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Valley's Cost of Living Remains Below U.S. Average
YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio -- A national survey shows the cost of living in the Youngstown-Warren region was 8.9% below the national average in the fourth quarter of 2004.The Mahoning Valley's overall composite index score was 91.1, based on a national average set at 100, reports the ACCRA Cost of Living Index.Transportation expenses (bus fare, gasoline, auto tire balancing) were 8.4% below the national average. Both health-care costs (visiting a doctor and a dentist) and housing (apartment rent, price of a new house or condominium, mortgage rates and payments) were 14.6% and 17.2% less, respectively.Miscellaneous goods/services were 9.5% below the national average. Food costs (27 specific items) were 1.9% below but utility costs (electric and other energy rates, phone service) were 12.7% above."The Valley's cost of living is consistently below the national average and lower than many of the communities we compete with for new jobs," said Reid Dulberger, executive vice president of the Youngstown/Warren Regional Chamber. "That difference does not go unnoticed by the companies we work with."The American Chamber of Commerce Research Association compiles its ACCRA Cost of Living Index by surveying 305 urban areas in the country and Canada every quarter. It relies on the chambers of commerce or economic development organizations in each region. In the Mahoning Valley it's the regional chamber.The index shows that vis a vis the valley, it's 13% more expensive to live in Cleveland, 59% more expensive in Washington, D.C. and 132% more expensive in New York City-Manhattan, which had the highest cost of living among metro areas in the survey.To have the same $25,000 purchasing power a resident of the Mahoning Valley has would require $28,293 in Cleveland, $39,654 in Washington and $58,068 in New York City."