THE 50-STATE EXPLORER
50 states.
Find your story.
Explore 21 topics. Compare every state. Put your next move in perspective.
How do living costs compare?
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See the data, sources & how to read the chart
These are statewide comparisons, not estimates of your personal costs, wages or health. The OSG feed combines Census ACS 2020–2024 five-year estimates, BLS 2024 annual averages and BEA 2024 regional price parities. They are not real-time statistics or 2026 measurements.
All 50 states are included; Washington, D.C. and territories are excluded. Ranks use the full stored values, with equal values sharing a rank. Alphabetical order breaks display ties. Bar lengths start at zero. A high or low rank does not mean a state is best or worst for everyone.
Price indexes use the United States as 100 within each category. Different categories have different baskets, so their index values should not be treated as dollar amounts or added together. Missing values are never filled with zero.
The chart starts with a saved OSG dataset and checks the OSG feed for compatible updates. If the feed is unavailable or fails validation, the saved data remains visible. New data years and changes to definitions require review before release.
Climate topics use a separate saved NOAA/NCEI nClimDiv snapshot: 1991–2020 statewide climate averages, from source files released October 6, 2026. Annual mean temperature is the arithmetic mean of 12 monthly temperature averages. Average annual total precipitation is the sum of 12 monthly precipitation averages, including the liquid equivalent of frozen precipitation; it is not snowfall depth or rainfall alone. Annual values are derived from rounded monthly values and shown to one decimal place.
These area-averaged statewide climate values are not the official station normals published by the NCEI Normals Program. NOAA includes all 50 states, including its Hawaii statewide series; Alaska and Hawaii have source-method differences described by NOAA. Statewide averages can hide substantial local variation and are not current weather forecasts. Climate values stay fixed when the other OSG data refreshes.
NOAA climate data · NOAA periods and units · Annual calculation method · NOAA geographic methods
Census ACS source · BLS source · BEA price indexes · OSG data feed
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