Michigan Cost of Living Lower Than National Average

An article in Mlive.com is providing some great news for Michigan.

Did you know that the cost of living in Michigan is 11% below the national average?  Granted our median household income is 7% lower than the national average (according to numbers from the U.S. Census Bureau Michigan’s median household income in 2014 was $49,847 in 2014 and the  national average was $53,657), but that still puts our cost of living 4% below the national average.

We need to get good news where we can find it, right?

This information comes for the databases of Sperling's Best Places website which compares the cost of living in states and locals around the United States.  According to the Mlive article this database “looks at costs of housing, health care, groceries, utilities, transportation and miscellaneous expenses, such as entertainment. It scores each community and compares that to the national average, which is scored at 100. Communities with a score over a 100 are more expensive than average and those less than a 100 are more inexpensive places to live.”

Some other data points from the database comparison are as follows:

• Michigan housing costs are 31% below the national average.

• Although Michigan ranks very high for property taxes. Michigan is ranked eighth among states with the worst property taxes in a 2015 analysis by USA Today.

• Food/grocery costs in Michigan average 4.5% below the national average.

• Health care costs in Michigan average about 4% below the national average.

• Michigan citizens pay about 2% more for utilities (electricity and natural gas) than the national average,

• Michigan citizens pay about 1% more for transportation expenses than the national average.
  • A big contributing factor for this is Michigan has the most expensive car insurance rates in the country -- more than twice the national average, according to a 2015 analysis by insuranceQuotes.com.

• Miscellaneous living costs in Michigan are 2% lower than the national average these costs include: clothes, restaurants, repairs, entertainment.

All good news except for our auto insurance rates, but we have known for years that we are getting the short end of the stick on that one.

So there you go living in Michigan does has some financial advantages.

Also do not forget we also have the Detroit Red Wings!

Now if we can somehow do something about the bitter cold and snow we really will be sitting pretty.

The Live with Renk show, airs Monday through Friday 9 a.m. to noon, to let me know your thoughts at (269) 441-9595.