November 30, 2018

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 Third Quarter 2018 Cost of Living Index.  The composite cost of living index for Temple was 84.9 a ranking of 24th, compared to the national average of 100 for 268 urban areas evaluated by C2ER.

What Do Groceries Cost?

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)

Third Quarter 2018

Average for 268 Urban Areas = 100

 

Most Expensive Least Expensive
Ranking Urban Areas   Index Ranking Urban Areas Index
1 Honolulu HI 165.7 1 Kalamazoo MI 75.5
2 Juneau AK 147.5 2 Temple TX 76.9
3 New York (Manhattan) NY 138.2 3 Harlingen TX 81.7
4 Anchorage AK 135.9 4 San Marcos TX 82.5
5 Oakland CA 133.0 5 McAllen 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