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Crunching costs, sorting signals, rendering insights.
Crunching costs, sorting signals, rendering insights.
Nobody expects rock-bottom prices here — but that doesn't mean all cities are equally expensive. Denver (index 113, rent $1,818/mo) carves out real savings within a high-cost market. We analyzed 2 cities to find where your money goes furthest in 2026.
Nobody expects rock-bottom prices here — but that doesn't mean all cities are equally expensive. Denver (index 113, rent $1,818/mo) carves out real savings within a high-cost market. We analyzed 2 cities to find where your money goes furthest in 2026.
Here's Denver by the numbers — and there's a lot to like. Cost index: 113. Rent: $1,818/month. Income: $91,681/year. Home price: $530,920. Population: 716,577. The strongest category is Utilities at 104; the most expensive is Housing at 133. Translate that rent to annual numbers, and residents are saving renters $924 per year vs. the national median. Not many cities can claim this.
Look, the ranking uses a composite of 2026 data from Census Bureau population/income surveys, Zillow rent and home price indices, BLS salary benchmarks, and Tax Foundation tax rates. Denver (index 113, rent $1,818); Fresno (index 105, rent $1,693). Each city profile below links to the full detail page with 12-month trends, salary breakdowns, and cost category comparisons.
The trade-off becomes clearer when you add healthcare into the mix. For context: the typical American city has a cost index of 112, pays $1,895/month in rent, and earns $80,367 per household. The top-ranked cities here tell a more nuanced story — one that's worth exploring city by city.
What to do with this data: use the ranking as a shortlist, then dig into the city profiles for trend lines and category breakdowns. The difference between #1 and #5 is often smaller than the difference between "good on paper" and "actually fits my life." Compare your top picks with our calculator to see real take-home numbers.
#1 Ranked: Denver, CO — cost index 113, rent $1,818/mo, income $91,681
1 of 2 cities come in below the national cost-of-living average of 112
Data sourced from Census Bureau, Zillow, BLS, and Tax Foundation — current as of 2026
716,577 residents · Colorado
Here's Denver by the numbers — and there's a lot to like. Cost index: 113. Rent: $1,818/month. Income: $91,681/year. Home price: $530,920. Population: 716,577. The strongest category is Utilities at 104; the most expensive is Housing at 133. Translate that rent to annual numbers, and residents are saving renters $924 per year vs. the national median. This stands out as genuinely impressive.
545,716 residents · California
Dive into Fresno's numbers: cost index 105 (7 points below national average), rent $1,693/month, income $66,804, and a home price of $386,426. And for many people, the city's cost profile isn't flat — Utilities is the cheapest category at 96, while Housing runs 112. As a major city with 545,716 residents, amenities and job markets are robust.
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.
Denver (ranked #1) has a cost index of 113 and rent of $1,818/mo, while Fresno (ranked #2) has a cost index of 105 and rent of $1,693/mo — a 8-point difference in cost of living.
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 Denver is $1,818/month as of 2026, based on Zillow's Observed Rent Index. This is $77 below the national median of $1,895/month.
The median home price in Denver is $530,920, which is 5.8× the local median income. Most median-income households would stretch to buy at this ratio. The national median home price is $467,370.
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.