October 31, 2017

TEMPLE, Texas— The Temple Economic Development Corporation (Temple EDC) today announced that Temple ranked 3rd nationally in the least expenses place for grocery items in the Third Quarter 2017 Cost of Living Annual Review.  The composite cost of living index for Temple was 86.5 a ranking of 30th, compared to the national average of 100 for 267 urban areas evaluated by C2ER.

 

What Do Groceries Cost?

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.  Data is collected 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)-Third Quarter 2017

Most Expensive Least Expensive
Ranking Urban Areas  Index Ranking Urban Areas Index
1 Honolulu HI 165.5 1 Jackson-Madison County TN 77.3
2 Juneau AK 151.6 2 Kalamazoo MI 80.1
3 Kodiak AK 146.1 3 Temple TX 80.2
4 New York (Manhattan) NY 141.4 4 Wichita Falls TX 80.4
5 Oakland CA 126.7 5 Harlingen TX 83.9

 

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 choosetemple.com.