Wednesday, August 20, 2014

How Far Will $100 Go in Your State?

Economists at the Tax Foundation have developed a map detailing what $100 is worth across the United States.
  • $100 is worth much less in Washington, D.C. ($84.60), Hawaii ($85.32), New York ($86.66) and New Jersey ($87.64) than it is in Mississippi ($115.74), Arkansas ($114.16), Missouri ($113.51), Alabama ($113.51) and South Dakota ($113.38).
  • In Mississippi money has a whopping 40% more buying power than in Washington, D.C.
  • Nominally, New Yorkers have much higher incomes than Kansans. But after adjusting for prices, Kansas residents have higher average incomes than New York residents.
  • High incomes are often found in states with high prices, but not always: in North Dakota, for example, residents have high incomes but low prices.
Source: Alan Cole, Lyman Stone and Richard Borean, The Real Value of $100 in Each State