Earlier this month, we worried that NYC might lose its coveted crown of most expensive city in America to San Francisco and its increasing rental rates. If we're not #1, how can we truly justify those $2,300 hot dogs? But some great news today: according to the Council for Community and Economic Research, Manhattan is the most expensive place to live in the country, Brooklyn is the second most expensive, and Queens is the sixth most expensive. Time to treat ourselves to a $666 douche burger!
The council indexed the cost of living in 300 cities across America and determined their Cost of Living Index numbers based on the prices of 60 consumer goods and services (including grocery items, housing, health care, utilities, and transportation).
The council has been publishing its data for the last 45 years, and project manager Dean Frutiger has found that "the top 10 most expensive cities are pretty stable, they remain almost static." He added that 29 percent of the average urban dweller’s spending goes for housing, which explains why Manhattan and Brooklyn rank so high. The national index average is 100, and Manhattan came in at 233.5 (Brooklyn was 183.4 and Queens ). That means it's three times more expensive to live here than it is to be an Okie from Muskogee (85.4):
