Cost of Living in Carroll County, IA

The cost to live in Carroll County, IA is much lower than the national average, according to Carroll County Growth Partnership (CCGP) and The Council for Community and Economic Research (C2ER). Carroll County’s Cost of Living Index for the 1st quarter of 2017 is 95.4. An index of 100 is average.

The Cost of Living Index measures regional differences in the cost of consumer goods and services, excluding taxes and non-consumer expenditures. It is the most reliable source of city-to-city comparisons of key consumer costs available anywhere. COLI data is recognized by the U.S. Census Bureau, US Bureau of Labor Statistics, CNN Money, and the President's Council of Economic Advisors.

The composite index is based on six components – housing, utilities, grocery items, transportation, health care and miscellaneous goods and services. CCGP staff collects pricing on 60 goods and services each quarter. Results for more than 300 urban areas are available at www.coli.org.

New to the Cost of Living Index is the Small Cities Program, which allows cities smaller than 50,000 population the ability to participate. C2ER is the gold standard. No other organization uses locally collected data on such a broad range of consumables for this many communities”.