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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 (though the trend is moving in the right directio…
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 (though the trend is moving in the right direction).
Dive into Denver's numbers: cost index 113 (1 points above national average), rent $1,818/month, income $91,681, and a home price of $530,920. The city's cost profile isn't flat — Utilities is the cheapest category at 104, while Housing runs 133. As a major city with 716,577 residents, amenities and job markets are robust.
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. And more often than not, denver (index 113, rent $1,818); Mesa (index 105, rent $1,554). Each city profile below links to the full detail page with 12-month trends, salary breakdowns, and cost category comparisons.
Still, the overall picture holds: Nationally, the 288 cities in our database average a cost index of 112, rent of $1,895/month, and household income of $80,367. The cities in this ranking challenge those benchmarks. That ratio is hard to beat anywhere else.
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
What does daily life actually cost in Denver? Start with the 24% rent-to-income ratio — that's the kind of margin that lets people build savings. On the category level, Utilities (index 104) is where the real savings show up, while Housing (index 133) is the line item most likely to surprise newcomers. Income at $91,681 — this is the part where it gets real — and homes at $530,920 round out a profile that ranks #1 for clear reasons.
511,648 residents · Arizona
Here's Mesa by the numbers — and there's a lot to like (and a little to watch). Cost index: 105. Rent: $1,554/month. Income: $78,779/year. Home price: $432,764. Population: 511,648. The strongest category is Utilities at 96; the most expensive is Housing at 112. Translate that rent to annual numbers, and residents are saving renters $4,092 per year vs. the national median. From a pure purchasing-power standpoint, this is elite. Not even close to the national average.
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 Mesa (ranked #2) has a cost index of 105 and rent of $1,554/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.