interesting exercise. Somebody has too much time on their hands.

Just for kicks, I wanted to quantify cost-of-living data on a county-wide basis for Wyoming. I used City-Data numbers for these calculations. First, I downloaded the list of cities in the three categories, (i.e., Bigger (6000+), Smaller (1000-6000), Very Small (<1000)). Then downloaded each city's COL number and wrote down the county name where the city is located.

City-Data does not appear to list cities of less that 200 population. The smallest city they list is Smoot, with a population of 201. Surely there are some smaller town in the state. There are also a couple of obvious errors that pop out and make the whole dataset from CD suspect. They show 'Wind River' with a population of 24,157. At first, I thought that might be the reservation and would disregard that data from the calculations, (as non-indigenous people probably can't purchase homes or property on a reservation). With such a large population and a COL of 176.1, it would really skew the results.

However, looking at the map, it looks like 'Wind River' is the area on the north flank of the Owl Creek mountains, at the southern edge of the Bighorn Basin. I've been there enough to know that not may people live in that area. It's a sparsely populated area. Looking closer at the 'Wind River' CD page, it shows only 45 males and 41 females. (Now, what gender could the other 24,071 people be?)

Then, there is the CD listing for 'Jackson Hole' with a population of 19,309 and a COL of an astounding 321.9! That will surely skew the results. They also list 'Jackson' as having a population of 9,915 and a COL of a more reasonable 104.4. These don't add up because these two 'cities' alone in Teton county show a population of 29,224 and does not include any of the smaller cities in the county. Other web sites show the population of Teton County to be 21,675, (as of 2012). Something is amiss with CD data. I could be wrong, but I'm pretty sure that there is not an actual city named "Jackson Hole". It's just a general name for the southern end of the valley between the Teton range and the Gros Ventre/Absorokas, right?

Anyway, removing the bogus data for Teton county, and normalizing each city's COL based on its population, the overall cost-of-living for Wyoming is 87.6, (the national average being 100). A lot of internet 'reports', (and we can believe what we read on the internet, right?) do not list Wyoming as having a low COL. But, if you include Teton county, the COL works out to be 98.6, pretty close to the national average. Maybe that's why all these reports say the COL in WY isn't all that great. Low taxes, sure, but not really a low COL. Deleting the incorrect data for Teton county yields a more accurate COL number, one I could tend to believe.

It was an interesting exercise. I think I'll go ahead and create my COL map county-by-county...just for kicks. I suppose if I wanted to look out my bedroom window when I wake up in the morning at the Les Trois Tetons, I could just set up in Driggs or Victor, (COL of 87.7 and 87.8, respectfully - same as WY on a state basis).

- - - - -

In their defense, CD does state at the bottom of their pages, "City-data.com does not guarantee the accuracy or timeliness of any information on this site. Use at your own risk."

[ScottStielow]

volosong

In Aiea where i am now Here is what CD COL for example.
Estimated median household income in 2011: $84,224 (it was $71,155 in 2000)
Aiea: $84,224
Hawaii: $61,821

Estimated median house or condo value in 2011: $645,136 (it was $340,600 in 2000)
Aiea: $645,136
Hawaii: $487,400

Mar. 2012 cost of living index in Aiea: 163.7 (very high, U.S. average is 100)

I know all these numbers are higher in 2014.

So i will be happy with Wyoming and looking forward to my visit in a couple of years.
Thanks for the post it was interesting to read.