10 Most Expensive States To Live In

Depending on where you live in the U.S., costs will vary for things like the food you eat, the energy you consume, the healthcare you require and the transportation you use. And sometimes, these cost differences are astronomical.

Warren Buffett’s Financial Plan to Tackle America’s Debt: ‘I Can End the Deficit in 5 Minutes’
Learn: What To Do If You Owe Back Taxes to the IRS

To find the most expensive states to live in, GOBankingRates looked at annual living expenses for all 50 states, utilizing the 2022 Consumer Expenditure Survey, which is the most recent data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. The cost of living indexes were gathered for housing, groceries, utilities, healthcare and transportation, and overall annual expenditure totals for each living expense were calculated.

Final rankings for the most expensive states to live in were determined by the overall annual expenditures of each state. Here are the 10 most expensive states to live in, in reverse order.

Washington, D.C.

• State Cost of Living Index: 149.7
• State Annual Cost of Living Expenditures: $109,232

While technically not a state, Washington D.C. comes in at No. 10 on the list with an annual cost of living $36,265 above the national annual expenditures of $72,967. However, health care costs in D.C. are the second lowest on the list, coming in at an average of $7,156 each year.

Discover: All of the States That Will Pay Off Your Student Loans
Stimulus Update: $5,000 Checks Are Coming to Residents of This State

Rhode Island

• State Cost of Living Index: 111.8
• State Annual Cost of Living Expenditures: $81,577

For being such a small state, Rhode Island comes with big expenses, particularly when it comes to the annual cost of utilities adding up to $17,249 annually. However, when it comes to the cost of living index for groceries, Rhode Island checks in at 99.5 or $5,674 annually.

These 5 Countries are Almost Inflation-less: Cheap Living with High Salaries

Vermont

• State Cost of Living Index: 115.6
• State Annual Cost of Living Expenditures: $84,350

According to Vermont Public, Vermont is at the end of the energy pipeline, which makes energy more expensive for the state, about 21.2% more costly than the national average. Also, natural gas is mostly used by people in their homes, not by big industrial consumers who could offset the energy costs.

Connecticut

• State Cost of Living Index: 114.4
• State Annual Cost of Living Expenditures: $83,474

Utilities are higher in Connecticut than the national average — $18,422 versus $14,507. The high utility costs are partially due to the region relying on natural gas to fuel its power plants, according to CT Insider.

Puerto Rico

• State Cost of Living Index: 97.9
• State Annual Expenditures: $71,435

Another outlier on the list, but one worth noting: the territory of Puerto Rico has the lowest cost of living index score, dipping 2 points below the national average.

Food Stamps: 4 Changes to SNAP Benefits Happening For Fall 2023

New Hampshire

• State Cost of Living Index: 114.6
• State Annual Cost of Living Expenditures: $83,620

In New Hampshire, housing, utilities and transportation are all above the national average. However, healthcare there is the second-most expensive out of all the states on this list, costing $8,623 per year, while the national average cost for healthcare is more than $1,600 less annually at $6,954.

Massachusetts

• State Cost of Living Index: 143.1
• State Annual Cost of Living Expenditures: $104,416

Massachusetts has some expensive groceries, coming to about $6,199 for the annual cost of living index, which is about $500 more than the national average of $5,703. While that might not be enough of a sticker shock to scare anyone away, the cost of utilities adds up to roughly $17,902 in Massachusetts, which is $3,400 higher than the American average of $14,507.

California

• State Cost of Living Index: 139.7
• State Annual Cost of Living Expenditures: $101,935

It’s no secret it costs a lot more to get around California, a place known for higher-than-usual gas prices and not known for its public transportation. The cost of living transportation index for California is 126.1, second only to Hawaii, and costs $5,736 annually in expenses.

Find Out: The Average American Spends This Much on Rent — See How You Stack Up

Hawaii

• State Cost of Living Index: 181.5
• State Annual Cost of Living Expenditures: $132,435

The island state wins the prize for highest cost of living index, outranking any other state on the list by at least 31 points. Hawaii is truly a paradise, but it is also the second most expensive state in America to live in. The annual cost of living index places the dollar amount $59,468 higher than the average amount around the nation.

Alaska

• State Cost of Living Index: 125.3
• State Annual Cost of Living Expenditures: $91,428

When it comes to the cost of living related to healthcare, Alaska’s is much more than any other state on this list at 52.1% above the national average. Limited competition among medical providers, high compensation for providers and higher hospital profit margins all contribute to the higher healthcare costs, according to Alaska Common Ground.

Cynthia Measom contributed to the reporting for this article.

Methodology: To find the most expensive states to live in, GOBankingRates analyzed the average cost of living expenditures across multiple categories including; [1] Grocery cost of living index, [2] Healthcare cost of living index, [3] Utilities cost of living index, [4] Transportation cost of living index, and [5] Miscellaneous cost of living index, all sourced from Missouri’s Economic and Research Information Center. The cost of living indexes were multiplied by the national average costs of the same expenditure categories as sourced from Bureau of Labor Statistics: 2022 Consumer Expenditure Survey to find the average cost of each expenditure in each state. The expenditures were totaled to find the monthly and annual total costs. All data was collected and is up-to-date as of Oct. 12th, 2023.

More From GOBankingRates

• Top 7 Countries with Zero Income Tax
• 19 Dangerous Scam Phone Numbers and Area Codes To Avoid
• 3 Ways to Recession Proof Your Retirement
• 5 Ways to Elevate Your Finances Daily