City	All Items Index
Valdosta, GA	91.8
El Paso, TX	93.0
Austin, TX	94.5
Indianapolis, IN	94.7
Kansas City, MO-KS	95.1
Murfreesboro-Smyrna, TN (Nashville)	95.1
Atlanta, GA	96.1
Columbus, OH	97.4
Detroit, MI	98.2
Albuquerque, NM	98.3
Jacksonville, FL	98.7
Cleveland, OH	99.1
Milwaukee-Waukesha, WI	100.3
Tucson, AZ	103.4
Denver, CO	106.8
Hampton Roads-SE Virginia, VA	109.8
Las Vegas, NV	118.0
Baltimore, MD	119.8
Fresno, CA	136.8
Portland, OR	120.8
Seattle, WA	121.0
Sacramento, CA	124.7
Boston, MA	134.7
Washington, DC	136.4
San Jose , CA	154.2
San Francisco, CA	168.5

 

Average wage per hour:
Albany $15.15 Atlanta $19.68 Augusta $16.67 Columbus $15.35 Savannah $16.54 Pompano Beach $18.18 Miami $18.25 Jacksonville $17.54 San Diego $20.96 San Francisco $25.11 Valdosta $14.36.

Here, these indexes mean that the cost to live in Valdosta is 8.5 percent less than the national average, whereas the cost to live in other major metropolitan areas is well above the national average. If you earn $50,000 per year in Pompano Beach, FL, the salary in Valdosta required to maintain your Pompano Beach, FL standard of living would be $37,408. However, ifyou earn $50,000 per year in Valdosta, you would need to earn $66,830 in Pompano Beach, FL to maintain the same standard of living. Two jobs with identical salaries may not have identical purchasing power if one is located in a relatively high-cost city while the other is located in a relatively lowcost city. The table below shows how to calculate the equivalent salaries in these two cities.

Pompano Beach to Valdosta, GA
(91.5 * $50,000)/122.3 = $ 37,408.01

Valdosta, GA to Pompano Beach
(122.3 * $50,000)/91.5 = $ 66,830.60

Source: Bureau ofLabor Statistics, Occupational Employment Survey, May 2006
Prepared by Clifford A. Lipscomb, Ph.D. Valdosta