ACCRA Cost of Living Index:
Selected Metropolitan Areas Over 2 Million People.
ABOUT THE INDEX: The Council for Community and Economic Research (C2ER) produces the ACCRA Cost of Living Index to provide a useful and reasonably accurate measure of living cost differences among urban areas. Items on which the Index is based have been carefully chosen to reflect the different categories of consumer expenditures. Weights assigned to relative costs are based on government survey data on expenditure patterns for professional and executive households in the top income quintile. All items are priced in each place at a specified time and according to standardized specifications.
INTERPRETING THE INDEX: The ACCRA Cost of Living Index measures relative price levels for consumer goods and services in participating areas. The average for all participating places, both metropolitan and nonmetropolitan, equals 100, and each participant’s index is read as a percentage of the average for all places.
HOW TO USE THE ACCRA COST OF LIVING INDEX
Assume that City A has a composite index of 98.3 and City B has a composite index of 128.5. If you live in City A and are contemplating a job offer in City B, how much of an increase in your after-taxes income is needed to maintain your present lifestyle?
100*[(City B – City A)/City A] = 100*[(128.5-98.3)/98.3] = 100*(.3072) = 30.72%, or about a 31% increase
Conversely, if you are considering a move from City B to City A, how much of a cut in after-taxes income can you sustain without reducing your present lifestyle?
100*[(City A – City B)/City b] = 100*[(98.3 – 128.5)/128.5] = 100*(-.2350) = -23.5%, or about a 24% reduction
2011 3rd Quarter data
"The ACCRA Cost of Living Index measures differences between areas in the cost of consumer goods and services, excluding taxes and non-consumer expenditures, for professional and managerial households in the top income quintile. It is based on 62 items, for which prices are collected quarterly by the chamber of commerce, economic development organization or some similar organization in each participating urban area."