Cost of living the same across the US? (sales, 2014)

[dajohnson99]

I know this question may sound kind of weird at first glance but when you consider everything from housing prices, to taxes, adjustments in income, cost of food and gas, etc does everything kind of even out no matter where you live in the US? To clarify I understand that it's going to cost more to live in a place like Manhattan or SF because of high housing costs, but that's not what I'm talking about. I'm talking about your average suburb in any given city in the US.

An example of this would be if someone were living in say Phoenix and they got a job transfer to Sacramento. At first it may seem like moving to California may be more expensive because of the high state income tax. Right? But, you have to consider that more than likely you would receive a raise in pay going to California because of the higher COS. If that's the case everything evens out.

I personally feel like everything does even out because I used to live in Reno, NV and have since moved to Austin, Texas. Some could consider NV more expensive (not CA expensive) because gas prices are higher, groceries are higher, and car registration is higher than Texas. However, since moving I have noticed that's not the case because even though TX does have lower prices of everything I mentioned above, it's all made up when paying for other things such as property taxes, and sales tax, not to mention I took a cut in pay. So to me it all evens out. What are your thoughts on the matter?

[mr roboto]

No.

There's a metric somewhere that combines COL and median income stats and go bed kind of a 'bang for your buck' list.

How Far Your Paycheck Goes, In 356 U.S. Cities : Planet Money : NPR