Cost of Living Index

The cost of living is a funny thing - two people may make the same amount of money in two different places, but the cost of living can make the real value of their incomes very different. Take, for instance, the cost of living in Ottawa, Canada versus Austin, Texas. Based off of data I pulled from the web, the cost of living in Ottawa (75.6) is 64% more than in Austin (46.2).

As an arbitrary example, if you made $50,000 in Austin, you would need to make $81,818 in Ottawa to have the same standard of living. ($108,000 in New York City (100)) Or, put another way, if you made $50k in Ottawa, you would have the same standard of living as someone making $30,555 in Austin.