AG 2011 10 17 - Laserfiche WebLink

Home Browse Search

ACCRA COST OF LIVING INDEX COPYRIGHT 2011 ISSN 0740 -7130 C2ER, P.O. Box 100127, Arlington VA 22210 USA ABOUT THE INDEX: The Council for Community and Economic Research (C2ER) produces the ACCRA Cost of Living Index to provide a useful and reasonably accurate measure of living cost differences among urban areas. Items on which the Index is based have been carefully chosen to reflect the different categories of consumer expenditures. Weights assigned to relative costs are based on government survey data on expenditure patterns for professional and executive households in the top income quintile. All items are priced in each place at a specified time and according to standardized specifications. Because the number of items priced is limited, it is not valid to treat percentage differences between areas as exact measures. Since judgment sampling is used in this survey, no confidence interval can be determined. Small differences, however, should not be construed as significant —or even as indicating correctly which area is the more expensive. INTERPRETING THE INDEX: The ACCRA Cost of Living Index measures relative price levels for con- sumer goods and services in participating areas. The average for all participating places, both metropolitan and nonmetropolitan, equals 100, and each partici- pant's index is read as a percentage of the average for all places. The Index does not measure inflation (price change over time). Because each quarterly report is a separate comparison of prices at a single point in REPRODUCTION OF THIS REPORT IS PROHIBITED time, and because both the number and the mix of participants changes from one quarter to the next, Index data from different quarters cannot be compared. For inflation data, contact the US Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) at www.bls.gov. The Index reflects cost differentials for professional and executive households in the top income quintile. Operationally, this standard of living is set by the weighting structure. Homeownership costs, for ex- ample, are more heavily weighted than they would be if the Index reflected a clerical worker standard of living or average costs for all urban consumers. (Weights for component indexes appear above col- umn headings —e.g., 13.31% for Grocery Items.) PARTICIPATING AREAS: Areas included in this survey are those where organizations have volunteered to participate. The number of respondents varies from quarter to quarter, and C2ER makes a continuing effort to expand coverage of metropolitan areas. Any metropolitan area not represented in this report is absent because local organizations have opted not to collect data. C2ER has no data for areas that do not appear in this report. sions, changes, and withdrawals without notice. SPECIFICATIONS: The specific items priced are list- ed on page iii. Abbreviated specifications for all items are presented only as a guide to users of this report; far more detailed specifications are contained in the manual that governs pricing, which may be found at www.coli.org. EXCLUSION OF TAXES: C2ER is fully aware that state and local taxes are an integral part of the cost of living, and that tax burdens vary widely among states and metropolitan areas and within metropolitan areas. Due to the multiplicity of state and local taxes, taxing jurisdictions, and assessment procedures, it is not feasible to calculate local tax burdens reliably. C2ER has opted to produce an index that adequately measures differences in goods and services costs, rather than to produce an inaccurate measure that attempts to incorporate taxes levied on real and intangible property, retail purchases, and income. TWO SECTIONS OF QUARTERLY DATA: The ACCRA Cost of Living Index presents data in two sections: PRICE REPORTING: C2ER stringently reviews all prices reported, and attempts to eliminate errors and noncompliance with specifications. All price data are obtained from sources deemed reliable, but no rep- resentation is made as to the complete accuracy thereof. They are published subject to errors, omis- URBAN AREA INDEX DATA: This section shows each place's Composite Index and six component in- dexes— Grocery Items, Housing, Utilities, Transpor- tation, Health Care, and Miscellaneous Goods and Services. Places are listed by state. Within each state, places appear alphabetically within 1 -1 Page 510