Cost of Living in Columbia

Good morning Cola, Miranda here – with some stats + data (don’t be alarmed, I’ve already done all the homework for you) that makes me grateful to be a Soda Citizen. With Columbia being named one of the top moving destinations in the U.S. + all the new development occurring around town, we thought it would be a great time to talk about Columbia’s cost of living compared to other cities around the state. To start, I thought it would be important to talk about wages – how much money do we even have to spend these days in Cola? Here’s what I found:

The median household income in Richland County is ~$52,082 (according to the U.S. Census Bureau), making us the eighth-highest county for median household income in South Carolina. Check out this chart to compare Richland County’s household income to other counties in the state.
State-wise, South Carolina comes in at 43rd in the country for median income at ~$48,781 per household. To compare, Maryland came in at #1 with a median household income of $78,916 – and Puerto Rico was last (as an outlier) with a median income of $19,775 per household (without outliers, Mississippi ranked last at $42,009).

So, how does the cost of living stack up against the amount of money we’re making?

Screenshot from bestplaces.net

The overall cost of living in Columbia is lower than the overall averages for South Carolina + the United States (a score of 100 reflects the average in the U.S.). In Columbia, you can find more affordable housing, less expensive home costs, and cheaper groceries than in other parts of the state + the U.S.

However, the cost of health, utilities + transportation in Columbia have higher average costs than other cities in S.C. and the U.S.

By the numbers

Hypothetically speaking, if you live in a household that brings in $50,000 annually – according to experts – you shouldn’t spend more than 30% of your monthly gross income on rent. Don’t worry, we did the math for you – your max monthly rent budget would be $1,250. According to smartasset.com, the average monthly rent in Columbia is $1,215 – right at the top of your budget.

Take a look at the chart below to see how Columbia’s rent + home values compared to four of the other largest cities in the state. Check out the full article to see utility, food + other miscellaneous costs of living for Columbia.

Screenshot from smartasset.com

Interested in seeing Columbia’s cost of living compared to cities in other states? We played around on nerdwallet’s cost of living calculator, where you can put in any city you want to live in along with your current pre-tax household income to find out what other cities you could actually afford to live in.

Sam and I both love visiting New York City – so we took a look at the cost of living in Manhattan compared to good ol’ Cola. Here’s what we found:

The cost of living is 163% higher in Manhattan – but a girl can dream, right?
To maintain our standard of living, we would need to bring in $131,365 to our household – whew, that dream turned into a nightmare, really quick.
The median cost for a two-bedroom apartment is $5,1333 – yes, rent.

The city’s affordability has welcomed countless new businesses, the University of South Carolina’s largest freshman class, our first four-star hotel (coming soon) + so much more. With that said – I think we can all agree that we have it good here in Cola. Maybe those 90º+ days are worth it after all.

Quiz

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