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Economy

Quad Cities' Cost of Living Index for 2022 Q3

Cost of Living Index includes: Healthcare, Utilities, Food Transportation, Housing, and Miscellaneous Goods and Services.
Ricky Newcomb

People looking for jobs and businesses looking for sites in the Quad Cities should be happy to hear the market's Cost of Living Index is lower than the national average.

That's according to the most recent data from the Bi-State Regional Commission.
Planner Ricky Newcomb says the Cost of Living Index includes several categories.

"Items are divided into 6 weighted categories: healthcare, utilities, food, transportation, housing, and miscellaneous goods and services. Items and category weights are based on expenditure patterns for professional and managerial households."

Newcomb says the Cost of Living Index is used for comparison.

"The Davenport-Moline-Rock Island Statistical Area typically comes 10-15% below the national average. This past quarter was 10.7% below the national average. And to give you an idea— about what a place like Chicago would be— 17% above the national average."

This is the only local level of Cost of Living Index available for the US and does not measure inflation.
The Bi-State Regional Commission compiled data for the 3rd Quarter of 2022.
It reflects the Davenport-Moline-Rock Island Metropolitan Statistical Area, which includes member cities that participate in the studies.

Economy
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Susanna Kemerling is WVIK Quad Cities NPR's 2022 Fellowship Host/Reporter. She graduated from Northern Illinois University for Media Studies in Communication and spent the last year working as a Teaching Assistant through the graduate program at NIU.