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Crunching costs, sorting signals, rendering insights.
Crunching costs, sorting signals, rendering insights.
After service, the right city means keeping more of what you've earned. We scored 1 cities across Rhode Island for veterans: cost, taxes, and healthcare. Providence takes #1 for 2026.
#1 Ranked: Providence — cost index 114, rent $2,187/mo, income $66,772
Veteran scoring: cost index 114, state tax 5.99%, healthcare index 118 — preserving earned benefits
Data sourced from Census Bureau, Zillow, BLS, and Tax Foundation — current as of 2026
| Rank | City | Cost Index | Median Rent | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Providence | 114 | $2,187 | Details |
After service, the right city means keeping more of what you've earned. We scored 1 cities across Rhode Island for veterans: cost, taxes, and healthcare. Providence takes #1 for 2026.
In plain English: Here's Providence by the numbers — and there's a lot to like. Cost index: 114. Rent: $2,187/month. Income: $66,772/year. Home price: $420,051. Population: 190,792. The strongest category is Utilities at 105; the most expensive is Housing at 136. Translate that rent to annual numbers, and residents are costing renters $3,504 more per year vs. the national median. That's not something you see often in the data.
Veterans have unique financial considerations: pension, VA disability, GI Bill benefits all interact with local costs and taxes. Our model weights cost of living (20pts), state tax burden (20pts), and healthcare costs (15pts) for supplemental care beyond VA. Providence scores highest with a 114 cost index and 5.99% state tax.
The other side of the coin: Rhode Island — smallest state, New England price tag. The 1 cities we track here average a cost index of 114 and median income of $66,772. It lands right near the national baseline, which makes the differences between individual cities all the more important. The typical rent runs $2,187/month, which is $292 more than the national median (not adjusted for inflation, but still telling).
Bottom line: Providence leads this ranking for clear, data-backed reasons — but the "best" city depends on your priorities. And more often than not, click into any city below to see the full detail page with 12-month trend charts, profession-specific salary data, and a breakdown of all five cost categories. If you're seriously considering a move, use our salary calculator to model your specific income against these numbers.
190,792 residents · Rhode Island
Dive into Providence's numbers: cost index 114 — for better or worse — (2 points above national average), rent $2,187/month, income $66,772, and a home price of $420,051. The city's cost profile isn't flat — Utilities is the cheapest category at 105, while Housing runs 136. With 190,792 residents, it balances mid-size city convenience with manageable costs.
Our persona scoring model weights cost of living, income, rent, healthcare costs, tax burden, and population size differently based on what matters most to military veterans. Each factor contributes 10-25 points to a 0-100 composite score. Cities with the highest composite rank first. All data is sourced from federal agencies and verified research institutions. Cost of living indices are normalized to 100 (national median) using Zillow rent as the primary signal, with sub-category adjustments derived from regional BLS price data. Rankings are updated monthly as new data is released.
Providence ranks #1 in Rhode Island for this analysis with a cost index of 114 and median income of $66,772.
Providence scores highest for military veterans due to its strong income potential, median rent of $2,187/mo, and competitive median income of $66,772.
Our cost of living index uses real Zillow rent data as the foundation, indexed to 100 (national median). Sub-categories (housing, food, transport, utilities, healthcare) are derived from the overall index with regional adjustments. Data is updated monthly.
City data is refreshed monthly from Census Bureau population estimates, Zillow rent and home price indices, BLS salary data, and Tax Foundation tax rates. Last updated: 2026.
The median 1-bedroom rent in Providence is $2,187/month as of 2026, based on Zillow's Observed Rent Index. This is $292 above the national median of $1,895/month.
The median home price in Providence is $420,051, which is 6.3× the local median income. Most median-income households would stretch to buy at this ratio. The national median home price is $467,370.
Rhode Island has a 5.99% state income tax rate. Combined state and local sales tax averages 7%, and the effective property tax rate is 1.24%.
This ranking was generated using data current as of early 2026. Population and income data comes from the Census Bureau's American Community Survey (5-year estimates). Rent and home price data is from Zillow's monthly releases. Tax rates are from the Tax Foundation's 2025 edition. Rankings are refreshed monthly.