Harlingen Ranks 3rd Lowest Cost of Living in U.S.

Harlingen, Texas tied for the third lowest cost of living in nation, according to the report for the first quarter of 2008 prepared by the Council for Community and Economic Research (C2ER). An earlier report, released in February 2008, on the annual average cost of living for 2007 also ranked Harlingen third lowest in the U.S

“A consistently low cost of living is a good sign that Harlingen is an excellent place to live and do business,” according to Bill Martin of the Harlingen Economic Development Corporation. “Cost of living is an important factor companies and site location consultants use in determining where to locate and expand,” Martin continued.

The ACCRA Cost of Living Index, published quarterly by C2ER, measures regional differences in the cost of consumer goods and services, excluding taxes and non-consumer expenditures, for professional and managerial households. 311 urban areas participated in the study.

Harlingen’s Cost of Living Index was 83.5 compared to a national average of 100. The “composite index” is based on six components. The components (and the index for Harlingen) were: grocery items (84.4), housing (73.2), utilities (109.9), transportation (88.5), health care (94.9) and miscellaneous goods and services (81.5).

New York City again had the highest cost of living index (218.8) and Joplin, Missouri had the lowest (82.2). Two other cities (Palestine, Texas and Douglas, Georgia) tied with Harlingen for the third lowest cost of living.

“Being able to boast a cost of living 16.5 percent below the national average is useful in local economic development efforts,” according to Martin. “With our housing costs nearly 27 percent below the national average, we look pretty good to executives living in areas with high housing costs.”

For more information, contact:

Bill Martin

Harlingen Economic Development Corp.