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Cost of Living 2nd Quarter Update

TEMPLE, Texas— The Temple Economic Development Corporation (Temple EDC) today announced that Temple ranked 2nd nationally in the least expensive place for the grocery items category in the Second Quarter 2018 Cost of Living Index.  The composite cost of living index for Temple was 86.5 a ranking of 30th, compared to the national average of 100 for 259 urban areas evaluated by C2ER.

What Do GroceriesCost?

Each quarter, C2ER collects more than 90,000 prices from communities across the US for the Cost of Living Index. With food prices a big part of the national media attention, C2ER decided to once again feature those communities with the most and least expensive food costs as measured by the grocery item index number. C2ER collects data on twenty-six items from a variety of surrogate categories to represent the grocery item component of the index.

The Five Most and Least Expensive Places for Grocery Items by Index Number

in the Cost of Living Index (COLI)

Second Quarter 2018

Average for 259 Urban Areas = 100

Most Expensive Least Expensive
Ranking Urban Areas Index Ranking Urban Areas Index
1 Honolulu HI 164.9 1 Kalamazoo MI 76.1
2 Kodiak AK 149.0 2 Temple TX 77.8
3 Juneau AK 146.1 3 Waco TX 79.2
4 New York (Manhattan) NY 144.0 4 Tupelo MS 82.7
5 Oakland CA 132.3 5 San Marcos TX 82.7

The Temple EDC conducts quarterly surveys of the costs of the same products in the C2ER quarterly reports, this enables the organization to accurately promote the low cost of living in Temple. The composite index is based on six component categories – housing, utilities, grocery items, transportation, health care, and miscellaneous goods and services.

For further details on the COLI methodology, please visit www.coli.org/Method.


About Temple

Temple, Texas, is a community with a diverse economic base that includes healthcare, distribution and warehousing, and manufacturing as its foundation. Within 200 miles of a population of 19 million, Temple is in a strategic location that is central within the Southwest U.S. marketplace. Visit www.choosetemple.com