Got a $100 in your pocket? You’ll get more for your Ben Franklin in the rural Midwest or Southeastern U.S. than in California or the Northeast, a recent blog entry from the right-leaning Tax Foundation shows. The organization’s analysts used data from 2016 released by the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis in May.
In the San Jose, California, area your $100 is worth $78.70, the least among cities the think tank cited. Compare that to Beckley, West Virginia, where the same amount will buy you $126.90 in goods and services, according to the Tax Foundation.
Hawaii, New York and California were home to the most expensive places to live compared to the U.S. overall. The least expensive were in Mississippi, Alabama and Arkansas. Hawaii had the highest rents, while Alabama and West Virginia had the lowest, according to the BEA state data.
The locations are similar to a recent analysis from job-search site Indeed, which looked at cities around the U.S. to find out where your paycheck goes furthest.
In that analysis, adjusted salaries had the most value in Brownsville, Texas, followed by Kingsport, Tennessee, and Huntington, West Virginia.
Here’s where your $100 is worth the least, according to the Tax Foundation:
- San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, California — $78.70
- Santa Cruz-Watsonville, California — $80.10
- San Francisco-Oakland-Hayward, California — $80.20
- Honolulu, Hawaii — $80.40
- Napa, California — $82.00
- New York-Newark-New Jersey — $82.60
- Santa Rosa, California — $82.60
- Bridgeport-Stamford-Norwalk, Connecticut — $83.30
- Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, D.C./Viginia — $84.00
- Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim/Vallejo-Fairfield, California — $85.00
And the most:
- Beckley, West Virginia — $126.90
- Morristown, Tennessee — $125.80
- Danville, Illinois — $124.40
- Valdosta, Georgia — $123.6
- Rome, Georgia — $123.30
- Jonesboro, Arkansas — $122.20
- Hattiesburg, Mississippi — $121.80
- Jackson, Tennessee — $121.80
- Jefferson City, Missouri — $121.70
- Sebring, Florida — $121.10
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