Manhattan continues to stay at the top of the list as the most expensive place to live in the U.S., according to the Council for Community and Economic Research’s Cost of Living Index.
The index is based on housing price, utilities, grocery items, transportation, health care and miscellaneous goods and services, a press release said.
Among the more than 300 urban areas that were surveyed, Manhattan ranked first as the most expensive with a COLI of 233.5. The least expensive city is Harlingen, Texas, where the COLI is 18 percent below the national average of 100. Other New York boroughs such as Queens and Brooklyn also feature among the top 10 expensive cities.
But if you want to save some dough, then cities such as San Marcos, Harlingen, Wichita Falls and McAllen in Texas are ideal.
"The top 10 most expensive cities are pretty stable, they remain almost static," Dean Frutiger, project manager for the Cost of Living Index project at C2ER told ABC News. "There's more change with the bottom."
According to Frutiger, housing carries the largest weight and 29 percent of our income is spent on housing. He points out that this is one of the reasons why Washington, D.C., made it to the list of top 10 expensive cities.
"Housing prices have been hurt very badly by the recession. However, D.C.'s housing has remained relatively strong because there's a built-in market in D.C. You wouldn't believe the construction going on there relative to other cities," Frutiger told ABC News.
Meanwhile, Brooklynites are “thrilled” that their city features in the top 10.
“Brooklyn is thrilled that so many successful men and women, particularly in professional fields, have chosen to live here, adding to our economic diversity and making it one of the most desirable places on the planet to live, work and play," Borough President Marty Markowitz told the Brooklyn Daily Eagle. "But we are also mindful that Brooklyn must never be a place of only the very rich or the very poor.”
Most Expensive
1. New York, (Manhattan) NY
2. New York, (Brooklyn) NY
3. Honolulu, HI
4. San Francisco, CA
5. San Jose, CA
6. New York, (Queens)
7. Stamford, CT
8. Washington, DC
9. Framingham-Natick, MA
10. Orange County, CA
Least Expensive
1. Harlingen, TX
2. Wichita Falls, TX
3. McAllen, TX
4. Muskogee, OK
5. Norman, OK
6. Fayetteville, AR
7. Memphis, TN
8. Ardmore, OK
9. Springfield, IL
10. San Marcos, TX
